'Tip Toe High Wire': Sierra Hull rolls into WNC
Sierra Hull will play Asheville March 6. File photo
Even though singer-songwriter Sierra Hull is an award-winning mandolin virtuoso — and one who’s toured the globe relentlessly for the better part of two decades — the last couple of years have been quite the whirlwind of sound and scope.
Whether it’s teaming up with country megastar Dierks Bentley for a nationally-televised performance at the CMAs, collaborating with Sturgill Simpson or being the special guest at Red Rocks Amphitheatre alongside String Cheese Incident and Turnpike Troubadours, Hull even found herself recently onstage at Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium trading licks with Slash, Devon Allman, Duane Betts, Robert Randolph and Donovan Frankenreiter.
“With every opportunity comes a little bit more confidence to handle certain situations,” Hull said. “It’s trying to find ways to settle in my own space, trying to do what it is that I bring to the table.”
For the renowned artist, the Ryman billing might have seemed out-of-left-field to those on the sidelines, especially for the highly skilled acoustic background of Hull, who retains deep, lifelong roots in the bluegrass, Americana and folk realms. But, for her, it simply puts a spotlight on the sonic range of her musical abilities.
“Bluegrass has been such a good training ground for learning how to play my instrument,” the 33-year-old said. “And there’s a lot of areas you can kind of step into when you’ve learned to play your instrument.”
Cranking her amplifier to 10 in a room full of rock-n-roll legends not only showcases her vast instrumental skillset, soaring songbird vocals and unrelenting curiosity, it puts a genuine emphasis on where Hull currently stands and is quickly heading — anywhere she can find pure inspiration and spark fire within.
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“I’m really proud of this record. These songs feel a little bit different than anything I’ve done before,” Hull said. “Anybody that hears this would feel like this is a natural progression for me as an artist.”
“Tip Toe High Wire.” Sierra Hull’s fourth studio album and her first independent release since departing from her longtime label Rounder Records and also changing management as of late. It’s also Hull’s first offering in five years, where she aims to now go at it alone in the studio and with a keen focus on songwriting.
For Hull, it’s this deeply held sentiment of valuing quality, nurtured content in a modern era of music where quantity seems to override the personal narrative and individual approach and artist values while properly navigating their career.
“Coming off a long-term record deal, I wanted to make some music without too many outside voices,” Hull said. “When you look at how much I’ve toured and how busy my world has been, it was important for me to just get settled — to make sure the time I released it felt like the right moment.”
That seismic shift within Hull’s professional landscape is indicative of a true creative soul in search of not only “the sound,” but also herself within the melodies conjured in real time, at her own pace.
“There’s always a new mountain to climb, in terms of becoming more proficient as a player, singer or writer,” Hull said. “And that’s where life experience in the world and the way things surround you come into the music and the storytelling — to tap into the emotion of just living, always trying to think about what good music does to me, how that makes me feel.”
Sierra Hull. File photo
Wandering into “Tip Toe High Wire,” the album quickly reveals itself as a balancing act between Hull’s musical ethos when it comes to keeping one foot firmly in tradition and the other in the progressive nature of her artistic ambitions. It’s a sincere sentiment of creative inspiration and the intimate nature of a performer offering up the most vulnerable corners of their being.
“There’s nothing like putting on a record that inspires me or going to a live show that blows my mind,” Hull said. “It makes me want to go home and write songs or get on a stage and try to be better at giving that same kind of emotion in my own way to an audience.”
“Tip Toe High Wire” seamlessly transitions from confident, towering numbers (“Boom,” “Let’s Go”) to subtle, soothing acoustic selections (“Haven Hill,” “Spitfire”) to the intricacy of fast-paced, whirlwind instrumentals (“E Tune,” “Lord, That’s A Long Way”).
“There’s the emotional side of wanting to be able to make somebody feel something beyond just the technical side,” Hull said. “You practice all these skill sets, and then you kind of figure out, ‘Well, how can I express what’s inside me with that?’”
Tapping some of the finest pickers and singers in Nashville and beyond, “Tip Toe High Wire” features guest appearances by Béla Fleck, Tim O’Brien, Aoife O’Donovan, Lindsay Lou, Ronnie Bowman and more. To note, Hull’s powerhouse touring band provides the steadfast foundation throughout the record.
“I’ve gotten more and more in the trenches with these guys playing music,” Hull notes about the touring group. “So, I think it’s different from some of my previous records, where we can really go out and play this music onstage — it’s having a real investment in the sound of the music, which is kind of exciting.”
Hull’s husband, dobro star Justin Moses, leaves his vibrant musical fingerprints across the recordings. “Tip Toe High Wire” was self-produced by Hull and her longtime friend and engineer, Shani Gandhi, who was also behind the recording console for Hull’s 2020 release “25 Trips.”
“We had such a rapport and became close friends by doing 25 Trips,” Hull reflects on Gandhi. “She became very interwoven in this record — it wouldn’t be what it became without her.”
“Tip Toe High Wire” encompasses a wide palate of tones that lies at the core of this new, unwritten chapter. Perhaps subconsciously, the record radiates this culmination of everything leading up to this point for Hull. The result being an honest, candid snapshot of an artist in motion, one chasing her ultimate destiny — this endless quest of hitting the road and cultivating a fevered audience, all while constantly honing her already-legendary skillset.
“In some ways, it feels like stepping out into a different territory,” Hull said. “And leaning into that at this chapter of my career — the freedom of being able to be out on my own, to create with no walls for what feels like the first time — has helped me grow.”
Want to go?
Acclaimed singer-songwriter, two-time Grammy nominee and six-time IBMA “Mandolin Player of the Year” Sierra Hull will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 6, at the Asheville Music Hall.
Stephanie Lambring will open the show. The show is ages 21 and over. Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 day of show. Doors open at 7 p.m.
For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on ashevillemusichall.com.
