This was one of my most anticipated albums for the second half of this year. Molly Tuttle’s Crooked Tree album from last year was a truly excellently listen, spotlighting a bluegrass virtuoso who could, naturally, showcase that talent … but also have a lot of lighthearted fun not only trading the spotlight between the other guest performers, but also reveling in big, universal statements like the title track and “Big Backyard.” It was one of my favorite albums of the year, and it’s only gotten better with time.
In other words, given that album’s deserved success on all fronts, I’m not surprised to see her return so soon with a follow-up album, this time around featuring her Golden Highway band members as the primary players. Naturally, too, whereas that last album was a more expansive, outward-looking project at the world around her, City of Gold feels like a more personal trip inward. It features a lot of reflections of life on the road and the loneliness that can come with that life, but also the satisfaction that can come with making music and, well, art and magic out of it. And it’s through bluegrass that those last two elements can really translate and leap off the page.
On a base level, I think it’s a natural pivot to make, where the familiar themes of isolation in regards to the touring life are to be expected given her established momentum over the year, but also counterbalanced nicely with the general camaraderie that comes with the bluegrass scene itself. On a purely musical level, though, I’m a bit more torn on this project compared to Crooked Tree. The actual production itself is, of course, fantastic, with a lot of great, plucky texture added to the prominent fiddle and dobro on display.
And unlike Crooked Tree, I do think this album takes more compositional risks that likely capture Tuttle’s live show spirit a tad better than before, as to be expected when featuring the road band front and center. I already praised “El Dorado” before for its dark, frenetic danger lurking at the heart of its tales of would-be dreamers, but there’s also the hazy acid trip that is “Alice in the Bluegrass” with its shimmering atmospheric texture and multiple extended solos (a bit of a rip-off of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” in concept, but given that Tuttle covered that song herself, it feels more like a bluegrass homage to it than anything else).
With that said, it’s also a decidedly slower, more reflective album as a whole, which probably does strike an overall better balance in terms of tone and pacing from a broader sense, but also leaves this album feeling oddly more lopsided and less consistent for it. For the most part, the faster-paced tracks this time around are a bit campier and goofier than before, and while that can work on “Alice in the Bluegrass,” “Down Home Dispensary” feels fairly cloying and predictable for this genre, even if I do agree with the central premise. And I’d say, like before, that Tuttle and her team could still afford to take even bigger compositional risks at points. “Where Did All the Wild Things Go?” is basically another somewhat cheesy weed anthem, but it never really lets loose itself until the final third or so, and the canned shouting on that song toward the song doesn’t come across well. “Yosemite” is a duet between Tuttle and Dave Matthews that centers around a couple’s frayed relationship nearing its end, but the overall tone feels a little too sedate and lighthearted to work for the sentiment, and the two only have decent chemistry together overall.
Ironically, though, it’s also this album’s simpler moments that I think work best overall. If there’s a thematic arc that runs beyond the usual fatigue that comes with being a touring musician, it’s also a sense of mystery and allure that comes with chasing dreams, whatever they may be. In that case, “El Dorado” is a fairly straightforward tale of fruitless endeavors that came from the California Gold Rush, but it captures the real struggles of desperate people who held out hope that they might get lucky, too. I mean, it’s bluegrass – you expect it to have an older world charm to its stories and characters, which is what makes the harrowing tension of “Goodbye Mary” translate so well, too.
But it ultimately circles back to Tuttle and a desired connection and sense of community, whether that be with friends or in love, even if the latter always tends to circle back around music first and foremost. It’s the message that informs the closing track, “The First Time I Fell in Love,” but I think a better closing moment would have been “When My Race Is Run,” which focuses on the bigger picture of having something to show for when that sort of life gets old or tiresome – or even if it doesn’t, for when you just want something more out of life beyond it. It doesn’t mean she’ll settle for anyone, mind you, which is what makes the kiss-off right before it in “Next Rodeo” fairly humorous.
But I think my favorite moment above all is “Stranger Things,” another hazy moment to follow “Alice in the Bluegrass” before it, but also one that feels almost transcendental in its hypnotic allure. It’s muted overall, but there’s still that echo reverberating throughout that fits for the philosophical wonder it inspires, from questions of death, to a possible afterlife, then back to what matters most in this world in finding a love for something … or someone. It’s all about the mysteries of life, but whether it’s to suggest we explore them further or leave them be is something I haven’t quite figured out myself just yet; I just know that it’s one hell of a captivating moment.
Of course, that leaves me in an odd place with this album as a whole. The highlights are arguably even stronger this time around, but between the longer run-time and a more inconsistent flow than before, it’s still a really good listen; I’m just a little less enamored than before, that’s all. Still, Tuttle and her band are on a roll and a winning streak, and this is worth checking out.
- Favorite tracks: “Stranger Things,” “El Dorado,” “When My Race Is Run,” “Goodbye Mary,” “Alice in the Bluegrass”
- Least favorite tracks: “Where Did All the Wild Things Go?,” “Down Home Dispensary”
The Musical Divide 
This is my first time listening to Molly Tuttle and I quite enjoyed this album. I do agree that it was a bit inconsistent or uneven throughout, which prevents it from being in my top tier of albums for the year. I found that I really liked about half of the tracks, while the rest were just ok (although I don’t really like Where Did All The Wild Things Go? much at all). I really like San Joaquin, More Like A River and Evergreen, OK (among others).
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