One way of gauging an artist’s ascension in the ranks of popularity, on a local basis, is through the process of venue-scaling. Take wizardly guitar flat-picker and charismatic vocalist Molly Tuttle, for example. Last year, this trailblazing and yet tradition-stoking bluegrass artist played with her band Golden Highway in the 900-seat Campbell Hall, after first playing at the SOhO nightclub and then the 700-seat Lobero Theatre.
This Sunday, December 7, she bumps up to the Arlington Theatre, the grand and picturesque 2,000-seater, as part of the UCSB Arts & Lectures season. Things are looking decidedly up for Tuttle, as they should.
A Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album (for her delicious Crooked Tree) and two current Grammy nominations in the wings have helped to empower Tuttle’s rising status, and she comes back with new and re-jiggered fervor on her new album, So Long Little Miss Sunshine. Her essential good-natured sunshiny presence has not left, but she has expanded into new production and personal terrains on the album, the cover of which is a collage of photos sampling her wig collection, as someone who has had the hair loss condition alopecia areata since she was 3 years old. Tellingly, the center shot finds her in a natural state, without wig or hair.