Kyle Tuttle
Singer, songwriter and banjo adventurer extraordinaire Kyle Tuttle is on a hot streak. He’s a member of Golden Highway, among the aces who back up guitar wizard Molly Tuttle (to whom he’s not related, by the way). The group won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album last year for 2022’s Crooked Tree, and won again on Feb. 4 for the follow-up City of Gold. The band injects fresh energy into a hallowed American art form, but Kyle Tuttle cranks the raw energy even higher on his second solo album Labor of Lust, which he’ll self-release Friday. Not to be confused with British pop ’n’ rock polymath Nick Lowe’s similarly titled 1979 album, Tuttle’s LP has a beyond-bluegrass sound whose creative chaos approaches thermonuclear levels — a spirit he aims to channel during Saturday’s star-studded release party at Eastside Bowl.
There’s a method to Tuttle’s madness. The album has been in the works since 2018, and was inspired by the death of a dear friend. Despite the heavy theme, Tuttle’s characteristic optimism shines through. It’s an acoustic-roots set that reaches for ecstasy, landing in a world where tradition and imagination meet.
“People like to use the words ‘labor of love,’” Tuttle tells the Scene. “But when you look at what a life of professional music does to you, it doesn’t necessarily love you back. When you’re chasing after your dreams, you start to ask: ‘Do you love them or do you lust for them?’ It’s a fine line, I think.”
Recorded over two sessions in Nashville, the 11 songs are grounded in classic bluegrass — often at breakneck speed, as on a cover of Flatt and Scruggs’ “Ground Speed.” Throughout the album, fuzz bass and fiddle played through a rotating speaker collide with pristine banjo, mandolin and guitar runs as a big-hearted bluegrass punk explores the thoughtful depths of the human condition. The record offers mood music for high-mountain hippies, fusing psychedelic rock with rootsy string-band soul, like you hear in standout song “Hard to Say,” a song about recovering from loss that strays from its trad underpinnings with a Jerry Garcia-esque auto-wah banjo solo. Tuttle says he’s always been inspired by traditional acoustic music, but not entirely satisfied by it. And he’s also not afraid to freak people out.
Kyle Tuttle
“I think I’ve always been pretty good at just making music sound exactly the way I want it to sound for my own purposes,” he says. “I love Earl Scruggs, and I also love Jimi Hendrix, the Dead Kennedys and Ozzy Osbourne. Bluegrass music and bluegrass instrumentation is what has drawn me the most, and where I’ve ended up doing the most work. But if there’s some wacky combination of sounds I’m hearing in my head, I’m going to try and put it on the record … and the goofball weirdos like me tend to like what I [like] too, it seems.”
Tuttle has played a few of the new songs live already, but he says to expect a new band including some of his A-list Americana friends to join him on Saturday, along with some special guests (about whom he remains tight-lipped). They plan to give the “goofball weirdos” their money’s worth. The set list is made up of new material, and judging by his band’s lineup — Phoebe Hunt on fiddle, Mike Robinson of Railroad Earth on guitar, Tuttle’s Golden Highway bandmate Dominic Leslie on mandolin and Geoff Saunders (whom you may have seen with Sierra Ferrell’s band) on bass — there’ll be an invigorating zing of energy in the party atmosphere. That’s sure to be enhanced by fellow roots-schooled ringer Lillie Mae’s opening set, and there’ll be limited-edition green-splatter vinyl pressings of Labor of Lust at the merch table.
“It’s a really cool feeling, and there’s a lot of trust involved. Looking to your side and seeing your buddy, your friend who you’ve got a connection with that’s beyond just music … the magic moments pretty much just start happening right out of the gate. I just hope everybody walks out feeling like they had a damn good time.”
