Sierra Hull and Friends Tread the Tightrope

Friday night, Sierra Hull went tiptoeing across a high wire of bluegrass excellence with help from a few friends. 

Hull, a prodigious mandolin picker and singer-songwriter from Byrdstown, Tenn., celebrated the release of her aptly titled album A Tip Toe High Wire with a sprawling set of string-band music at Brooklyn Bowl. To commemorate the new songs, Hull invited a rotating cast of collaborators to join her, including banjo legend Béla Fleck, guitar ace Molly Tuttle and multi-instrumentalist Justin Moses (who’s also Hull’s husband).

High Wire is the first album in five years from the 31-year-old musician. She released the LPindependently after parting from Rounder Records, the label that signed her as a can’t-miss 13-year-old who was catching fire in bluegrass circles. She toasted the new record the best way an artist can: by playing it start to finish, with some catalog classics thrown in. Backstage a half-hour before her set, Hull likened release day to a birthday, in part because of the well wishes that roll in. 

“There’s a part of me that feels most at home when I can share my own music,” Hull told the Scene. “That’s when you can, in some ways, give the fullest piece of yourself.” 

Onstage, Hull and her four-piece group (Avery Merritt on fiddle, Shaun Richardson on guitar, Erik Coveney on bass and Mark Raudabaugh on drums) wasted no time digging into the songs and showmanship that make them — alongside fellow genre-pushing artists like Billy Strings and the aforementioned Tuttle — a must-see ticket in bluegrass today. The show balanced freewheeling fun with sincere storytelling. One moment, the band was swapping riffs while the crowd howled along to rowdy instrumental “Movement 3,” a fan favorite (that’s also part of a concerto commissioned in 2022 by the FreshGrass Foundation) played early in Friday’s show. Before they knew what hit them, Hull was silencing onlookers with album closer “Haven Hill,” an earnest tale that wouldn’t be out of place in an intimate afternoon jam. 

After opening the show with “How Long,” a song from her 2020 album 25 Trips, Hull and company offered a selection of older songs before setting their sights on High Wire. The album begins with “Boom,” a song whose head-bobbing groove gives way to a chorus marked by layers of harmonies. 

“I’ve been looking forward to tonight for quite some time,” Hull said from the stage before the album segment. “I’ve been living with this music for a while, but now we get to give it to you.” 

Stephanie Lambring, a stop-you-in-your-tracks indie songwriter, opened the show with a solo performance of her unvarnished songs that give attention to life’s everyday struggles. Both her “Fine” and “Hospital Parking” floored the audience. Lambring returned to kick off the parade of guest appearances in Hull’s set with a rendition of High Wire’s “Muddy Water,” a tune Hull introduced as “peeling back the layers” of a person until the truth shows. 

Later, Tuttle joined in on harmonies and guitar for the life-on-the-road tune “Let’s Go,” while Fleck added his banjo touch to “E Tune,” a crowd-pleasing instrumental whose studio version he also performed on. But no song hit quite like “Redbird,” an indie-folk ballad dedicated to Hull’s late grandmother, in which she sings: “Redbird out my window / Won’t you take me with you when you go?”

After High Wire, Hull returned to her catalog, with a little support from the crew, of course. Tuttle and Fleck joined for “Black River,” a haunting number highlighted by the latter’s banjo skills. Tuttle assisted on upbeat country tune “Best Buy” before Fleck returned for a rollicking rendition of his instrumental “Stomping Grounds,” during which Hull and the band embarked on an extended jam while the crowd stomped along.

The ensemble briefly exited before their one-song encore, a mandolin-and-fiddle take on Tears for Fears’ “Mad World.” Hull and her group make the ’80s pop staple their own, providing a fitting end to nearly two hours of confidently treading the tightrope between tradition and innovation.