Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway Go Back To School

Molly Tuttle announced another tour and we were in!  The good news was that she was playing the Berklee Performance Center on November 17th, back at her old school.  But the bad news was that, though tickets for most of the tour were announced, the BPC was not selling tickets until we weren't looking, apparently.  I checked regularly, but when they finally were available to the general public, the best we could get was second balcony.  Oh well, it's a great venue anyway and we've seen them up close.

Met Dave at Bukowski's in the middle of the construction zone that that part of the city is becoming.  What is going on that there's so much construction in Boston and no affordable housing?  We had a beer there and then a nice dinner across the "street" over at Dillon's, and then wandered around the area for a bit before descending on the BPC, along with the (mostly older) crowd.

Jobi Riccio opened and entertained with a great set of originals, including one called Green Flash that I really liked.  Then Molly and band came on and tore the house down.  She was in cowboy boots, shoulder-length brown hair, and a wide-brimmed hat, looking a bit like Jesse from Toy Story (she discarded the hat after a few songs).  But the long set they played was totally serious bluegrass and just fantastic.  In my mind I was comparing it with some of the best bluegrass concerts I've seen, like Hot Rise at the Somerville Theater or Laurie Lewis at the hall in Lexington.

Can't believe the whole setlist hasn't been posted, but here's what I remember:

• Next Rodeo
• El Dorado
• Down Home Dispensary
• Over the Line
• Yosemite
• Dooley's Farm
• Stranger Things
• Alice in the Bluegrass
• White Rabbit
• Castilleja
• The First Time I Fell In Love
• Sleepy-Eyed John
• Crooked Tree

And there were definitely some other songs I can't remember.  This just blew us away.  El Dorado is such an excellent song it's not fair, and her finger picking is so fast, so ringing, and of such quality.  And she was not shy about directing her excellent band, including having Bronwyn do a fiddle tune she'd written and doing a duet with Dominick.

But the amazing thing was that they crept closer and closer and then let 'er rip with an incredible psycho-bluegrass interlude in the middle of the set, including Alice In the Bluegrass into a move-the-earth, explosive performance of White Rabbit, and an extended jam into Castilleja.

They came back to earth finally and went back to the source with Sleepy-Eyed John.  Molly sprinkled in many references to going to school and living in Boston throughout, and then she introduced the last song of the set with adages about being true to yourself.  What the hell, she took off her wig to great applause and sang to us all about being a Crooked Tree.  What a set of great songs and some exquisite bluegrass!

Most of us thought that was the end of the show and were getting ready to leave, but some people noticed they were setting up a ribbon mike.  And Molly and crew came back out and played the fantastic Take the Journey, which IMO features some unparalleled guitar playing.  We saw her do this up close at the Bull Run and it was just as amazing from the second balcony of the BPC.  Her right hand technique on this is like she's playing a banjo, a cello, and a mandolin all at once.

Molly brought out Jobi for the closer, a sing-along of Dylan's You Ain't Goin' Nowhere, which meant there were 4 ex-Berklee people on stage, though only Bronwyn had graduated.  Kyle told us all that he expected quality crowd participation from the BPC, and we all tried to oblige.

Fantastic show and I can't wait to see this band again., they should not be missed.