'Always More Things To Improve': Bluegrass Star Sierra Hull Talks Growth

Newsweek

22-04-2025

Growth can be hard to measure, especially when you're one of the most respected mandolinists in the world. For Sierra Hull, growth is rooted in exploration.
"There's always more things to improve upon, or dream about," she said.
Hull's new album A Tip Toe High Wire is her first in five years, and her songwriting and mandolin skills emanate coziness throughout making each listen feel akin to sitting on the porch in the summer breeze.
Throughout the album, she expresses vulnerability while reflecting on her journey to lead a "very musical life" and reminding us to enjoy the small things through all the chaos that life may throw our way,
"I can stop myself every now and then and go, 'don't forget about that stillness and how important that is to also fuel creativity,'" she said.
Newsweek sat with Hull to talk about her newest album, the triumphs and trials of being independent, and joining Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan on the Outlaw Music Festival.
Sierra Hull has been named Mandolinist of the Year six times by the International Bluegrass Music Awards.
Sierra Hull has been named Mandolinist of the Year six times by the International Bluegrass Music Awards.
Newsweek: Hi, Sierra, thank you so much for taking your time out to be here today. How are you doing today?
Sierra Hull: I'm good, Devin. How are you doing?
NW: Oh, I'm feeling pretty good as well. You're on tour, you've got a new album out. It's been five years since your last album. What do you think you've grown the most in that time creatively?
SH: Well, five years is both a long time and a short time. You know that feeling of where sometimes you'll go, "Has it really been five years" and then times where it's like, "Wow, it feels like it's been a long time since the last record." I think a big part of that is just time, because it's kind of like looking in the mirror every day. Sometimes you don't notice how you used to have a different haircut, or you're aging or whatever, and then you see a photo of yourself two years ago, and you go, "Oh yeah, that outfit" or "that hairdo," you know? It's like, you don't notice it sometimes, when it's yourself. And I think music is interesting in that way that it's like, I'm always living a really musical life.
I'm always, you know, picking up an instrument or doing something musical in my day, every day. Whether it's practicing, whether it's being able to live a musical life through touring and performing and recording, all that kind of stuff. So sometimes being able to notice the growth in real time is really difficult. I think when I look back and I think about from one record to another, I feel like this record, to me, feels really rooted in a lot of where I came from. Being able to have a bit of a full-circle moment, in some ways, being able to take things I've learned over these five years, whether that's through my collaborations, finding more confidence in who I am, just being OK with who I am, and in some ways the simplicity of that, but also as someone that's really interested in trying to push my own musical boundaries, to discover other things.
So it's sort of an interesting thing to kind of look back on the last record, which felt very exploratory, building an album from the ground up. This album is very rooted in the touring band that I'm playing with now, being a big part of this album. Wanting to sort of have a foundation of the very similar band throughout the record. And, yeah, just leaning into some songs that feel in some ways a mixture of simplicity and exploratory.
NW: I definitely understand that because you've always been known as an innovator. Now that you've gone the independent route, what have you found yourself focusing on when you're talking about that experimentation?
SH: It's interesting. I feel like I'm still figuring out how being independent in this moment is going to fuel my creativity. I do think that there's this feeling of like whatever kind of whimsical idea you might have, it can at least be on the table, which is kind of exciting. I think that the freedom just to kind of go any direction I want right now feels really exciting, while at the same time, it's so fresh that I have no idea really how it's going to affect me coming down the line. I think in the process of making this record, I wasn't really sure if it would be an independent release or not.
I just had the freedom of not being in any kind of contract to kind of, you know, create without any walls, if that made sense. Not that I had, like crazy walls for myself before, but I do think there's a certain amount of freedom you feel when you don't really have to answer to anybody or worry about if someone else is going to like it you can just be like, "Well, if I start working on this and it doesn't go the way I want, then I can shift gears," rather than feeling like, "Oh, I'm putting all my eggs in the basket, you know, here's my album budget I've got to stick to. Here's this thing," you know? So, it's a different kind of ease, but maybe also pressure in other ways too. Because I'm on my own.
NW: Can you talk a little bit about that pressure? Like, how does, what does it feel going into the studio with just like a blank page, basically.
SH: I think it's easier now than it used to be for me. And I think that the older I get, the more you have experience of having done it before. Now that I've made a few records, I've always either kind of co-produced or been super involved, and all my records thus far, but this one really felt a little bit different, and taking the reins and just deciding, "Hey, I can trust myself to go in the studio and take this incredible band." And you know, we had more of an opportunity, in some ways, to workshop this music prior to going into the studio because I was using my touring band as well, and that's different, because a lot of times in my records, I've had my heroes come in and play on stuff, and that's awesome. But there's a little bit of a nervousness sometimes when you're working with somebody you've never worked [with] before, and you're in the studio and you really want the day to go well, and you might be a fan of, you know the people you're working with, but you just don't have that experience with them.
In this case, there was a real comfortability to everyone I brought in the studio on this record, and I think that sort of lowers that pressure level a little bit, where I can just be more direct, I can be more open and know that I can trust that we're going to get what we need.
NW: Amazing. Can you talk a little bit about your self-discovery on this journey, like what you've found out over that break period and what it's done for the new project.
SH: Yeah, I think like being able to go through sort of the quiet of 2020, especially, was a good place for me, because I was expecting to have my last album before A Tip Toe High Wire came out. 25 Trips, that record came out, and then a weekend into the pandemic, the world shut down. Basically a weekend in my album coming out. And so, I was just, I went from thinking I was going to have a year that was just moving 100 miles an hour to like pure stop, full stop.
And so I think, like for all of us, it was just like for me, being a musician, always traveling to being on the go, not just being busy, but just being in a state of movement all the time, being able to be home, being able to, there's a song called "Come Out of My Blues" on the record, on the Tip Toe High Wire record that talks about "Birds are singing outside my door. Songs I've never heard 'em singing before." It's such a simple lyric. But I felt like I was, like, related to that kind of feeling so much, where just the little things you have time to kind of stop and appreciate. And I think, being a musician, we're always on the go. We're always, like, thinking about the next thing that's coming up.
I mean, I have to check myself right now, because I'm back in a really busy state, and when I think back to what that moment felt like, it's wildly different than the moment I feel like I'm in. But I can stop myself every now and then and go, "Don't forget about that. Don't forget about that stillness and how important that is to also fuel creativity." Because I think we create in a different way when we have that sort of open quietness for me, when I'm as busy, even as I am right now, it is a little trickier to try to write and create from that really deep place within us.
And so I don't know, I just feel like that time period and from coming out of that into now, there's a certain sense of like being able to remind myself about how important that is for me to find that quiet time, make sure that I'm carving out that take a time to smell the roses and not just being so busy that even right now, with a lot of amazing things that have been happening this year, and getting back on tour and performances and things around the record, just being present and not finding myself stressed out so much that I can't enjoy it worrying about what the next thing is. So, I feel like it's, yeah, I'm doing better with that balance the older I get, and I think this time period has helped me with that a lot.
NW: Amazing. And speaking of you're back on tour for A Tip Toe High Wire, how has the tour been for you so far? Have you had any memorable stops at this so far?
SH: Yeah. I mean, it's been amazing to get back out there. I do feel like even just this past week, we were out touring, and it's been a month since the record came out, and we played a lot of these songs, even leading up to the album release, we had a big run leading up to a Nashville release show. And you're already playing this music, you're kind of sharing a good bit of it. But now that the records actually been out, and people have been living with it for the past month, my band and I were just kind of talking about this.
We're like, we start playing these songs, and people are singing along, or you see them they get excited when you say, "Oh, we're going to do this song" or whatever. And so, there's a connection that I now feel like the audience has to this music that, like, I already knew this music, right? And I've been living with this music for a long time, but now it does feel different to like be out there and feel, feel that connection that they now have to this music and being able to present it live just feels particularly special the past week or so when we've been out.
But I mean even just this year, we've had some really fun shows. Even aside from the album tour, we were down in Mexico for the Dave Matthews Tim Reynolds festival, and that was such a big fun time. And then even this past week, we had a super fun show in Chicago. There's a really memorable show we played in Charlottesville, Virginia, that was just so fun. I mean, really, all of them are special in their own way. And I think there's, there's definitely some moments where you kind of have to stop, you know, mid-show for me and go, "Wow, this is awesome." I'm still, I'm so lucky that I get to do this.
NW: Speaking of saying, "Wow, this is awesome," you'll be joining the Outlaw Music Festival this year with an insane lineup, including Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and so many others. What's it like to be part of such a legendary lineup, knowing that you have such a storied history yourself.
SH: I mean, you know, to get the invite to be on that tour was kind of like, that was definitely a "Wow! This is awesome" kind of moment. I've known about the Outlaw Tour for a while, and I actually got to jump on the tour for like, three shows. I made this bluegrass record with Sturgill Simpson several years ago, and I couldn't do the whole tour, but [did] a few of those shows with him. Getting to be out on the tour and see Willie every night, he was just still just slaying, I mean, I was just like, "Oh my gosh. This is so fun."
I think that's the beauty of those package tours too, is not only, you know, in this case, will we get to play our show, and that'll be fun. But just to get to sit back and watch Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Billy Strings and a handful of other artists kind of smattered throughout select dates. So, I mean, it's going to be a hoot. I'm excited.
And the venues, honestly, to get to play like, you know, Hollywood Bowl. I saw Sara Bareilles play an amazing show at Hollywood Bowl a few years ago, and I remember thinking, "Man, what an awesome venue. This would be so cool to get to perform here someday." And, you know, the Gorge in Washington, I've heard about for so many years, but haven't actually been. We're just honored to be part of that lineup, it's going to be pretty amazing.
NW: That's so interesting to hear because you're so accomplished. I figured you'd already played at every venue at this point.
SH: Oh, man, there's still bucket-list places. Of course, I've been really lucky to play some amazing places, that's for sure, but still a few that, you know, you sort of see them eventually pop up on the list and you're like, "Hey, that's gonna be awesome."
NW: Do you have any that you'd still love to play?
SH: Oh, gosh. I mean, you know that those were two that were on my list, I'd have to think about it for a while. I'm sure there are even more.
NW: I won't put any pressure on you. But speaking of your accomplishments, like I said, you've played at almost every venue. You've won Best Mandolin Player six times at the International Bluegrass Music Awards. How do you continue to improve, whether that be technically or songwriting, and what does improvement look like for you? Do you have any future goals?
SH: Oh, gosh, I always feel like the goal, the goal mark, is always kind of a few inches above where you're at, right? And every time that you improve, the goal line just kind of moves with it. So, there's always an equal distance. I feel like it never feels like where I'm at and where the goal is actually ever catches up. And I think that's the beauty of being on this journey as a musician, is that as an artist, like, whether it's the musical side or the career side, there's always more things to improve upon, or dream about.
And everybody's journey is unique in that way. The things we desire and the things that were offered and given in this life, it's all unique to us as individuals. And so trying to, I don't know, just trying to embrace that with gratitude and not get too hung up on the materialistic accomplishments, but just remember that I've been given this gift of music, and that it's something that can keep me excited if I allow it, and I continue to put the work in. There's always something to be excited about learning. It's never like you've learned everything there is to learn. And then that's it, like that same...sounds very boring to me.
It's exciting to have a career path where I can continue to grow. And I think I was so lucky and have been so lucky from such a young age to get to know many of my heroes, and I've got to spend the biggest bulk of my musical life being around some of the most amazing musicians. And you learn so much by watching other people. You talked about us going on that tour this summer. I can't wait for what I'll learn getting to sit back and watch these people perform every day. There's always something to take in and receive, whether it's artistically thinking about your performances, whether it's actually sitting down and learning things with the instrument, transcribing some awesome solo of some random instrument that I've never tried to transcribe before. There's just an endless well, and I think for me that's really what makes this whole thing just forever exciting.
NW: Speaking of that growth with A Tip Toe High Wire being so rooted in growth and like, self-reflection. What would this era of Sierra tell the Angel Mountain-era Sierra about your journey?
SH: Love the Angel Mountain throwback. Not everybody knows about that record. Gosh, I mean, that was a very like local album, that wasn't like widespread, but I made it with when I was 10 years old. I'd been playing two years, playing with these local musicians. And I think, like to think that music would carry me as far as it has both, geographically speaking, all the places musically has taken me in the world, which continues to blow my mind when we get offers to go here, there or wherever but also just to still have the love for it that I do, that I did back then, I think that'd be the thing I'd be most proud to tell young me is that, "Hey, you're still gonna love it. It's still gonna be really fun."
But also, I think, like, you know, the whole thing of just remaining open, and, you know, to come from my bluegrass roots, but now to be able to kind of step into a lot of different genres and collaborate with different people along the way, it's, you know, I don't know that I would have ever expected as a young bluegrass kid sitting in the jam circle at 8 to 10 years old, whatever, playing Bill Monroe and Flatt and Scruggs songs that I'd be jamming in Mexico with Dave Matthews. I don't know that I would have thought that would be happening or about to go on a tour with Bob Dylan, but I think I'd be proud to be able to look back and say, "Hey, you know, it's still gonna be a really fun ride."