Following a major shift from touring with her longtime band Golden Highway to performing with a new ensemble, Molly Tuttle continues to defy expectations with the release of her highly anticipated new solo album, So Long Little Miss Sunshine.
Tuttle’s fifth full-length album marks a significant departure from her previous releases, the last two of which, Crooked Tree and City of Gold, each won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. The new collection was recorded in Nashville with producer Jay Joyce (Orville Peck, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson) and features 11 original songs blending pop, country, rock, and flat-picking—including one murder ballad—plus a cover of Icona Pop and Charli XCX’s “I Love It”.
“I like to be a bit of a chameleon with my music,” Tuttle said. “Keep people guessing and keep it full of surprises.” She added that she had “been wanting to make this record for such a long time,” noting, “Part of me was scared to do such a big departure, and that went into the album title.” Ultimately, she overcame her apprehension and decided, “You know what? I’m just not going to care what people think. I’m going to do what I want.”
So Long Little Miss Sunshine highlights Tuttle’s virtuosic guitar work and is her first album to feature her banjo abilities as well. It was recorded with drummer/percussionists Jay Bellerose and Fred Eltringham, bassist Byron House, and Joyce on multiple instruments. Tuttle’s partner Ketch Secor (Old Crow Medicine Show) co-wrote much of the album and plays banjo, fiddle, and harmonica, as well as singing harmony.
Tuttle takes an empowered stance on the cover of So Long Little Miss Sunshine, which she designed herself, appearing unapologetically bald surrounded by several Mollys, each in a different wig. Tuttle has lived with alopecia areata since age three and now serves as a spokesperson for the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, using her platform to challenge beauty norms and inspire confidence in others facing the same condition.
“I love raising awareness,” she said. “I talk about it onstage a lot and broaden it to include anyone who’s ever had something that makes them stick out and look or feel different from others. Playing my song ‘Crooked Tree’ live is very meaningful to me, because it’s a moment where sometimes I’ll take off my wig and talk about my struggles with self-acceptance.”
The new album features spunky lead single “That’s Gonna Leave a Mark”, which spent four weeks at #1 on Americana Radio. “I wrote ‘That’s Gonna Leave a Mark’ with my friend Kevin Griffin,” Tuttle said. “He has such a brilliant pop sensibility. We reworked it a little bit last year. It’s fun, sort of sassy, and that guitar part is one of my favorites that I play on the record.”
Also included on the tracklist is “Old Me (New Wig)”, an anthem of empowerment “about leaving all these things behind that don’t serve you anymore. Parts of yourself that really aren’t in your best interest, like low self-esteem, anxieties, and not feeling confident,” Tuttle explained. “Learning to own these different aspects of my personality but not letting them control me is another theme of the record that inspired the album title and the cover art. Those are all things I’ve struggled with through the years—just feeling like an impostor, like I wasn’t good enough. I like singing this song because there are days when I still have to tell myself to leave that stuff behind.’”
The album’s opening track, “Everything Burns” was written in 2020, at the start of the Covid pandemic, but also reflects the current chaos and division in America. Other songs like “Highway Knows” and “Oasis” offer a window into the life of an itinerant artist, while reflective cuts including “Easy” and “Golden State of Mind” tell “a kind of coming-of-age story,” according to Tuttle.
“‘Golden State of Mind’ is one of the songs I feel is a through-line to that. It makes me think about people I’ve been close to in the past that I’ve drifted away from, and about growing up and figuring out who you are.”
“No Regrets”, meanwhile, explores the notion that some mistakes might be worth making because of where they ultimately lead. “It’s about looking back on your life and thinking, ‘Well, maybe I could have done things differently, but if I hadn’t made certain mistakes or gone down certain roads, then I wouldn’t be here.’ And I really like where I am now!” Tuttle explained.
Like Tuttle’s previous two albums, So Long Little Miss Sunshine closes with an autobiographical ballad, “Story of My So-Called Life”. “This is me looking back on my life, from growing up to going to school in Boston to moving to Nashville to where I am now—taking stock of all these pivotal moments throughout my life that made me who I am,” Tuttle reflected. “I feel like after I’ve said so much in all the other songs, it’s just kind of nice to end it on a note of, ‘Here’s how this all came to be.’”
So Long Little Miss Sunshine is out now on CD, vinyl, digital, and streaming platforms. Listen to the album below or click here to order or stream it on your preferred platform.
Tuttle is currently wrapping up her remaining summer tour dates and will take her new live band on the road this fall for The Highway Knows tour, which will kick off on September 10th at Chicago’s Thalia Hall and make stops at Brooklyn Steel in New York, The Fonda in Los Angeles, and more before concluding on December 13th at The Fillmore in San Francisco. Before then, she will embark on a run of summer tour dates starting June 6th in Vail, CO and including an intimate show at New York’s Mercury Lounge on June 24th. Tickets for most of the newly added dates are on-sale Friday, June 6th. Click below for a full list of tour dates and secure your tickets here.
Molly Tuttle – So Long Little Miss Sunshine