Sierra Hull Brings Mandolin Magic & Mountain Soul To The Troubadour in West Hollywood [Photos/Videos]

Step into The Troubadour on any given night, and you’ll feel the ghosts of folk and country music history humming from the rafters. Joni Mitchell once tested her earliest ballads here. Linda Ronstadt cut her teeth during the famed Monday night “Hoots.” Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Carole King—the list is a who’s who of American song. This September, another name joined that storied ledger: Sierra Hull, the Tennessee-born mandolin virtuoso who has been carrying the torch of bluegrass and folk into the future since her days as a child prodigy.

For Hull, the show marked her debut at this legendary West Hollywood club, amid a career that’s already taken her from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl earlier this year as part of Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Fest Tour. And yet, stepping onto The Troubadour’s modest stage with her mandolin in hand, she fit right into the lineage: reverent, joyful, and rooted in storytelling.

Hull’s story is already folklore. She started playing mandolin at the age of eight, released her first album at ten, signed to Rounder Records by thirteen, and was mentored by Alison Krauss before she hit high school. Today, she’s a two-time Grammy nominee, six-time IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year (the first woman to ever win the honor), and one of the most respected acoustic musicians of her generation.

Yet, at The Troubadour, she radiated humility as she reflected on her upbringing in Byrdstown, Tennessee and talked about her granny’s stories as much as her own.

Opener Stephanie Lambring set the stage with a raw, confessional set of folk songs, earning warm applause and a heartfelt shoutout from Hull later in the evening.

Photo: Josh Martin – Sierra Hull, 9/11/25

Hull and her band kicked things off with “Coming Out My Blues”, before easing into the winding, wordless “Lord, That’s a Long Way”, one of several intricate instrumentals from her latest record.

The set was a tapestry of her catalog: “Boom”, “Muddy Water”, and “Movement 3” showcased the band’s all-around virtuosity. “How Long” and “Redbird” reminded the crowd of Hull’s crystalline voice, as much a calling card as her rapid-fire mandolin picking.

The evening’s emotional heart came with “Spitfire”, a song inspired by Hull’s grandmother. Sierra shared a framed photo of her with the audience, telling the story of recording her granny’s recollections and weaving them into the tune. She switched to guitar for the performance, her voice brimming with affection.

Later, Hull gathered her bandmates around a single old-fashioned mic for “Absence”, a nod to her earliest record, before tearing through “Daybreak in Dixie” and a heartfelt cover of Bill Monroe’s “Sitting Alone in the Moonlight”. The spirit of bluegrass tradition was alive, but always through Hull’s inventive lens.

There were playful moments, too. Hull introduced “Best Buy” by telling the story of writing it in the parking lot of a Best Buy, sending the band into a rollicking jam with solos flying in all directions. She welcomed Lambring back onstage for a duet of “Birthday”, and delighted the crowd with another Monroe cover in “Old Dangerfield”.

Photo: Josh Martin – Sierra Hull (left), Erik Coveney (middle), and Stephanie Lambring (right), 9/11/25

To close the main set, Hull mixed introspection with reinvention. “Weighted Mind” flowed into a hauntingly beautiful cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World”, with Hull once again demonstrating her knack for bringing the unexpected into bluegrass.

For the encore, Hull returned alone for “Stranded”, slowly bringing her bandmates back one by one—first guitar, then fiddle, bass, and drums—until the song had blossomed into a communal jam. Together, they rolled seamlessly into “Angeline the Baker”, a buoyant send-off that left the room buzzing like a front porch picking session.

What stood out most at The Troubadour wasn’t just Hull’s jaw-dropping command of her mandolin, but her ability to make an intimate club in West Hollywood feel like a living room in rural Tennessee. She has the rare gift of carrying tradition forward without being confined by it, inviting fans into her story while honoring the voices that came before her.

Hull’s tour continues with stops in Flagstaff, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Waynesboro, Virginia, with more dates across the Midwest through late September. Find tickets here.

If her night at The Troubadour is any indication, those audiences are in for something timeless.

A little bluegrass fire, a lot of heart, and the sweet, soulful sound of a mandolin player at the height of her powers.

Sierra Hull – “Spitfire” – 9/11/25

[Video: Alan Keller]