Sierra Hull’s Star Continues to Rise with Grammy Nomination

For Best Folk Album

2016 marked a year of momentous achievement for mandolin prodigy Sierra Hull. Weighted Mind was released in January to tremendous critical acclaim. A year long headlining tour to support her album commenced, and she was tapped to co-host the International Bluegrass Music Awards with Dan Tyminski. She also took home the award for IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year, making her the first woman in the organization’s history to receive that honor; and in December, Weighted Mind received a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. Recently, Weighted Mind was cited on some year-end “best of” lists.

Hull’s winter tour, which continues today in Augusta, Ga, will include stops in New York, Chicago, and Denver. Hull will also perform at the Grammy Museum’s Clive Davis Theater on February 1 as part of its Americana Series. This special evening will include a performance and an intimate conversation about her career moderated by Scott Goldman, Vice President of the Grammy Foundation and MusiCares. A full list of dates is available below.

Hull has been recognized from age 11 as a virtuoso mandolin player, astonishing audiences and fellow musicians alike. Now a seasoned artist in her mid-20s, Hull has delivered her most inspired, accomplished, and mature recorded work to date; which is no small feat. Weighted Mind is a landmark achievement, not just in Hull’s career, but in the world of folk-pop, bluegrass, and acoustic music overall. With instrumentation comprised largely of mandolin, bass, and vocals, this is genre-transcending music at its best, with production by Béla Fleck and special harmony vocal guests Alison Krauss, Abigail Washburn, and Rhiannon Giddens adding to the luster. Hull speaks eloquently, in her challenging and sensitive originals, her heartfelt vocals, and once again breaks new ground on the mandolin. Béla Fleck guests on banjo on two tracks, and duo partner Ethan Jodziewicz not only anchors the record on bass, but introduces us to a major new instrumental voice.

In addition to the Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album, Weighted Mind made it onto several “best of” lists in 2016, including The Bluegrass Situation, Huffington Post, and The Tennessean, which calls the album “a confident collection of deeply personal songs and stunning instrumental work.”

Hull is set to continue touring in support of Weighted Mind with her musical partner, bassist Ethan Jodziewicz. Hull’s spectacular live shows receive praise from fans and critics alike, with a recent live review in No Depression noting, “Even going into this evening already having heard the impressive results of Weighted Mind, Hull’s live delivery went so far past the already engaging and praiseworthy level of those recordings that it was impossible not to get sucked into the moment and at times, feel nothing but pure awe. Just to say, ‘the live performance gave more’ isn’t enough.”