The Eisenson Family Prize for American
Roots Music at Berklee

Tonight, in recognition of their excellence in American roots music, we are honored to present the third
annual Eisenson Family Prize for American Roots Music at Berklee to Sierra Hull “11 and Molly Tuttle
B.M."14. Past recipients of this award include Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton in 2017, and Tom Piazza
in2018.

Sierra Hull

Sierra Hull "11 has been recognized from age 11 as a virtuoso mandolin player,
astonishing audiences and fellow musicians alike. Now a seasoned touring
musician nearing her mid-20s, Hull has delivered her most inspired, accomplished,
and mature recorded work to date-no small feat. Weighted Mind is a landmark
achievement, not just in Hull's career, but in the overall world of folk-pop, bluegrass,
and acoustic music. 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 and 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.

 

Molly Tuttle

Molly Tuttle B.M. "14 speaks softly. Her voice is both lilting and lucid, and when she
says that she wants to create music that is truly original and unmistakably hers, her
quietness shifts into a steely audacity that's charming and almost funny--she's only
26, after all. But then, you remember her songs and her playing. And it hits you:
brash, beautiful originality is exactly what she is doing.

 

The 2017 release of her debut EP, Rise, further introduced Tuttle to a roots music audience who had
already enthusiastically embraced and elevated her. Her 2017 and 2018 wins for Guitar Player of the
Year from the International Bluegrass Association (IBMA) were history-making, as the first woman to

be nominated for the honor. The accolades have kept coming in 2018 with Folk Alliance International’s
International Folk Music Awards awarding her Song of the Year for "You Didn't Call My Name," and
being named Instrumentalist of the Year by the Americana Music Association. The past year has seen
Tuttle performing for enthusiastic audiences on such prestigious stages as Celtic Connections, Mariposa
Folk Festival, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, Americana Music Festival, and Philadelphia Folk Festival,
as well as dozens of sold-out headline performances.

With all of this recognition, it might be easy to forget that Tuttle has yet to release a full-length album.
In between tours, she managed to find time to craft her eagerly anticipated debut album, When You're
Ready, with producer/engineer Ryan Hewitt (the Avett Brothers, the Lumineers), which will be released
April 5,2019 on Compass Records.