Judy: Few women get named to
those greatest all-time guitar
player lists that come out now
and then.
But, as special correspondent
Tom Casciato reports, there's
one playing bluegrass who
appears to be on her way.
It's part of our arts and
culture series, canvas.
>> ♪♪ Time is running thin
she'll be on the move again ♪♪
Tom: Molly Tuttle is at the top
of her profession.
Her profession is bluegrass
guitar picker.
♪♪
Tom the first woman named the
: International bluegrass music
association's guitar player of
the year, she was drawn to this
traditional American art form
from the cradle.
But the story of how she got
from here to here is not
entirely traditional.
Start with the title song of her
most recent album, crooked tree.
Molly: I wrote that song with my
friend melody walker, and, um,
we had seen a quote by Tom
It kind of said like when they
chop down the trees in a forest,
the crooked trees are the ones
left standing.
Melody grew up having scoliosis
and had to wear back brace all
through school.
And for me, I lost my hair Tyler
P show when I was three years
old.
I always felt like I looked way
different than other kids.
I got teased for it.
When I stood on stage, that was
something that made me feel good
about myself.
So I had this hat that I would
always wear and I'd, like, pull
it down really low over my face.
♪♪
Tom: She learned to play
stringed instruments from her
dad, jack Tuttle, who taught at
the local music shop in Palo
alto California, the town where
Molly also attended high school.
Molly: When I transitioned to
Palo alto high, it was like a
clean break where I could be
whoever I wanted basically.
And that's when I started
wearing wigs, which was a huge
relief cause I didn't get those
comments.
And like the whispers or people
staring at me anymore.
But it made me feel like I was
keeping an even bigger secret
because now at least I felt like
people couldn't tell as much
that I had alopecia.
Tom: Folks could tell she was
becoming quite a musician,
performing with her father and
brothers, with their friend aj
on mandolin.
Molly: It was called the tuttles
with aj Lee, which is not the
most catchy band name in the
world.
[Laughter]
Tom she honed her craft jamming
: At bluegrass festivals, where
at least once, she found herself
honing her feminism as well.
Molly: And how a bluegrass jam
works is usually, like, you just
pass around solos in a circle
basically.
And so I joined this jam and I
knew most of the people in the
jam, but there was one guy that
I had never met before.
And it was kind of going around
when it gets to me, he leans
over me and points to the banjo
player on my left and says, you
take the solo.
When you're a woman in music, a
lot of times you're second
guessing yourself.
Are they treating me like this
because I'm a woman?
But in that instance I was like,
okay, I know this was real.
I'm not making this up.
>> ♪♪ I just want to ride
bowlegged
bowlegged like the boys ♪♪
Tom did you read music growing
: Up?
Molly: No, not at all.
I learned by ear and I didn't
know anything about what chords
were called.
And that was a struggle when I
got to music college.
They kind of rank you in
different areas, like music
theory, reading, and I ranked so
low, I got like all the lowest
rankings and everything.
It was like one to five and I
was like one, one, one, one,
one.
Tom: What she did know at
Boston's prestigious berklee
college of music was how to
write, play and sing a song.
Professionally, she was on her
way.
But she says always performing
in a wig was nagging at her.
Molly: I decided, like, I can't
like keep this a secret from my
fans anymore.
I want to talk about it openly.
It's alopecia awareness month,
so I thought I would start off
with a reveal, taking off my
wig.
Tom: Nowadays you can find her
raising funds for the national
alopecia areata foundation.
Meanwhile, the fellow who
skipped her solo at that long
ago bluegrass jam might want to
listen to this.
♪♪
Tom fellow musicians marvel.
: Ketch Secor: It's pretty
unparalleled.
It's like the fretboard is a
road that she's been driving
down her whole life.
Tom: One of her frequent
collaborators is old crow
medicine show's ketch Secor.
Ketch: And like, if I had to
pick a surgeon, I'd say, give me
one with a hand like Molly
Tuttle's.
Tom she's also taken unexpected
: Turns for an artist known for
On an album she did of cover
tunes, she included the rolling
stones' psychedelic classic
she's a rainbow.
Molly out of context, to me,
: That sounds kind of like a
feminist empowerment song.
I loved the piano part.
I instantly wanted to learn it
on guitar.
I felt like that was what I
wanted to do with the cover
album, was take these songs and
flip them around and take them
from a totally different
perspective.
And that one, I instantly knew
that I felt like I could bring
my own voice and take on.
Tom: And even when it feels like
she's going old school, there's
often a twist.
San Francisco blues might have
the sound and feel of a classic
country waltz, but its theme is
utterly contemporary -- how
expensive it's become to live in
the bay area.
>> ♪♪ It gets so hard to make
ends meet
now I can't even afford a ride
on cable cars ♪♪
Molly it is crazy.
: Like when I go back to Palo
alto, my mom's like, well, like
none of the grocery stores can
find people to live or to work
there because no one who works
at a grocery store can live
anywhere near Palo alto.
Like our favorite restaurants
and places from when I was a kid
are all going out of business.
If you work at a restaurant you
, have to live like hours away
from Palo alto.
You can't afford to live
anywhere near there.
Same with San Francisco.
Tom: It is music traditional,
yet somehow current.
>> ♪♪ I swore I'd make it back to
stay
to my home across the bay ♪♪
reporter: Maybe that's the fruit
you should expect from a crooked
tree.
For the "Pbs newshour," I'm Tom
Casciato.