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The Old Apple Tree Molly and Jack Tuttle
Reviewed by: B Hough 6/3/2007 12:00:00 AM


Molly and Jack Tuttle: The Old Apple Tree Back Studio Records Palo Alto, CA www.jacktuttle.com c. 2007 Song list: I Wish You Knew, It’s Hard to Tell The Singer From the Song, Graveyard, Walking the Dog, June Apple, Rain and Snow, The Old Apple Tree, Stepstone, Air Mail Special on the Fly, Muleskinner Blues, Kentucky Waltz, Going Down That Road Feeling Bad, Little Maggie, Alabama Jubilee, Diamond Joe. Jack Tuttle was recently honored by the CBA with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Jack has been an influential bluegrass musician and teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area, but perhaps he would agree that another one of his lifetime achievements is the nurturing of Molly Tuttle’s musical talents. Molly started playing bluegrass guitar at age 8 and now at the ripe old age of 14, she has become not only a talented guitar player but she is also a banjo player and up-and-coming vocalist as well. Molly and Jack are joined by multi-instrumentalist John Kael on bass and the three of them romp through 15 songs that Jack describes as “my vision of (the) bluegrass sound” with the “dynamic interplay of instruments and voices, flavored by the rhythm, quality and expressiveness of each.” Father and daughter duos are rare, but Jack and Molly have a marvelous vocal blending with Molly belting out her solos with an authority that belies her age. She has just the right amount of angst in her version of Hazel Dickens’ “It’s Hard To Tell The Singer From the Song” with its tale of a woman who lives the song she sings and is “all used up and forgotten, and scattered everywhere.” They turn the tables on the murdering men by having the woman do away with the guy in the classic “Rain and Snow.” Yeah, Molly! She also shows some classic Monroe yodels and high lonesome vocals on “Muleskinner Blues,” and Jack adds some tasty mandolin, fiddle, and banjo breaks. Molly has also been playing old time banjo and her rumbly Charles Waldman banjo is a perfect balance to her voice in Cousin Emmy’s “Graveyard” with its command to “not bury me at all – you can pickle my bones in alcohol.” She jumps into spirited bluegrass banjo style with Jack taking the fiddle leads on “June Apple.” Another apple is featured in Molly’s original song, “The Old Apple Tree” and the easy flowing melody of the song shows that Molly has some strong composing talents as well. There’s more Tuttle children in the wings – look out Cherryholmes!		More Information About This CD

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