Sierra Hull on her exciting journey to bluegrass stardom and beyond

Six-time International Bluegrass Music Association award-winning mandolinist and singer-songwriter Sierra Hull occupies an intriguing spot at the intersection between roots music and rock stardom.

On March 23, the native of Byrdstown, Tennessee joins well-regarded Americana artist Gabe Lee at the Basement East for a show more in tune with 1970s-era pop-alternative folk rock than anything familiar to the mainstream-adjacent traditions of Americana or bluegrass music.

When an award-winning and experienced acoustic musician (she played the Grand Ole Opry at the age of 10 and Carnegie Hall two years later) begins playing music with a full band, it's often presumed that they're looking to cause a wild shock to the established system of their career.

Or, if more attuned to the 125-year history of work in which now full-band frontwoman Sierra Hull's work is rooted, she joins an intellectually curious set of peerless musicians whose ability to bridge jazz, rock and soul into Appalachian-borne folk, gospel and old-time music has superseded bluegrass and country music's genre lines.

'Learning, growing and developing' into her finest art

What she describes to The Tennessean as being born artistically into a "warm and welcoming" bluegrass community allowed her to share winning an IBMA award at 19 years of age with over two dozen other female artists as the "Daughters of Bluegrass."

That community was crafted as such by artists like bluegrass godfather Bill Monroe, who was once famously noted as saying, "If you can play my music, you can play anything."

A decade later, taking her early success and statements like Monroe's to heart, she's still "learning, growing and developing" into her finest art.

Since 2008, she's released a solo album for Rounder Records an average of once every four years. That work has stood alongside her collaborating with fellow multiple-time IBMA award-winner (and Grammy-winning) bluegrass artist Molly Tuttle, iconic late "Rocky Top" performer and mandolinist Bobby Osborne and jazz-inspired bluegrassers like banjo player Béla Fleck.

Notably, "Secrets" and "Daybreak," her first two Rounder Records albums, also feature Alison Krauss and Barry Bales as producers. That tandem is best regarded for their four decades of work together in groundbreaking roots-to-country crossover act Alison Krauss & Union Station.

"My musical world has constantly been expanded meaningfully," Hull continues.

'I'm just playing the music I'm hearing in my head'

She's spent the past five of those years also blending her collegiate work at Berklee College of Music into her art. As a touring artist, songwriter and bandleader, her Grammy-nominated 2020-released album "25 Trips" sounds like introspective and soulful acoustic rock more than anything else.

Similar to her IBMA-award-winning victory a decade ago, two dozen artists are also at play in this album's creation. However, the album's most significant victory is Hull's emergence as a solo artist capable of being serviced by many creators instead of being one of many artists contributing to a mix.

Her growth as a songwriter has led her to think beyond bluegrass, folk and old-time music's constructs to craft music that lures crowds that are not well-versed in acoustic sound traditions. She's quick to cite that concerts like the one with her and Gabe Lee at Basement East to Billy Strings at Bridgestone Arena will feature crowds who would've likely felt out of place at a Bill Monroe or Ralph Stanley concert in prior generations.

The opportunity for bluegrass' stereotypes ("Doc Watson and Larry Sparks singing about [things like] the little cabin home on the hill because they, indeed lived in a little cabin home on a hill") to comfortably and naturally blend with modern-era authenticity requires a revised look at what "honest lyricism" looks like in the genre, adds Hull.

On "25 Trips"' "Beautifully Out of Place," she sings, "How long is it gonna take me/To trust myself?"

The album's closer, "Father Time," is about Hull watching her husband, fellow musician Justin Fields, care for his Alzheimer's disease-stricken grandmother. She sings, "Little somethings from the past/That make us cry and make us laugh/Oh they almost bring her back."

Yes, it's bluegrass, but it's also something more.

The artist continues that "relatable music" adjacent to bluegrass' traditions doesn't necessarily have its comfortable genre or niche yet. However, Hull is hopeful that in her work, which progresses many genres ahead, artists caught in the metaphorical folds of time re-emerging and linking multiple generations of work can occur.

Hull cites a tie between her work and that of jazz and progressive rock guitarist — and International Bluegrass Music Hall of Famer — Tony Rice and an artist like Bill Monroe as one quickly drawn by fans who take the time to invest themselves in her work.

"Just like Monroe and Earl Scruggs — and so many other fantastic, similarly spirited musicians through the generations — I'm just playing the music I'm hearing in my head."

An 'exciting' future

Those "fantastic" musicians are like Hull, simultaneously virtuoso creatives and instrumentalists whose ability to harmonize, improvise and innovate in equal measure. Thus, for her, the ability to both absorb art that exists and visualize where she's best able to create in a rarefied space without comparison is important.

Simply put, she's an artist capable of making anything. With 25 years of legendary experience behind her, she's arrived at crafting music in a space beyond known constructs.

In the same sentence, she cites Beyoncé, classical violinist Hillary Hahn, multi-Hall of Famer Dolly Parton, Americana icon John Prine and jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter as her current inspirations.

Her next quarter-century of success could easily eclipse the incredible acclaim she's achieved in the past 25 years.

"I'm a mandolin picker and singer-songwriter with guitar roots who comfortably explores many musical scenes. Having so many fresh, acoustic [metaphorical] voices in my music is exciting."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Sierra Hull on her exciting journey to bluegrass stardom and beyond