Watch: Sierra Hull Performs Four-Track Set from ‘A Tip Toe High Wire’ for Jam in the Van
Photo Credit: Bethany Brook Showalter and Spencer Showalter
Today, Jam in the Van has shared another intimate recording from its mobile studio, this time centering mandolin master Sierra Hull. Captured backstage at 2023’s Whale Rock Music and Arts Festival in Paso Robles, Calif., Hull’s performance documented four tracks from her fifth studio album A Tip Toe High Wire long before the project’s long-awaited arrival on March 7 of this year. These early recordings of “Boom,” “Let’s Go,” “Muddy Water” and “Lord, That’s a Long Way” chart their growth into the vibrant final takes.
In her stripped-back Jam in the Van set, Hull is joined by bandmates Shaun Richardson on guitar and Avery Merritt on fiddle, both of whom contributed to A Tip Toe High Wire. The trio connects for high-energy interplay and immaculate harmonies, propelled by Hull’s virtuosic instrumental and vocal performance and complete, of course, with some lightning-quick picking. Watch the captivating performance below, and read on for Hull’s account of the background for each of these selections, excerpted from her interview for the latest issue of Relix.
“‘Boom’ was one of the first things that we recorded during these sessions,” Hull shared. “Some of the music I’ve made in the past and songs like “Spitfire” on this record lean a little bit more into the lyrically vulnerable space. With “Boom,” there’s a joy that inspired one aspect of what the record would become… I liked the idea of opening the album with a welcoming vibe so the listener would know that there’s going to be joy scattered throughout this album.”
“Sometimes you start writing and you don’t know where things are heading,” she said of the inspiration for “Let’s Go,” “but this was about the idea of being on tour so much. The second verse, “Middle of nowhere staring at a wall/ Under the big sky feeling so small” was sort of a nod to Big Sky, Mont., and thinking about the beautiful places that we had just been. But then sometimes you’re in the middle of nowhere in some place, stuck in a dressing room somewhere, and it’s cold outside or it’s raining, so you can’t really go out and enjoy walking around… So it’s this funny juxtaposition, but I think that’s the beauty of touring. You wind up having these moments where you can feel all the wonder of these beautiful places and you learn to appreciate them because it’s not always like that.”
“Sometimes you write something, and you think, “What does that even mean?” But it painted this story to me,” she reflected on “Muddy Water.” “I’m singing the song in the third person, but I definitely feel like I’m singing as much to myself as anyone else. The idea is that sometimes we feel that if we let somebody in on who we really are when all of our walls are down, they’re going to think we’re not interesting and that whatever we are is not enough. It’s a really silly way of thinking because we’re all beautiful, unique individuals, but, at times, we feel insecure and feel like we’ve got to appear a certain way.”
“Many of the songs on this album started with something that I had already been messing with, then I collaborated with somebody to finish,” Hull detailed of her Pat McLoughlin co-write “Come Out of My Blues.” “But with this one Pat brought the song. He had the opening lyric: “Birds are singing right outside my door/ Songs I’ve never heard ‘em singing before.” I thought, “Oh, that’s really a sweet sentiment.” But it was a much different melody—more of a straight ahead kind of country melody. Then, a couple months later, I was sitting with my mandolin in my hand and changing strings, so they were sort of split-tuned in kind of an unconventional way that I thought sounded kind of cool. Bill Monroe sometimes would experiment with split tune things and a couple of his songs had unique tunings. So I was imagining something that would be a fun nod to that Bill Monroe-meets-old-timey thing.”
Hull is currently touring in support of her first record since 2020. She’ll take the stage next at Charleston, S.C.’s Charleston Pour House on April 17, then run through 35 further performances–including high-profile stops on the festival circuit and a stint on the Outlaw Country tour–through Oct. 30. For tickets and more information, visit https://www.sierrahull.com/
