Molly Tuttle, Lukas Nelson - 9/30/26 - Fresno, CA - Warnor's Theatre

Molly Tuttle was the first act of the night, and this was the third or fourth time I've seen her perform. She still puts on a great show, and is still very talented, both as a singer and even more so as a guitar player, an absolutely incredible guitar player. None of that has changed. What has changed, though, is her sound.

The first couple times I saw her, it was with her backing band Golden Highway, and the music they played was almost entirely bluegrass. It was all acoustic, it was ripping, it was fun, it was exactly what you'd think of when you think of a bluegrass band. However, since then, Golden Highway has dissolved, with the members going off on solo careers and in other directions.

Molly herself has gone in a new direction as well, with music that sounds like country or rock and that's played with electric instruments and a drumset (I think Molly only played an acoustic guitar, but there was at least a bass guitar on stage). It still sounds good, and it's still a fun show, but it's not as special as Golden Highway was. Which makes me ask myself the question, 'should I be disappointed, or feel let down, when an artist I love starts doing something new?' I mean, it's totally within her rights to play the kind of music that she wants to. She doesn't owe me, or anyone else, a lifetime of strictly bluegrass. She can play whatever she wants to.

Maybe I'm worried that she's chasing fame and unprecedented financial success by making music that will theoretically appeal to a broader audience? Like I want to tell her she's beautiful, and her music is beautiful, just the way she/it is, and she doesn't need to change for anyone. But she's a strong woman who has dealt with issues like that her entire life (like alopecia), so she probably knows better than anyone that she doesn't need to change to make other people. She just needs to be happy herself.

Which, logically, leads to the conclusion that she must be making new music like this because it does make her happy and that it is what she truly wants to do, which is all that really matters.

To be fair, there was still a fair amount of bluegrass in the show. And it was great. The rest of the show was great as well. I just hope there's at least one more Golden Highway tour in the future.

Lukas Nelson was on after Molly Tuttle, but it was a long day and by the time he got on stage I wasn't really in the mood to take notes or do any serious analysis. I just wanted to move around to some good music, and Lukas and his band gave me what I wanted.