Crooked Tree is Molly Tuttle’s third studio album, her first for Nonesuch Records and the first to carry her band Golden Highway’s name beside hers. It was released on April 1, 2022. Tuttle co-produced it with dobro player Jerry Douglas, and it was recorded live at Ocean Way studios in Nashville.
Tuttle sings and plays guitar on every track, with Golden Highway’s Dominick Leslie on mandolin on most of them and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes on fiddle on the title song. The session credits add Ron Block on banjo, Jason Carter and Christian Sedelmyer on fiddle, Jerry Douglas on dobro, Mike Bub, Viktor Krauss and Todd Phillips on bass, and Tina Adair and Block on harmony vocals. Guests include Margo Price on “Flatland Girl,” Billy Strings on “Dooley’s Farm,” Old Crow Medicine Show on “Big Backyard,” Dan Tyminski on “San Francisco Blues,” and Gillian Welch on “Side Saddle.”
Ketch Secor is listed as co-writer on eight of the thirteen songs. The title song is by Tuttle and Melody Walker; Tuttle has said the two of them started from a quote by Tom Waits about the crooked trees being the ones left standing when a forest is cut. A deluxe edition followed on December 2, 2022, with four added tracks.
The album won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, and Tuttle was nominated that year for Best New Artist. At the 2022 International Bluegrass Music Awards it brought her five nominations, including a win for Female Vocalist of the Year, and it took Album of the Year at the 2023 International Folk Music Awards.
Tracklist
- 1 She'll Change 2:42
- 2 Flatland Girl (feat. Margo Price) 2:35
- 3 Dooley's Farm (feat. Billy Strings) 3:41
- 4 Big Backyard (feat. Old Crow Medicine Show) 3:17
- 5 Crooked Tree Source Recording 3:52
- 6 Castilleja 3:17
- 7 The River Knows 3:33
- 8 Over the Line (feat. Sierra Hull) 3:01
- 9 Nashville Mess Around 2:33
- 10 San Francisco Blues (feat. Dan Tyminski) 4:04
- 11 Goodbye Girl 3:22
- 12 Side Saddle (feat. Gillian Welch) 2:45
- 13 Grass Valley 3:52
