Had the pleasure of attending the Salute the Songbird live podcast event at Chief’s on Wednesday. Host Maggie Rose sheds a spotlight on some of her favorite female musical heroes in her Podcast, now in Season 4. This season she’s taping live, bringing listeners into the room. Guests have included Ashley McBryde, Melissa Etheridge, Grace Bowers, Ani Difranco and more. Tonight she welcomed Grammy Award winning bluegrass artist Molly Tuttle.

The podcast started off with Maggie taking the stage to play a few songs. She tried out a new one “Same Way” for the first time live and the audience seemed to enjoy it. Fans went crazy when she hit those powerhouse note she’s known for.

Rose, an empowering female artist in her own right was just nominated for a Grammy at the 2025 Awards for Best Americana album “No One Gets Out Alive”. With questions that are thoughtful and inquisitive, she draws you in. She invites Molly to the stage and they embrace like old friends. The interview feels like just that. A conversation between friends. One that we are lucky to be a fly on the wall listening. That night Molly’s band was headed to a rescheduled concert. Not wanting to cancel, Tuttle stayed behind to catch a late flight immediately after.

Over the next 30 minutes or so they talk about Molly Tuttle’s journey, both inside and outside of music. Molly opens up about how difficult it was her first year in Nashville. Being introverted made it harder for her to make friends and music connections, but in time she found her circle. She recounts tales of the early days. She tells us how one of her first roommates apartments had a rotating circle of musicians in and out, performing and collaborating. She reminisces about meeting Billy Strings at a Folk music conference, and later becoming roommates. She formed a band with her brother and his friend called “AJ Lee and The Tuttles” and started gigging around town. And doors began to open.

Molly often gets invited to sit in and play with other artists, which she absolutely loves. She shares an embarrassing story about a punk band inviting her to play with them at a show. During the song Molly and her fiddle player were trading off licks when the band just stopped, leaving them in the spotlight in front of 30,000 fans. She had used one of their tuners and felt her high E string was off, so she tried to adjust her playing. She says her band jokingly said they wanted to pretend it wasn’t her playing.

Tuttle gets vulnerable as she opens up about her journey with Alopecia Areata, a common autoimmune skin condition causing hair loss. As a child she dealt with people saying all kinds of mean things, even pulling off her ever present hats. In high school she began expirementing with wigs. It stopped the questions and allowed Molly to feel more secure in her skin. However good that all was, it weighed on her that she was keeping a secret from her friends. Slowly she began to tell people. In 2017 she reached out to the Alopecia Conference to inquire about performing and being an advocate for a cause that was near and dear to her heart. On the plane ride there she posted a photo of herself without her wig to social media and the response was overwhelming. Once at the conference she performed sans wig and felt an even bigger sense of freedom. While she wears wigs onstage, she often takes a moment to share her story and hold up her wig to the crowd. They go wild every time.

The podcast ended with a few tunes from Molly. She played “San Joaquin” off her new album “City Of Gold”, and her Alopecia freedom tribute “Crooked Tree”. For the grand finale Rose joined her to perform a Rolling Stones Cover “She’s A Rainbow “. The crowd cheered enthusiastically.

As an added bonus I got to say thank you to Maggie after the show. As a female in the music industry (and a journalist) the interview was inspiring to watch. Thankful to have been a part of such a cool experience.