Musician and songwriter Sierra Hull has been winning awards and breaking records for her virtuosic mandolin playing for over twenty years. Born in Byrdstown, Tennessee, Hull’s distinctive sound is rooted in traditional bluegrass, yet she has mastered and redefined the genre over her multi-decade career. Today, Hull is widely considered one of acoustic music’s most inventive artists.
Hull started playing mandolin at age eight when her grandmother gave her the instrument as a gift. Her dad showed her a few tunes and chords, and she was soon playing at weekly jams near her hometown. By age ten, Hull was entering regional music contests and released her first album, Angel Mountain. Quickly recognized as a child prodigy, Hull was called to the Grand Ole Opry stage as an eleven-year-old by international star Alison Krauss. She went on to become a well-known singer and mandolin player across the country, playing the White House, the Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall. At age twelve, she landed a deal with Krauss’s label, Rounder Records, to produce her second record, Secrets, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums Chart. She recorded three more albums for the label, each featuring her critically acclaimed songwriting and instrumental and vocal mastery.
Hull is the six-time recipient of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Mandolin Player of the Year award, the first and only woman to ever receive this distinction. In 2009, Hull became the first bluegrass musician to earn the Berklee College of Music Presidential Scholarship. Hull’s projects 25 Trips (2020) and Weighted Mind (2016) garnered her two GRAMMY nominations. Her latest album, A Tip Toe High Wire, which Hull released independently without a record label, is already receiving critical acclaim for its genre defying musical stylings. Her mastery of her instrument has garnered respect from collaborators such as Krauss, Sturgill Simpson, Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Béla Fleck, Bobby McFerrin, Brandi Carlile, Cory Wong, Billy Strings, and more.
In addition to her musical career, Hull has found time to mentor other young musicians. As part of the 2020 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, a program of the Tennessee Arts Commission Folklife Program, she taught ten-year old Wyatt Ellis, veritably jumpstarting his career as a young musician. Hull has been recognized among a small cohort of bluegrass musicians under 40 for advancing the genre and bringing in new audiences. Hull has established herself as a leader among the next generation of bluegrass musicians and continues to propel the genre to new heights and dazzle new audiences with her artistry and grace.
