Former Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway Fiddler Bronwyn Talks Songwriting On New Album For the First Time: ‘I Need a Catalog That Is Mine’
Categoria: Musica
Bronwyn shares how she stepped into songwriting on her new solo album, Rattlin’ Bones.
Por Billboard | 18/08/2026
In 2020, two-time IBMA Award-winning bluegrass fiddle player Bronwyn released a project, Fiddler’s Pastime , that showcased her prowess on the instrument. A year later, she joined Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, earning a best bluegrass album Grammy in 2023 for her work on the album Crooked Tree . Since then, each solo album has seen Bronwyn sifting through new musical elements. Her 2024 set I Built A World showcased her lead vocals. And when Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway amicably parted ways in 2025, as the members pursued solo careers, Bronwyn used the past year to delve more deeply into crafting her own music. As a result, her latest solo album, Rattlin’ Bones — which was released Aug. 14 and mixes sonic textures including bluegrass, alt-country and jamgrass — adds another layer to her artistry: songwriting. “It’s definitely been organic … me just kind of feeling my way forward artistically and exploring things that interest me,” Bronwyn tells Billboard . “I had considered trying to write some songs for [ I Built A World ], but singing was such a new thing for me that I felt I should just focus on singing good songs written by other people,” she continues. “But once I made that record, and started performing and singing more, I started to get to know my voice better and what kind of songs appealed to me. I realized I wanted to pursue a solo career, and at that point I was like, ‘Most of my favorite artists write at least some of their own material. If I’m going to do this, I need a catalog that is mine.” The first person Bronwyn reached out to was songwriter Melody Walker, known for co-writing some of Tuttle’s hits, including “Crooked Tree” and “The River Knows,” as well as writing songs recorded by Sierra Ferrell. For Rattlin’ Bones , Walker and Bronwyn wrote “The Ride” and “Sticks and Stones,” among others. “That’s the thing I found about co-writing, is it’s really validating when someone says they like your idea, and it’s nice to have someone else give you a little encouragement,” she says. Bronwyn wrote six of the album’s songs with longtime John Prine collaborator Pat McLaughlin, whom Bronwyn’s husband, fellow bluegrass fiddle player and multiple International Bluegrass Music Association award winner Jason Carter, was working with at the time. “Pat and my husband had been writing some songs around the house,” she recalls. “I kept hearing these amazing songs coming out of the living room. I’ve been in lots of co-writing sessions where you just don’t connect at all, but with Pat, every single time, we connect on what we like. I think our taste is just similar, and we write at a similar pace.” One of the half-dozen tracks they wrote together was “Gallatin Road,” a deservedly funky homage to one of Nashville’s classic funky areas. The song also features Nashville artist Timbo. “I feel like there’s a tradition of songs about different roads, like Tyler Childers’ “Whitehouse Road” [from his 2017