"A Tip Toe High Wire" - Sierra Hull album review

One of the most interesting musical developments I’ve made over the last few months has been exploration of the bluegrass subgenre of country. A good friend of mine, Lilly Martin, is a bluegrass fiddler, and has opened my eyes to what I’ve found to be a satisfyingly formulaic type of music. While flying from my hometown back to Nashville after winter break, I listened to Sierra Hull’s latest album, A Tip Toe High Wire. Here are my thoughts!

The album cover for A Tip Toe High Wire

Rating: 7.8/10

That meme of a Victorian era girl shaking her butt represents how bluegrass makes me feel. I was headbanging to “Boom” while on the airplane. “Come Out of My Blues” really brought on the old-timey feeling. Hull sang, “Let’s go walking for a mile or two” (which felt very rural compared to my usual music), and upon hearing the crescendo and fiddle solo, I wanted to dance down the airplane aisle. This desire carried through “Lord, That’s A Long Way”. By “Let’s Go”, I felt as if Hull and featured Celtic singer Aoife O’Donovan were about to do a Disney-esque dance off.  

On the note of who got me into bluegrass, let’s talk about the fiddle. I loved the solos in “Come Out of My Blues” and “Lord, That’s A Long Way”. “Muddy Water” had a beautiful pizzicato moment, and the squeaks on the E-string in “E Tune” scratched an itch in my brain.

The vocals (especially the harmonies) were impeccable throughout the record. The male harmonizer blended perfectly with Hull’s soprano. I was intrigued by “Spitfire” – her voice is almost too smooth for the genre, and yet it works. Combining Hull and O’Donovan’s vocals on “Let’s Go” with the added keyboard sound in the verses, I felt like I was in a musical.

I liked the genre experimentation near the end of the album. The structure of “E Tune” differed from other songs and fascinatingly incorporated what sounded like electric guitar. “Redbird” leaned deeper into popular country. “Haven Hill”, the closer, had a grounded pop feel. The last thing I wrote in my Notes app as I stared at the sunset through the airplane window was, “This feels like the resolution of Frozen”.

What I’ve found most intriguing about the bluegrass realm is where I draw the line between objective and subjective quality. To put it plainly, you cannot be in bluegrass if you’re not very talented. The music is too complicated and too easy to mess up. For that reason, to adore it feels less like a decision and more like a part of my moral code. I deeply admired the artistry displayed on this album. Everything I heard was exquisite, and I would love to understand the theory behind it better. But with all that in mind, it’s not something I would turn on when I'm just chilling and listening to music. That’s just about personal preference. To the album’s credit, I’ve already recommended it to my mom and grandpa, who adore such music. I’ve been enjoying this dip into bluegrass, and I hope to learn more about the subgenre in the future!

You can listen to A Tip Toe High Wire on all platforms now.