Sierra Hull | photo by Fred Knittel for WXPN
Folkadelphia Session: Sierra Hull
They are now Grammy-nominated for Best Folk Album, and rightly so. In 2016, Sierra Hull returned with her third album Weighted Mind for Rounder Records, and it has made a lasting impression in the world of folk and bluegrass, as if she hadn’t already with her prodigious talent (crazy skills on the mandolin and only in her mid-twenties) and collaborations (Alison Krauss, to name one of many).
Like any great roots record, Weighted Mind is completely absent of BS, filler tracks, or studio magic as a crutch. Instead, the album which feels like a single, captivating concert primarily features Hull, singing and picking, and Ethan Jodziewicz playing bass with guest spots that add just a touch of sparkle from Bela Fleck, Alison Kraus, Rhiannon Giddens, and Abigail Washburn. That’s it, nothing more and it is more than enough.
In similarly stripped down circumstances, with Sierra Hull on vocals and mandolin, Ethan Jodziewicz on bass, and Justin Moses on banjo and vocals, the trio performed songs from Weighted Mind for Folkadelphia at the WXPN Studio.