Story Behind the Song: Molly Tuttle, ‘Take the Journey’

Molly Tuttle's first full-length studio album, 2019's When You're Ready, bravely tests uncharted, new waters, moving past her bluegrass roots and into more experimental, rock-inflected territory. No song better represents that transition than the project's first single, "Take the Journey."

Not only does the track call to mind an epic hero's journey, with lyrics that urge the listener to set out for new horizons, but Tuttle says the song also serves as a good bridge between her two musical worlds. To find out why, read on for the story behind "Take the Journey," told in the artist's own words. 

That one I wrote with my friend Sarah Siskind, and I came up with that clawhammer guitar part when I brought it home, and thought it could work really well for that modal tuning I brought it into.

[The song] seemed like a good bridge from what I'd done in the past, and my bluegrass background. It had kind of a more traditional sound to the song than some of the other stuff on the album. I thought it could be a nice place to start as a first single -- something that wasn't too far removed from what I'd done in the past, but it's definitely representative of the new sound that I was going for.

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