Mar
18

Sierra Hull @ HI-FI

HI-FI

Indianapolis, IN

Tickets

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Event Details

SIERRA HULL W/ TAYLOR RAE @ HI-FI INDIANAPOLIS

DOORS: 8:00 PM, SHOW: 9:00 PM

GENERAL ADMISSION, LIMITED SEATING.

AGE RESTRICTIONS: 18+

ALL TICKETS ARE NON TRANSFERABLE AND NON REFUNDABLE. SUPPORT ACTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

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About Sierra Hull:

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Sierra Hull’s positively stellar career started early. That is, if you consider a Grand Ole Opry debut at age 10, called back to the famed stage a year later to perform with her hero and mentor Alison Krauss to be early. She played Carnegie Hall at 12; at 13 signed with Rounder Records and issued her debut, Secrets, and garnered the first of many nominations for Mandolin Player of the Year. She played the Kennedy Center at 16 and the next year became the first bluegrass musician to receive a Presidential Scholarship at the Berklee College of Music. As a 20-year-old, Hull played the White House.

It’s only a two-hour drive to Nashville from her tiny hometown hamlet of Byrdstown, Tennessee. Hull credits her family for paving the first few miles to Music Row. Her mother, holding her as a toddler, taught her to sing. She ran next door to hear Uncle Junior pick mandolin, and listened intently to the church choir on Sundays. Her Christmas gift- a full-sized fiddle- proved too daunting. While waiting for a smaller replacement, her father showed her some notes on the mandolin. Hull was hooked, soon known as the eight-year-old wowing the locals at bluegrass jams.

She found inspiration in Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, and Sam Bush. And, just as importantly, affirmed her own sense of identity in the album covers of Rhonda Vincent, the queen of bluegrass. She heard the words of her parents, prepping her for life’s big moments yet to come, repeatedly instilling the mantra: Hard work, more than anything, will get you somewhere. It certainly did.

In 2010, Hull captured her first IBMA award for Recorded Event of the Year. She was shedding the prodigy tag, turning virtuoso, and releasing her second album, Daybreak, with seven of her own original compositions. In Byrdstown, she hosted an eponymous annual bluegrass festival.

“There’s a voice in the back of my head telling me to keep working, to keep moving forward,” Hull says. “You have to keep progressing and introducing new things.”

By 2016, Hull had reached a more mature place in her life and in her art. She tapped legendary bluegrass musician Bela Fleck to produce her third album, Weighted Mind. A departure from her opening pair of records that blended progressive elements with traditional structure, Hull let go of whatever preconceptions existed- both hers and those of her audience- and birthed a Grammy-nominated masterpiece.

“I created from a more vulnerable, honest place by asking myself what kind of music will I make if I’m not at all concerned with genre,” says Hull. “What do I want to say with my music? What do I want to feel when I stand onstage and sing these songs? I needed to have a deeper connection.”

Enlisting bassist Ethan Jodziewicz (and Fleck on two cuts), and harnessing vocal contributions from Krauss, Abigail Washburn, and Rhiannon Giddens, Hull trusted her foundation of influences to support this artistic leap. Months later she was taking home the Mandolin Player of the Year. After a near-decade of consecutive noms, Hull broke that last glass ceiling, becoming the first woman to win the prestigious title. Of all the numerous awards and achievements Sierra Hull has earned, that one occupies a special place on the mantel. Then she took home a pair to join it, winning again in 2017 and 2018.

Hull has maintained a rigorous touring schedule, as well. Even when off the road, she is frequently guesting with friends and legends, joining such icons as the Indigo Girls, Garth Brooks, and Gillian Welch, and performing at the Country Music Awards with Skaggs, Brad Paisley, and Marty Stuart.

She says she’s ready, now, for something new. Currently in the midst of work for the follow-up to Weighted Mind, her next album will consist of all original songs. Beyond that, there are tantilizing ideas she won’t divulge for collaborations and, perhaps, an all-instrumental record. There is a plan, but not a timetable, which is just fine.

“I love playing music. It’s all I ever wanted to do. I don’t see it, necessarily, as a bad thing that I’m slow to make albums. I want my albums to be something I can be proud of.”

About Taylor Rae:

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Singer/songwriter Taylor Rae walks through life projecting a calm self-awareness. And, while there is an aura of purposeful intent in every stride she takes, every note she sings and every chord she plays, there is also a sense of natural ease in every action. This is some still water – and it runs deep. It all began in California with Taylor Rae Vencill’s birth in Santa Cruz. Raised in nearby Ben Lomond, her eclectic musical journey initially took her from the Central Coast to Los Angeles. Taylor played legendary venues Moe’s Alley, Kuumbwa Jazz, the Catalyst and Hotel Cafe, and earned spots at popular area festivals, including DIO Fest (Boulder Creek) and Redwood Mountain Faire (Felton).

In 2017, Taylor won Santa Cruz NEXTies Musician of the Year Award and the next year she struck out for Texas, landing in the musical wonderland of Austin. Since then, Taylor has performed at the legendary Austin nightspot Stubb’s second stage, Nashville’s renowned Bluebird Café, Lexington’s The Lyric Theatre and the Asheville, NC Isis Music Hall. She has shared the stage with a variety of artists including Brandy Clark, Pokey LaFarge, Sierra Hull and The Head and the Heart.

Taylor sang her first song, a cover of Carole King’s “It’s Too Late” at the age of two. She wrote her first song at eight, and by age 10, she had filled entire notebooks with her original lyrics. Taylor was inspired not only by the natural surroundings of her youth, but also the music of Bonnie Raitt, King, Janis Joplin, Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, Jewel, Simon & Garfunkel and Steely Dan, among others. Knowing what her future held, Taylor taught herself guitar at 12 and, by age of 15, played her first paid gig. Since then, she has lived a nomadic life, coloring a bit outside the lines, and exploring the ever-evolving definitions of Americana, Folk, Jazz and Blues - and the vagaries of the human condition. She has earned comparisons to Jones, Maren Morris, Joss Stone and Grace Potter.

Taylor’s Top 20 Americana Music Album Chart debut, MAD TWENTIES, is the culmination of a gently chaotic decade lived with fearless determination, and Taylor shows a sophistication and maturity beyond her 28 years with this collection of 12 originals. Produced by William Gawley, the project runs the gamut from gentle, acoustic Folk to Led Zeppelin-tinged Rock and roadhouse Blues, while also incorporating Jazz and psychedelic influences. The single off of the album, “Home on the Road” remained in the Top 10 on the Americana Music Singles Chart for five consecutive weeks, while the album remained in the Top 50 for 31 consecutive weeks.

No Depression says that “The album introduces a singer fully in command of her vocal gifts and a songwriter who enfolds her lyric sensibility in haunting musical sketches,”; It is an apt description for a largely chronological concept album. Taylor’s incisive lyrics cover a broad emotional landscape, describing a blossoming – then withering – romance in stunning confessional detail. The gently rolling opening cut, “Window,” inspired by a psychedelic experience, affords the first inviting glance into the real-life relationship on which the majority of songs are based, while the sweetly romantic first single, “Fixer Upper,” offers a dreamy optimistic view forward. The paths of touring musician and romantic partner converge in the free-ranging, B3-laden “Home on the Road,” an Americana Music Chart Top 15 single. Taylor’s vocal prowess for searing Blues/Rock is demonstrated in the electrifying “Forgiveness.” Other highlights include the raw, edgy vibe of the politically charged “Never Gonna Do” - a brief but compelling detour from the album’s autobiographical element. The collection closes out with “Taking Space,” a darkly bittersweet epilogue to the love story. “Recording the album was very cathartic; it reflects my own personal journey of self-actualization, awareness and growth,” admits Taylor. “It’s easier to look back on this journey and relationship with gratitude now.”

Since the release of MAD TWENTIES, Taylor’s journey has found her touring non-stop in support of the album, doing countless live shows, podcast interviews, and radio and television appearances to bring her to audiences and critics alike. High profile appearances include Circle TV, Ditty TV, Woodsongs and the NPR Mountain Stage. She played in 28 cities between the months of January and May in 2022.

When Taylor is not working on music, she enjoys reading, practicing yoga and spending time with her long-haired dachshund, Winnie.