Sierra Hull, Takes a Weight Off Her Mind
By: Bill Conger
"Thumbs up or thumbs down? Mandolin ace Sierra Hull pondered her fans’ and peers’ reaction to her new music while she was preparing to perform at last year’s Wide Open Bluegrass Festival in Raleigh, N.C. Picking up the mandolin at age eight, Hull had traveled the bluegrass festival circuit many a weekend growing up, while her friends enjoyed sleepovers and playing sports.
“I loved it,” she recalls. “I loved playing. I loved the traveling. I consider myself to be a people person, and I’ve always loved getting to meet new people, and the community itself of bluegrass music and the music world in general was exciting to me.” But some of the same people who had heard her sing and pick for the last 16 years were about to hear a new Sierra sound."