Sierra Hull

Sierra Dawn Hull (born September 27, 1991) is an American bluegrass singer-songwriter, mandolinist, and guitarist.

Hull was signed to Rounder Records at the age of 13 and released her debut vocal album, Secrets, in 2008 at the age of 16. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums chart. Her second album, Daybreak, was released on March 8, 2011.

Early life and career Sierra Hull was born and raised in Byrdstown, Tennessee and attended Pickett County High School before accepting a Presidential Scholarship to study at the Berklee College of Music.

Hull began playing the mandolin at the age of eight and put out the album Angel Mountain at 10. She was soon playing jam sessions with other musicians in her family, and by 2001 she was entering local talent contests. Her parents, Stacy and Brenda Hull, took her to numerous bluegrass festivals and it was during an International Bluegrass Music Association festival that she came to the attention of Rounder Records chief talent scout Ken Irwin. At age 11 she was mentored and befriended by Alison Krauss, herself once a child prodigy on the fiddle. Hull and Krauss, along with Dan Tyminski, performed at the White House on November 21, 2011.

Hull has won ten International Bluegrass Music Association awards between 2010 and 2023, including winning best mandolin player in 6 out of the past 8 years (2016-2023).

Hull received the Bluegrass Star Award, presented by the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation, on October 19, 2013. The award is bestowed upon bluegrass artists who do an exemplary job of advancing traditional bluegrass music and bringing it to new audiences while preserving its character and heritage.

Touring Hull performed with the band Highway 111 at the Gettysburg Bluegrass festival in 2005. She continued to tour, even while she attended Berklee College of Music.

Hull has also recorded and toured with Cory Wong, featured as a supporting act and collaborative partner on a 2022 tour.

Recordings

Secrets Hull's vocal debut album on Rounder Records, released in May 2008, was co-produced by Alison Krauss and Ron Block which follows a self-released CD Angel Mountain, in 2002. The production by Hull and Ron Block paid tribute and honored the tradition and style of bluegrass music. The album contained 3 original songs penned by Hull. She was just 15 when she recorded the album and 16 when it was released.

Daybreak On her 2011 second release on Rounder Records, the 20-year-old wrote seven of the twelve songs. It was produced by Alison Krauss & Union Station bassist Barry Bales. The album features collaborations with Bryan Sutton on guitar and Randy Kohrs on dobro. Guest singers include Dan Tyminski, Shawn Lane and Ronnie Bowman.

Features Hull was a guest vocalist with lead singer James Adkins on the male-female duet "Love Song", featured on the 2015 self-titled album from Americana group Big Virginia Sky.

Weighted Mind Released on January 29, 2016, Weighted Mind, Hull's third LP, was produced by the highly regarded banjo player Béla Fleck, who encouraged Hull to consider recording it solo. Hull, however, decided to enlist an accompanist, bassist Ethan Jodziewicz, who is featured on every track. The album also includes vocal contributions by Alison Krauss, Abigail Washburn, and Rhiannon Giddens.

NPR reviewer Jewly Hight called Weighted Mind a "stunning coming-of-age album," adding that "Hull has joined the rarefied company of Nickel Creek expats Chris Thile, Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins, pedigreed virtuosos whose youthful, searching musical minds have taken them into postmodern singer-songwriter territory and beyond."

Treasure Of The Broken Land: The Songs Of Mark Heard Hull contributed her performance of "Strong Hand of Love" to a Mark Heard tribute album entitled "Treasure Of The Broken Land: The Songs Of Mark Heard" (Storm Weathered Records) in 2017.

25 Trips Released on February 28, 2020, co-produced by Hull and producer / engineer Shani Gandhi, features guitarist Mike Seal, bassist Ethan Jodziewicz, violinist Alex Hargreaves, and fiddler Christian Sedelmyer, together with bassist Viktor Krauss, guitarist Bryan Sutton, multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan, and steel guitarist Paul Franklin, and guest appearances by Molly Tuttle, Ron Block, Mindy Smith, Ronnie Bowman, Katie Pruitt, Angel Snow, and Hull's husband, multi-instrumentalist Justin Moses.

Liam Lewis opined, "25 Trips is an eclectic album, with a contemporary feel, showcasing Hull’s songwriting and exceptional vocals, crystal clear but with emotion and character, on 13 songs, self and co-written on the pleasures and travails of becoming the person and the musician she is today."

Hull appeared as one of the musicians on Cuttin' Grass, the 2020 bluegrass album by Sturgill Simpson.

A Tip Toe High Wire

Released on Mar 7, 2025, this album is her first self-published album since her debut, Angel Mountain, in 2002. It features Tim O'Brien, Aoife O'Donovan, and Béla Fleck. Rolling Stone reported that the album name is a "[nod] to the fine line that Hull walks, keeping one foot in tradition and the other in the progressive quest."

The Movements Released on April 10, 2026, The Movements is a bluegrass concerto following the fast-slow-fast structure, "blending composed passages with room for improvisation." It features Avery Merritt, Erik Coveney, Mark Raudabaugh, and Shaun Richardson.

Personal life Hull (mandolin, second from left) and her husband Justin Moses (dobro, left) in 2022, playing on tour for Bela Fleck's album My Bluegrass Heart.

Hull has a brother, Cody, and is a distant cousin of former United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull. She married fellow bluegrass musician Justin Moses on May 14, 2017. Hull and Moses tour together. She lives in Nashville.

Discography

Albums Title Details Peak chartpositions Sales US Grass US Heat Angel Mountain Release date: 2002 Label: self-released — — Secrets Release date: May 6, 2008 Label: Rounder Records 2 — Daybreak Release date: March 8, 2011 Label: Rounder Records 5 — Weighted Mind Release date: January 29, 2016 Label: Rounder Records 1 5 25 Trips Release date: February 28, 2020 Label: Rounder Records 1 — A Tip Toe High Wire Release date: March 7, 2025 Label: self-released — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart

Other singles Year Single Artist Album 2007 "Hullarious" Sierra Hull An American Tradition 2008 "Just As I Am" Sierra Hull Billy: The Early Years 2010 "Gospel Plow"The Lovell Sisters, Bearfoot, Sierra Hull & The New Generation JamMerleFest Live "Big Sciota" 2011 "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" Sixties Invasion featuring Sierra Hull Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree 2013 "Cups (When I'm Gone)" The Bankesters with Sierra Hull Love Has Wheels 2014 "You're a Flower Blooming in the Wildwood" Mac Wiseman with Sierra Hull Songs from My Mother's Hand 2014 "Promises" Jeff Pippin and the Apple Valley Band featuring Sierra Hull A Malibugrass Christmas 2014 "Let the Wind Be My Friend" Jon Weisberger featuring Sierra Hull & the Lonesome Heirs I've Been Mostly Awake 2014 "New Camptown Races" David Naiditch featuring Sierra Hull, Dennis Caplinger, Jake Workman, Austin Ward, Rob Ickes & Stuart DuncanBluegrass in the Backwoods "Little Rock Getaway" David Naiditch featuring Sierra Hull, Dennis Caplinger, Jake Workman, Christian Ward, Rob Ickes & Austin Ward "The Smooch On the Porch / Bus Stop Reel" David Naiditch featuring Sierra Hull, Jake Workman & Austin Ward "Jamboree" David Naiditch featuring Dennis Caplinger, Sierra Hull, Rob Ickes, Christian Ward, Jake Workman & Austin Ward 2014 "I Always Do" Missy Werner featuring Jon Weisberger, Megan McCormick, Stephen Mougin, Maggie Estes White, Thomas Wywrot, Artie Werner & Sierra HullTurn This Heart Around "Wish I Was" Missy Werner featuring Sarah Siskind, Artie Werner, Megan McCormick, Jon Weisberger, Sierra Hull, Maggie Estes White & Thomas Wywrot "Cloudless Blue" Missy Werner featuring Sierra Hull, Megan McCormick, Jon Weisberger, Maggie Estes White, Thomas Wywrot & Artie Werner "Dead Man Walking" Missy Werner featuring Thomas Wywrot, Larry Cordle, Val Storey, Sierra Hull, Megan McCormick, Jon Weisberger & Maggie Estes White "Come Back to Me" Missy Werner featuring Megan McCormick, Jon Weisberger, Maggie Estes White, Thomas Wywrot & Sierra Hull 2015 "Can't Help Yourself" Cindy Morgan featuring Gabe Dixon & Sierra Hull Bows & Arrows 2015 "Seneca Square Dance" Ron Block featuring Sierra Hull Hogan's House of Music 2017 "They Call The Wind Maria" Bobby Osborne featuring Alison Brown, Sierra Hull & Stuart DuncanOriginal "Country Boy" "Kentucky Morning" Bobby Osborne featuring Dale Ann Bradley, Darrell Scott, Rob Ickes, Sierra Hull & Stuart Duncan "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" Bobby Osborne featuring Alison Brown, Claire Lynch, Rob Ickes, Sierra Hull, Stuart Duncan & Trey Hensley 2017 "Roanoke" David Naiditch featuring Stuart Duncan, Sierra Hull & Jake WorkmanBluegrass That Swings "Back Home Again in Indiana" "East Tennessee Blues" "All of Me" "Cattle in the Cane" "Exactly Like You" "Sweet Georgia Brown" David Naiditch featuring Stuart Duncan, Sierra Hull, Jake Workman & Rob Ickes "Twinkle Little Star" "Ookpik Waltz" 2017 "The Guitar" Mac Wiseman featuring Sierra Hull & Justin Moses I Sang the Song (Life of the Voice with a Heart) 2017 "I Need Thee Every Hour" Shane Clark featuring Sierra Hull The Hymn Awakening 2017 "Strong Hand of Love" Sierra Hull Treasure of the Broken Land: The Songs of Mark Heard 2018 "Swept Away" Missy Raines featuring Alison Brown, Beck Buller, Molly Tuttle & Sierra Hull Swept Away 2018 "Merlefest Mando Mania" Tony Williamson featuring Sam Bush & Sierra Hull with Rebecca Lovell, Mike Compton, Darin Aldridge, Tim O'Brien, James Nash, Tom Rozum & Barry Mitterhoff Heritage 2022 "Over the Line" Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway featuring Sierra Hull Crooked Tree

Music videos Year Title Director 2011 "Easy Come, Easy Go" David McClister "Someone Like You" Brad Paul "Chasin' Skies" "Tell Me Tomorrow" "Daybreak" David McClister 2016 "Black River"

Awards and nominations Year Association Category Nominated work Result 2010 IBMA Awards Recorded Event of the Year (with various artists) "Proud To Be A Daughter of Bluegrass" 2016 Mandolin Player of the Year Sierra Hull 2017 Recorded Event of the Year(with Bobby Osborne and various artists) "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" Grammy Awards Best Folk Album Weighted Mind 2018 IBMA Awards Mandolin Player of the Year Sierra Hull Recorded Event of the Year(with Missy Raines, Alison Brown, Becky Buller, and Molly Tuttle)"Swept Away" 2021 IBMA Awards Mandolin Player of the Year Sierra Hull 2022 IBMA Awards Mandolin Player of the Year Sierra Hull 2023 IBMA Awards Mandolin Player of the Year Sierra Hull 2025 IBMA Awards Mandolin Player of the Year Sierra Hull 2026 Grammy Awards Best Bluegrass Album A Tip Toe High Wire Best American Roots Song "Spitfire" Best Americana Performance "Boom" Best Instrumental Composition "Lord, That's a Long Way"