I Built A World
I Built A World seems just about the right title for the second album from Bronwyn Keith-Hynes.
Keith-Hynes is the fiddle player for Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, a little band you may have heard that has started collecting Grammy Awards to go with previously earned IBMA hardware. Keith-Hynes has already won two IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year Awards, and even though it seems like she’s been around for a bit, if this CD is any indication, she’s just getting started.
This is the first time out for the Charlottesville, Virginia, native singing lead, but with the sweet sound of Golden Highway backing Tuttle, it should be no surprise that she nailed it. She had plenty of believers in the project and got help from country megastar Dierks Bentley, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Bryan Sutton, Dudley Connell, Darrell Scott, Tuttle, and her fiancé Jason Carter.
Listeners might remember Jimmy Buffett and Martina McBride scoring a hit 20 years ago with “Trip Around the Sun.” Despite the tall order of covering that tune, Keith-Hynes collaborated with Bentley to record a grassier version. This was a special collaboration as the fiddler credits Bentley’s Up on the Ridge album as a key in getting her interested in bluegrass.
The album opens with “Can’t Live Without Love,” which features Tuttle, Bush and Douglas and an impressive fiddle break by the artist. Connell helps out on “Will You Ever Be Mine,” and Darrell Scott harmonizes with Keith-Hynes on “Angel Island.” All four of those should get bluegrass radio play in the coming months.
With Keith-Hynes’s impressive vocals, it would be easy to lose focus for just a minute on her world-class fiddling. Don’t worry — she credits Carter with talking her into recording Scotty Stoneman’s instrumental “Scotty’s Hoedown” — and she burns it up.
The title track is a nod to the artist who says she was a daydreamer growing up and often created worlds she could visit in her mind. It’s yet another great tune on this project.
Other musicians helping out on the album are Wes Corbett and Scott Vestal on banjo, Bryan Sutton on guitar, and Jeff Picker on bass, as well as several others.
I Built A World is already one of the best releases of 2024. Keith-Hynes has set the standard for all of her future efforts and it is worth getting excited about.
