Vocalist, bluegrass banjo player and guitarist Molly Tuttle has hit several personal career goals over the past year, oftentimes making a little bit of music history along the way. At the 2017 IBMA Awards, Tuttle became the first woman to ever win the award for Guitar Player of the Year; she was also the first woman to ever be nominated in the category in the IBMA's 27-year history.

In 2018, Tuttle earned a spot in the American Currents exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and made her Grand Ole Opry debut. Then, in September, she took home the Instrumentalist of the Year Award at the Americana Honors & Awards ceremony during the week-long AmericanaFest. However, Tuttle told The Boot in advance of that awards show that the accomplishment she prizes most highly from this year is her newest musical project, a debut album.

"Oh man, there's been so much exciting stuff," she gushed. "I recorded a full-length album in the spring, and it'll be my first full-length. It's all music I've written since moving to Nashville. A lot of it is co-writes, and some of it I also wrote on my own, but that's really what's been on my mind right now."

The full-length album, which is slated to come out in 2019, will follow Tuttle's debut solo EP, Rise, which artfully blends innovative songwriting with bluegrass tradition, and which -- according to a statement from Tuttle on the website for her record label, Compass Records -- documents a stage of life changes and transitions. By contrast, the new project will delve into Tuttle's life as a songwriter immersed in the Nashville community. The performer says that finding her place in that community has been immensely rewarding.

"It's just super exciting," Tuttle said of attending the Americana Honors & Awards Ceremony. "I've showcased [during AmericanaFest] for the last couple of years, but this is my first time ever at the awards show, and it's a huge honor and a dream come true to be included. It's just really special."

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