I built a world: A conversation with Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes will play Asheville Feb. 10.
Michael Weintrob photo
Whirlwind. Virtuoso. Rollicking. Heartfelt.
Those were some of the sentiments I had ricocheting around my mind watching Bronwyn Keith-Hynes perform earlier this winter at The Orange Peel in Asheville. A renowned fiddler/singer, Keith-Hynes is headlong into a solo career with the recent disbanding of her former band, the Grammy-winning Americana/bluegrass act Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway.
This new, unknown horizon for Keith-Hynes provides a blank canvas to use whatever sonic tones and lyrical hues she sees fit for her music. Alongside the material from Keith-Hynes’ acclaimed 2024 album “I Built a World,” she also dips deep into a wide array of covers while onstage and under the bright lights — renditions ranging from “Axilla” (Phish) to “That’s All” (Genesis), “Pepper” (Butthole Surfers) to “The Chain” (Fleetwood Mac) and beyond.
And what’s interesting with where Keith-Hynes stands. She’s part of this latest generation of young bluegrass musicians — including Tuttle, Sierra Ferrell, Billy Strings, Sierra Hull, etc. — who are not only incredibly talented but are also taking the traditions/techniques they were taught and bringing this sacred music into the modern era, ultimately into new realms of possibility and purpose. In essence, these artists are just as rebellious as the “Father of Bluegrass,” Bill Monroe, was when he broke down the walls of musical influence and intent over 80 years ago.
Catching up with The Smoky Mountain News while traveling to a gig in Salt Lake City, Utah, Keith-Hynes looks back at where it all began, what the “high, lonesome sound” of bluegrass means to her, and what the future holds for this immensely talented artist forging her own path forward, head held high.
Smoky Mountain News: Where does it all start for you? What initially sparked this musical journey?
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Bronwyn Keith-Hynes: I guess music’s always been a big part of my life. Music always came a little easier to me than other things, and I think that was one of the reasons that whenever people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always said I was going to be a fiddler.
When I was a kid, what I really liked about playing music was the social aspect. That was a huge part of it. I was homeschooled my whole childhood, and I loved the freedom that came with it. But I think I also really [needed] ways to connect with other people, since a big part of my time was spent at the house with my family, so music provided that way to make friends.
SMN: The fiddle. Why is that the instrument you find you can best express yourself, both musically and creatively?
BKH: It’s funny, I kind of feel like I never had a choice. I’ve just always played the fiddle since before I can remember. I know I did have a choice, because apparently when I was three [years old] — I don’t remember this — but I guess I saw some girls busking on the street and asked my dad for violin lessons.
And I guess I never considered picking up another instrument, I don’t really know why. So, I’ve always viewed music through the lens of the fiddle, until recently when I started singing a few years ago. That’s been a big shift, but I feel like there are a lot of parallels between the two. They’re both all about nuance, expression, pitch, tone. I know what sounds good and what doesn’t, but now I’m just having to learn how to control my voice.
SMN: You went to Berklee [College of Music in Boston]. When you were there, how did that experience inspire you to realize you could perform music as a career, and ultimately take it anywhere you wanted to?
BKH: Going to Berklee was incredibly hard and humbling, and also probably the most important period of musical growth I’ve had. I showed up as a 17-year-old who mostly played Celtic fiddle, but wanted to learn how to improvise, and I thought I was going there to study jazz.
When I showed up, I met all these amazing kids who’d grown up playing bluegrass their whole lives and were already playing it at a professional level. Somehow, that made me decide that instead of learning jazz, what I really wanted to learn was bluegrass. It didn’t come easily at first, especially since I was comparing myself to kids who’d been improvising their whole lives and knew this whole genre inside and out.
Even though I was only in my late teens, I worried I’d missed the boat and started playing bluegrass too late. I remember crying on the phone to my mom, telling her I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to play bluegrass, but it was the only thing I wanted to do now.
[At Berklee] I worked so hard, came up with spreadsheets of bluegrass songs I needed to learn, made lists of weak spots in my playing, spent hours and hours every day practicing and tried to jam as much as possible, and eventually it started to get easier.
I don’t think I ever considered another option for a career other than music, because I’d always played local gigs, busked and taught fiddle lessons as a teenager, so I always had this feeling that I could make some kind of living with music. But it was more like, “What kind of living did I want to be making?” I realized at Berklee that what I really wanted was to make my living touring with a bluegrass band.
SMN: Bluegrass music. What is it about the “high, lonesome sound” that really sets it apart from other genres?
KBH: For one thing, the standard of musicianship that it takes to play bluegrass well is just so high, and I think that’s intriguing to both musicians and to audience members. That’s part of what a lot of bluegrass fans love about it; it’s almost like the Olympics of folk music or something. You get to watch these musicians pulling off really challenging solos at insanely fast tempos, pushing themselves to improvise something beyond what they played the night before, and you’re cheering them on.
One thing that drew me to listening to bluegrass originally was also the attitude in it, the bluesy, kind of angsty, rebellious but playful vibe. I feel like I have a lot of that kind of energy inside, and bluegrass feels like the most natural vehicle that fits my skill set.
SMN: In your artist bio, you say, “My favorite bluegrass musicians today are the ones who are rooted in traditional music, but don’t really see any boundaries. It’s as if they draw from a traditional bluegrass vocabulary, but use it to say what they want to say.” What do you see when you look at the current landscape of bluegrass?
BKH: We’re at an amazing place with bluegrass. I see a community where more types of people are welcomed than ever before, and I think because of that more people can identify as bluegrass fans and musicians. It’s incredible to see what Billy Strings is doing at the arena level and how many new fans he’s bringing to the genre. It goes to show how strong this music is, that so many new people are resonating with it.
Also, I think artists like Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson, who grew up with bluegrass in Kentucky and are fusing elements of it directly into their country music, are playing an important role right now in expanding what bluegrass can mean to people.
It’s probably just going to continue to expand, and hopefully more bluegrass artists will break through to the arena level. Bluegrass was built on innovation, and I think because it’s a relatively new folk genre. Some people are protective of it and concerned with “preserving it,” while maybe forgetting that keeping it evolving might be kind of the point of the whole thing.
We all love traditional bluegrass; that’s what we jam on. That’s never going to go away. But, when I hear a younger artist, to me it’s a lot more interesting if they play their own bluegrass music, as well as the traditional stuff.
Want to go?
Grammy-winning fiddle virtuoso Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and her band will hit the stage at 11 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, at Revival on Asheland Avenue in Asheville.
To note, the performance will be a special after-party following the Billy Strings gig earlier in the evening taking place at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in downtown Asheville.
Admission for the Keith-Hynes concert is $24.29 per person (tax included). For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit revivalavl.com.
