When Sierra Hull’s third Rounder album was released early this year, we talked with her about her personal artistic struggles that had delayed the completion of the project, how she resolved them with the help of banjo master Béla Fleck, and how the process changed the arc of her career and brought us Weighted Mind.
We noted at the time how odd it felt to be discussing a major creative and musical shift for an artist still in her early 20s, but Sierra is an anomaly where most of the rules that govern our expectations of a young string musician are concerned. An established mandolin virtuoso while still in high school, she went on to complete a two-year diploma program at the Berklee College of Music while also touring in support of her first major release, Secrets, in 2008.
Sierra has now released a video where Fleck, who produced Weighted Mind, talks about a few moments in the studio when they were finishing up the tracking and the few guest vocalists came in.