In this edition of Gestures, a column reflecting on women’s contributions to the musical arts, we talk to Shelby Means and Hayley Skreens. Solidarity takes center stage as Shelby and Hayley reflect on the power of collaboration in bluegrass. Through their shared experiences of co-writing, supporting one another’s projects, and forging meaningful connections, they’re helping to shape a bluegrass community where creativity and support thrive.
By June ReedyMarch 18, 2025
CHARLESTON, SC ––Today, bassist and vocalist Shelby Meanshas released her second ever single, a soaring slow-burn bluegrass cover of Lady Gaga’s “Million Reasons.”(STREAM HERE). Means recorded her cover after years of performing the number on stage in her solo shows and with her Americana duo, Sally & George. Tracked in Nashville and joined by world-class musicians like Jerry Douglasand Bryan Sutton, “Million Reasons” especially highlights Means’ powerful, crystalline voice, which is equally suited to the high lonesome sound and high drama pop balladry, both.With the release of Gaga’s long-awaited new album, Mayhem, just a week ago, Means’ second solo foray has certainly been serendipitously timed. Across all of her eras and LPs, Means has appreciated and drawn inspiration from Lady Gaga’s artistry and musicianship, but perhaps none more than 2016’s country-tinged Joanne.“When I first moved to Tennessee I was singing along to ‘Poker Face’ on the radio,” Means tells Grateful Webin a brand new interview. “That was so my jam! I love Lady Gaga for a million
reasons. Her music brought me in and her wild pop star fashion captivates me! Her theatrical performances and her philanthropy around mental health and LGBTQ rights make me respect her even more. Her character Joanne was very relatable to me. ... Bluegrass is ready for this Lady Gaga cover, I know it!”Means recorded “Million Reasons” with Maya de Vitry producing and a superlative band including Jerry Douglas(Dobro),Ron Block(banjo),Bryan Sutton (guitar),Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (fiddle), and brother Jacob Means(mandolin). The cover has long been included in Means’ repertoire through her Americana duo Sally & Georgewith her husband, musician and singer-songwriter Joel Timmons(who, along with de Vitry, supplied background vocals on the new single). It certainly thrives in this bluegrass setting, an endlessly charming combination of pop sensibilities and bluegrass grit crafted as only Shelby Means could do it.“Million Reasons” is available to stream/download here.DJs: Download via AIRPLAY DIRECTABOUT SHELBY MEANS: Born in the bluegrass of Kentucky and raised on Wyoming’s high plains, Shelby Means is one of the foremost bassists in bluegrass, with nearly two decades of experience in bluegrass, folk, rock, Americana, and country outfits. Now based in Charleston, SC, during her tenure in Nashville she was a member of the GRAMMY-nominated distaff bluegrass band, Della Mae. She has traveled to more than 20 countries around the world spreading musical diplomacy. Means is one half of roots duo Sally & George with her husband and collaborator, Sol Driven Train’s Joel Timmons. With Timmons, Mary Lucey, and Billy Cardine, she co-founded another group, Lover’s Leap, a genre blurring, heart-led Americana band. Means is a member of Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, with whom she gained her first GRAMMY win for their 2023 album, City of Gold. She’s also received more than a handful of awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association for her work with Della Mae and Golden Highway.Means is a driving player with a deep pocket, a singular stage presence, and a magnetic, centered approach to the upright bass. Beyond her work on the instrument, she’s also an accomplished songwriter and a heartfelt vocalist whose voice is rooted in tradition while authentically her own. With her debut solo music, slated for release in 2025, Means invites listeners to experience the same soulful presence and adventurous spirit she has built her career on. Her singing and playing has been heard across the country and around the world, from NPR’s airwaves, the Grand Ole Opry, Bonnaroo, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and Newport Folk to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Kazakhstan, Australia, and beyond. www.shelbyleemeans.comPRESS / GENERAL INQUIRIES:shelbymeansbluegrass@gmail.com
ARTICLE CONTRIBUTED BY JUNE REEDY | PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2025
The Train Moves On & On for Shelby Means
From her early songwriting days in a Wyoming dorm room to sharing stages with bluegrass maestras like Molly Tuttle, Shelby Means has carved out a path that blends deep-rooted influences with an adventurous artistic spirit. Now, with the release of her debut solo material, Shelby Means is embracing a musical journey uniquely her own—a journey defined by heartfelt storytelling, meaningful collaborations, and genuine authenticity.
Posted on February 21, 2025 By John Lawless Go to Article Here
Shelby Means has been a grasser since her youth, born in Kentucky and raised in Wyoming. As a bassist and vocalist she has been part of two headlining acts, Della Mae, and now Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway. And now she is stepping out front for her first solo single under her name.
After having worked as a band member and sidewoman both in and out of bluegrass, Shelby has picked a driving grasser for her debut solo release, Streets of Boulder, a song she wrote back in school some years ago. It shows her to be a fine singer and purveyor of honest emotion in song.
Means explained a bit about the single and the long journey she’s been on.
“I wrote Streets of Boulder in my dorm room when I was a freshman in college. As one might imagine from the lyrics, I had recently broken up with my summer boyfriend. While the feelings in the song are true, I took some imaginative liberty with the story. I hopped on the train in my mind and said goodbye to ‘love,’ all the while not sure that I even knew what love was all about yet.
Today, I am still full of questions… How did I get from my dorm room to performing in Slovakia with my college bluegrass band, to Music Row in Nashville, TN recording Streets of Boulderwith some of my musical heroes?
I have huge gratitude for Molly Tuttle and my bandmates in Golden Highway who encouraged me to work on my solo music. We got to perform Streets of Boulder at a few shows in 2024, premiering it at the Chautauqua Auditorium in Boulder, CO. It is such a thrill to play my original song with that band and to hear Bronwyn, Molly, and Kyle’s parts on the recording.”
Those heroes in the studio include Bryan Sutton on guitar, Ron Block on banjo, and Jerry Douglas on reso-guitar, plus her brother Jacob on mandolin. Molly Tuttle and Kyle Tuttle share harmony vocals, with Bronwyn Keith-Hynes on fiddle.
It’s a strong track. Have a listen.
Streets of Boulder from Shelby Means is available now from popular download and streaming services online. Radio programmers can contact her management online to obtain an airplay copy of the track.
BY BGS STAFF Feb 14, 2025
photo by Hunter McRae
Art and design by Fetzer Designs
CHARLESTON, SC –– Today, GRAMMY and IBMA Award winning bluegrass bassist Shelby Means has released her solo debut, a traditional, burning original song, "Streets of Boulder." Previewed by The Bluegrass Situation, the track is full of heartbreak, longing, and the propulsive magnetic energy Means has become known for as an instrumentalist, songwriter, and vocalist across her lauded career in roots music. STREAM HERE.
"I wrote this song in college," Means tells BGS. "It was my first attempt to write a heartbreak song and it became the first original song I performed in a band. ... I really wanted [my brother,] Jacob Means, to play mandolin on this recording ... with Jerry Douglas, Bryan Sutton, Ron Block, and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. I invited Molly Tuttle and Kyle Tuttle to sing harmonies with me and we spent one afternoon in a hotel room recording [them]..."
The resulting track certainly doesn't sound like the first original song Means has released, finding her in 2025 with a confidence and ease moving from her many experiences as a sidewoman and band member to center stage. After multiple decades performing with some of the buzziest names in bluegrass and Americana – Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, Della Mae, Sally & George, and more – Means shines out front with her piercing and singular voice, thoughtful (and effortlessly bluegrass) lyrics, and her assertive bass playing.
With more solo releases slated for later in 2025, Shelby Means will continue to demonstrate the full depth and breadth of her musical talents for the first time under her own name.
Stream "Streets of Boulder" (Feat. Molly Tuttle, Kyle Tuttle) here.
(Downloadable WAV and MP3 files available for press / radio upon request.)
WRITER: Stratton Lawrence
PHOTOGRAPHER: Hunter McRae Lawrence
Shelby Means wasn’t quite sure about this e-mail attachment. She’d met Joel Timmons in 2012, at a music festival in Bristol, Tennessee, where he seemed to go out of his way to hear her perform, and again when she visited Charleston to play at Awendaw Green in fall 2013. But what was this MP3 file? She pressed play.
I saw her on State Street, on the Tennessee side
And I knew in an instant, someday she’d be mine
I went to her concert; I wore a disguise
And I couldn’t hold steady when she flashed them bright eyes
My heart was a’ pounding as I emptied my glass
Struck blind by a vision of things that would pass
Shelby and her bluegrass band, Della Mae, called Nashville home but spent most of the year on tour. With her tall frame, blonde hair, and classic beauty, it wasn’t the first lovestruck fan the upright bassist had encountered. Not to mention, she had a boyfriend, and she’d told this guy about him back in Awendaw. Still, she listened as Joel’s prophecy continued:
Our courtship was torment, with us both on the road
Long Mondays and red eyes and tears on the phone
So I moved to Nashville and became a side man
Got to play at the Opry, but I still missed the sand
She taught me to horse ride, we took trips to the sea
And on Cumberland Island, I got
down on one knee
Whoa, she thought, the boyfriend definitely shouldn’t hear this. Shelby played it for her mom and for her brother. What she didn’t do—for two anguishing weeks—was reply…
In Shelby Means’ childhood home, weekends were for bluegrass. The best pickers in Laramie, Wyoming, gathered at her house, where she anchored jam sessions on the upright bass while her father and brother played guitar and mandolin. Another constant? Chocolate Bundt cake in the oven and a pot of chili on the stove.
“The motto around my house was, ‘If you eat good, you play good,’” Means recalls. As the bassist in Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, it’s a mantra she still lives by. After winning the Grammy for best bluegrass album earlier this year (besting fellow nominees like Willie Nelson and Sam Bush), she and the band splurged on
a bottle of champagne (“You can’t drink prosecco to celebrate a Grammy,” Means laughs) and dinner at L.A.’s Musso and Frank Grill...
https://southernflavormagazine.com/a-musicians-taste-blog/shelby-means-bake-to-bass-ics62024
Shelby Means, who grew up in Laramie, won a Grammy in mid-February for her work with the band Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway on their album “City of Gold.” The group received the win in the best bluegrass album category. ..
https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/ultimate-honor-laramies-own-shelby-means-wins-grammy/article_edd06fc2-d814-11ee-8fe9-d7681a0bc158.html
Growing up, Shelby Means' dad would wake her up by playing the banjo. But now, the Laramie woman is waking up the world with her bass fiddle. Means is part of Molly Tuttle’s Golden Highway Band which just won a Grammy for best bluegrass album.
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/02/18/wyomings-shelby-means-wins-grammy-for-best-bluegrass-album/
BY: CAROL ANTMAN published in the Daniel Island News
Even before she was born, Shelby Means was a musician. “My dad would invite guys over to jam and I was rockin’ out in my mother’s womb,” Means said. “He would play this raucous kind of guitar and I would move and when he stopped I would settle down, so they knew I had something going on.”
Means’ first instrument was the fiddle. At the age of 5, she placed second in Wyoming’s peewee division. In grade school, she learned viola and guitar and sang in choirs. But when she was 14 years old, she had a revelation. “I saw a woman playing the bass and I said, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s my instrument,’” Means said. “I haven’t been able to put it down since.” Means has schlepped her 50-pound folding bass to over 30 countries and will appear at Spoleto on June 9 as part of Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway.
When she’s not touring, Means lives with her husband, Joel Timmons, on Folly Beach.Known for his popular band Sol Driven Train, he’s currently on tour with Sam Rae. They also have two bands together, Lover’s Leap and Sally and George, so it’s a juggling act to find time together. Somehow they manage to meet in various places and play gigs together. Meanwhile she’s a cultural ambassador, a role she finds tremendously gratifying. “It’s been one of the highlights of my musical career to travel the world, experience musical culture and share the universal language of music,” Means said.
Her passion was ignited during college when she was tapped to represent American folk music at Akademicka Nitra in Slovakia. It grew when she played with the Grammy-nominated band Della Mae and they traveled on three state department tours to Asia, the Middle East and Brazil. A trip to Pakistan where cultural differences were so startling was particularly memorable. “We were an all-girl band and performed for a few all-women colleges,” Means said. “We couldn’t speak the same language, but we could share songs together and connect through music.”
Molly Tuttle was the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association’s guitar player of the year award. Twice actually. She’s known for her flatpicking, clawhammer and crosspicking guitar prowess. Means added her pitch-perfect harmony and bass wizardry to Molly’s band in January and they’ve been playing to sell out crowds across the country. “It’s really nice to be in a band run by a woman,” Means said. “It’s powerful and it’s time, especially for Bluegrass music.”
Tuttle stings from encounters with egotistical male musicians such as a jam session where it was her turn to solo and the leader ”leaned right in front of me and pointed to the guy next to me and… just completely skipped over me.” But now “I have my own band, so there’s no one who’s going to make me feel like that guy did.” Several of Tuttle’s songs are written from a woman’s perspective making her an outlier in the male-dominated genre. The band’s latest recording, “Crooked Tree,” features songs about strong women and a cowgirl duet with Gillian Welch.
As the June 9 Spoleto date approaches, Means is envisioning playing for her growing local fanbase. It’s particularly gratifying for Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway to be among the stellar acts that span genres and cultures and to represent the finest of Bluegrass music. Means is anticipating the electric vibe, the beautiful darkened Cistern, the crowd reveling in live music. “The Spanish moss draping down… it feels like it’s going to be magical,” Means added.
Excerpt from the article:
What is your definition of tone and how has it changed over the years?
Tone is life; it is my fingers on the string, my breath, and intention on my vocal cords, my hand on the bow, the weight of my shoulder, and the resonance of energy that creates sound waves in time. Tone is all encompassing and all about our perception… it can be pleasing or harsh, popping with attack or sweet and gentle.
Read more at the Guitar Girl website below.
https://guitargirlmag.com/interviews/tone-talk/tone-talk-with-shelby-means/?fbclid=IwAR2mMXfazJPdxNitZ49Rzl3qaXiKtTDe12r-Js6JI3-Y8EfPFX_scc3JPZUhttps://guitargirlmag.com/interviews/tone-talk/tone-talk-with-shelby-means/?fbclid=IwAR2mMXfazJPdxNitZ49Rzl3qaXiKtTDe12r-Js6JI3-Y8EfPFX_scc3JPZU
Set to be released April 19, 2019, the eponymous collection of songs is a healthy mix of all four member’s backgrounds
FEB 6, 2019
“Set to be released April 19, 2019, the eponymous collection of songs is a healthy mix of all four member’s backgrounds; beautiful, tight three-part harmony, dobro acrobatics, easy groove, and galloping bluegrass. Over the course of a year, Lovers Leap was recorded one or two days at a time, dancing around band members’ hectic schedules, in both touring and everyday life.”
Sally & George had their first tour in the Virgin Islands Jan 27-Feb 2. We played 5 shows on St. Thomas and St. John and it was a great experience. We took advantage of the beautiful scenery to film an application for the Tiny Desk Concert contest.
George managed to catch a LOT of waves... 50 in one day! He is tan and happy from the sun, sand, waves, and music. I got the chance to finish reading The Heart of Yoga and also soaked up some vitamin D. The Sally & George show is coming along swell! It's exciting to work on music and performing and we can't wait to bring the show to you sometime soon!
xo
Sally aka Shelby
Welcome
live. love. light.
breathe right.
groove to the bass beats.
xo
Meet my amazing gold sparkle bass custom made by Italia Guitars! I'm a girl in love, for sure.
Do you ever write lists and add things that you've already done to the list, just so you can check it off? Like most people, I have a bucket list. Paddling down the grand canyon with my boyfriend and his family, occasionally wearing a Bat Girl costume was not actually on it. I'm gonna give myself a checkmark anyway. Here's an abridged story(I'm working on the novel but it may take a few years)...
I'd been on about two dates with my boyfriend and co conspirator George when he asked me if I would paddle the Grand Canyon with him. I was amazed that he would ask me so soon into our courtship. With my free spirited track record, he would be lucky if we were still together over a year down the road! I laughed and said sure, not truly understanding what I agreed to do.
chocolate milk colorado river August 2015
I don't like camping in a tent. Fish freak me out. I'm addicted to chapstick. And I admit, although I love to go down the rapids, rafting as a whole had always been pretty boring for me. Slowly the minor (cough. cough) details leaked out of George. "Everything you pack in, you pack out," he casually mentioned at Christmas last year. That doesn't sound too bad until you start thinking about the food. And then the food that has been digested... Yes.
Of course scorpions, snakes, and ringtailed cats were potential dangers along the way. Then there's the fact that cell phones don't work at all in the canyon and we would be totally cut off from civilization for 16 days. Our best chance of contacting help was from a sattelite phone, and the chances that we would contact extraterrestrial beings was greater than reaching a plane flying overhead. So all of these small details began to line up before me and I decided not to go. I sat on the decision for about two months and then the reality of what I would be missing out on hit me. I woke up one day and knew what I had to do.