The artwork for Molly Tuttle’s latest album shows a grid of portraits of the bluegrass artist in different wigs. In the center frame, for the first time on one of her covers, Tuttle appears without one.

It’s a bold statement from Tuttle, who was diagnosed with alopecia when she was 3 years old.

“I remember when I went to college, I emailed my roommates because I was scared I’d be too nervous to tell them I wore a wig,” she says. “I didn’t want to sleep in it, but as a teenager at sleepovers, I would because I didn’t want anyone to see me without it. That was uncomfortable.”

Tuttle has since become an outspoken advocate for other people living with the condition. On her 2022 album, Crooked Tree, she sang about embracing the things that make us different and unique.

Tuttle has won many awards for her traditional bluegrass sound, including the Grammy Award for the best bluegrass album for Crooked Tree. On So Long Little Miss Sunshine, Tuttle infuses pop influences into her bluegrass roots.

In this session, Tuttle joins us to talk about co-writing with her partner, Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show, showcasing a new sound, and how she found herself unexpectedly face-to-face with Ringo Starr after working on his recent country record.

“We stopped the song and I looked behind me and Ringo was just standing right there,” she says. “I was, like, ‘Wait, what the heck?’ And that’s how I first met him.”

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.