Fiddle Ace Bronwyn Keith-Hynes on Finding her Singing Voice, I Built A World, and performing at the CMA Awards

There’s a youth movement afoot in bluegrass. In a genre often steeped in tradition, artists like Sierra Hull, Billy Strings, and more represent a wave of rising and established artists pushing the boundaries of the music and taking it to new places.

While the exact musical approach and recipe varies by artist, this generation of pickers is united by their mastery of their respective crafts, and an open-mindedness to music both traditional and modern.

Positioned clearly on that vanguard is Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. A fiddle ace who got her professional start with progressive bluegrass maestros Mile Twelve before joining the ever-ascending Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, Keith-Hynes is one of the absolute best at what she does. A two-time IBMA fiddle player of the year, Bronwyn’s pedigree and proficiency have been long recognized by fans and peers. With an electrifying and versatile sound and presence, Bronwyn is capable of stealing the show (tastefully) at any given moment, no matter how big the stage is.

In her sophomore solo venture, I Built A World, Bronwyn continues to push herself and her artistry. While her debut Fiddler’s Pastime primarily featured her fiddle playing with vocals provided by an all-star cast of guests, I Built A World foregrounds her strong singing voice. While there’s still more than enough fiddle to go around (“Scotty’s Hoedown” fills that quota admirably), this change marks a significant departure for Bronwyn, to stunning results.

On the album centerpieces like “Angel Island” and the title track, Bronwyn’s vocal delivery is remarkably assured, taking an excellent selection of songs to new heights. Accordingly, I Built A World, released In may of 2024, has been well received in the bluegrass world and beyond, even receiving a nomination for Bluegrass Album of the Year at the Grammys.

Bronwyn returns to Minnesota Saturday night for Pert Near Sandstone’s annual Winter String Band gathering. Fans can expect to hear cuts from I Buit A World and beyond, with Bronwyn and her great Nashville band sure to put on an energetic and inspiring show. With the momentum the album has gained, it’s likely they’ll be playing in bigger venues soon. If you’re a fan of bluegrass, or string music at all, it’s a must-see.

Below is an interview with Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. The Following has been edited for Consistency

Music In Minnesota: You are, among other things, an award-winning fiddle player. I’m curious as to what some of your earliest experiences with the fiddle were.

Brownwyn Keith-Hynes: I guess I stared playing fiddle when I was three years old, and I saw some girls busking on the street. I Don’t even remember this, but this is what my parents tell me. I pointed at them and said “I will do that.” And so my parents got me some Suzuki violin lessons. My Classical teacher would always teach me some fiddle tunes on the side. I was always a lot more interested in those, and those were the only ones I would practice. I think after a couple years of that, it became pretty clear that they needed to get me a fiddle teacher. Once they got me a fiddle teacher, I really got into it. And then there were a lot of summer fiddle camps as I was growing up that were really inspiring. As soon as I got around kids my own age that were playing fiddle music, it really made me want to keep doing it.

MIM: Was it always Bluegrass for you? I know it can be one of those genres where people start playing really young. Was that always a primary influence?

BKH: Actually the first fiddle style I started with was Irish fiddle. That was the first style I was exposed to. I have a lot of Irish Family, so I was going over there for family gatherings as a kid anyways and got exposed to the music. I discovered bluegrass as a teenager. I started going to these fiddle camps where people were teaching lots of these different fiddle styles. Something about the bluesiness and the improvisation really grabbed me.

MIM: When did you start performing professionally?

BKH: It kind of had been a gradual thing. All through high school I was playing in local bands, busking in the streets, playing anywhere I could, even bars. I went to college for music, I went to Berkelee up in Boston for four years. After that I was just trying to make a living playing music any way I could. That took a lot of different forms at the beginning-local gigs, teaching fiddle lessons, anything I could do, but I’ve always done music for a living.

MIM: I built a world does feature your fiddle playing, but does really emphasize your singing voice in a whole different way compared to your previous work. What inspired that decision to make a more vocal-centric record

BKH: A couple things, in 2020 when I stopped touring and we were all stuck at home for awhile, that was when I really started to focus on my singing. I had all of this free time, and it almost felt like I was a kid again. I didn’t even have to do schoolwork (laughs). I asked myself what I wanted to do? I just really started working on it, and that stuck with me after the world opened back up. And then I started touring with Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway in 2022 and being on the road with that band and hearing Molly sing every night, hearing a great female bluegrass singer every night was super inspiring. So by the end of the first year of that I was so Inspired.

MIM: You mentioned Molly as being an inspiring singer, were there any other singers that you found particularly inspiring or wanted to draw from?

BKH: Tim O’Brien has always been someone who has a way of singing that feels inspiring. I wouldn’t say I sound like him, but his way of effortlessly creating such a beautiful tone is in my mind as something to aspire to. I’d say he’s a big vocal influence.

MIM: Did it feel like a challenge to do something you hadn’t done in this way before? Did it feel like you were going out on a limb?

BKH: Oh yeah, absolutely. I felt like for so long, I didn’t have the bandwidth or the time to work on singing because I felt like I needed to work on Fiddling with all my spare time. I always felt like “I can’t work on singing until my fiddling is at a certain level.” I guess a couple of years ago, something switched. It’s not like I’ve reached my fiddle goals, and become the best fiddler I’ll ever be, but it’s more just like I felt like I was good enough that I wanted to branch out and felt like there was more for me to say musically that I couldn’t say on the fiddle. So, it did feel like a challenge. It’s a scary thing to reach a certain level of proficiency on one instrument and then go back to being a beginner at something else to work through that again.

MIM: And to have it be so successful, both on a creative and artistic level, and in the way it’s been received-I mean to be nominated for a Grammy on your first vocal record has to be gratifying.

BKH: Yeah, and really encouraging, you know. I think that’s the biggest thing, to think that some people have liked this, and that it’s worth continuing to pursue.

MIM: One song on the record I wanted to ask about is that Peter Rowan Tune “Angel Island.” It’s very powerful In terms of your vocal, the playing, and the song itself. It’s a little different than Peter’s versions. What drew you to include that song on the record?

BKH: One thing is that my grandparents were immigrants from Ireland, so I’ve always grown up with these crazy immigration stories in my own family. They’ve been a part of our family folklore. I think that those stories are always interesting to me, even though this story is about immigrants from a whole other part of the world. I think that was part of what drew it from me. I tried to bring a little bit of Celtic Flavor to that song, or maybe it was subconscious. It has more of a Celtic Vibe.

MIM: Was there a specific process, as far as this record. How did you go about choosing these songs. Is there a rhyme or reason about how you picked these, or did it vary song-to-song?

BKH: I know pretty fast if I’m going to like a song or if I think it’s one I want to record or not. It was a lot of songs from my community, from people I was friends with. At that point, I wasn’t focused as much on writing my own songs-I was focused on learning how to sing. So I didn’t write any of those songs. It was Just kind of trying to source them from anywhere I could. I heard the title track “I Built A World” on the radio performed live randomly as I was driving through Kentucky a couple years ago surfing channels. I heard the songwriter matt parsons performing it with his family band live on the air. It stuck with me so much that I did a deep dive google search on who that was.

MIM: You mentioned community. In bluegrass, especially in Nashville, seems to have lots of community. This record seems to have so many friends in the band and guests, songwriters and all. It seems very intentional that this was a community affair.

BKH: Definitely. Kind of both intentional and inevitable. One of the most fun parts of making the record was after I was done tracking songs and my vocals, I knew I wanted to have a lot of special guests. And to listen to those songs and to think about who in my circle I’d love to hear singing with me, and then to hear some of those legendary voices that I’d always loved singing along with my voice, was a very cool part of it.

MIM: You’ve played in this region with Molly a little bit, but I suspect for a lot of folks coming to the show, it’ll be their first time seeing you play with your band. Is this the same band you play with in Nashville? What can new fans or those who haven’t seen you guys before expect?

BKH: It is kind of a band I’ve been playing local shows with for the last year, I’ve been doing a residency in Nashville, working up new stuff. Folks can expect to hear songs from my album, but I’ve also been writing a lot this winter, so we’ve been playing some of those on the road. There’ll be some fun covers as well, just a pretty high energy bluegrass show. I’m so excited.

MIM: In a big picture sense, it seems like between yourself, Molly, Billy Strings, and several others, It seems like there’s a lot of younger energy right now in bluegrass and acoustic music, and a lot of new fans being brought in. I’m curious if you feel like an ambassador for bluegrass music.

BKH: With Molly, bringing bluegrass to places where there isn’t always bluegrass, to some of these country festivals, folk festivals, to some late-night TV shows and other places where people won’t typically hear a bluegrass band, it’s cool and inspiring, and I feel like I’m taking this mindset with me into my own solo project. I feel like the younger generation of Bluegrass artists are not that hung up on genre even. We’re playing bluegrass but drawing influences from everything we like. I think the fans appreciate that. Most Music fans listen to a variety of genres, and it’s more accessible for them to hear influences from rock and pop and the jam band world and everything. It’s fun for us to not quite feel so pigeonholed on “what is bluegrass.” We’re playing music, we’re calling it bluegrass, with a bluegrass vocabulary, but we’re playing whatever we want and fans seem to be appreciating that.

MIM: I did want to ask about the CMA performance. You’ve played on a lot of big stages, but playing Tom Petty on the CMA Stage is a pretty unique one. What was that experience like? It looked like you guys had a lot of fun up there.

BKH: It was super fun. There was part of me that was a bit nervous that day, because I knew it was a big deal, that it was live and whatever happened up there a lot of people were going to see. Once we got up there, the nerves went away and I could tell everyone was just kind of having fun and that it was going to be a fun thing. I think that fun energy did translate to the performance. I thought it was really cool, and it was a really cool experience to bring bluegrass to the CMAs. That doesn’t always happen.