Kyle Tuttle will be everybody’s buddy at Ozark Mountain Soul, but his title is “artist at large” for the April 4-8 music and arts festival.

He explains that it’s a title that he has cultivated for himself over the years as he’s toured from festival to festival as part of his own band and with Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway.

“That basically means that I’m available to jam with all of the bands,” he says. “Every band has their own thing that they’ll be doing. But anybody who is so inclined to want a banjo player to hop up and play with them, I’m that guy.”

He’s even been part of Town Mountain, who will perform at Ozark Mountain Soul on April 6.

“A lot of these people are already my friends and already people that I have had some musical history with, so the ability to just sort of pop up on the fly and make something cool happen, it’s not too difficult.”

He’ll also lead a banjo workshop at noon on April 6 during Ozark Mountain Soul. In January, Tuttle led a workshop during the Ozark Mountain Music Festival at the Basin Park Hotel. It’s another role that he enjoys when working the festival circuit.

“It’s a neat way to interact with friends and music lovers in a way that’s not quite like a show. When you do a show, everyone sits there and looks at you and you look at them, and you play your songs and then it’s over. The workshop thing is kind of cool because it allows for more interaction,” says Tuttle. “People can ask me some questions [or] they can just comment and listen, and there’s there’s more of a dialogue.”

The banjo player just released his fourth album this February titled “Labor of Lust.” Tuttle says the title better reflects his opinion of pursuing music as a profession. While others says it’s a “labor of love,” he says that it’s a pursuit that doesn’t always love you back.

“It’s a hard way to live and to eke out a living,” he says. “It takes a lot out of a person, and at times it almost feels more like something you’re lusting after than some type of mutually beneficial love.”

Tuttle’s sound palette on this album includes influences beyond the realm of bluegrass. When he’s not playing banjo for others, he says that he likes to include other styles in his music.

“I love bluegrass, but I also love lots of other styles. And I am a banjo player, but over the years, you know, I’ve enjoyed trying to take the banjo into other styles of music,” he says. “I don’t feel feel locked in to a need to play just traditional bluegrass. I feel like there’s no shortage of people that do a really great job of playing bluegrass music in the traditional style.”

He’ll be on the road again soon with Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway who will perform at FreshGrass in Bentonville this May. And no, he’s not married to Molly, but jokes about them being related — possibly.

“As far as we can tell, we are not actually related, but it’s fun to keep the mystique going,” he laughs. “It just seems like it would be impossible that we’re not related being in the same band and being about same age and all that stuff.”

Keep up with Tuttle on social media and at kyletuttle.com and catch him with Golden Highway and his maybe twin sister or cousin Molly at mollytuttlemusic.com.

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FYI

Ozark Mountain Soul

‘Artist At Large’

Kyle Tuttle will be jamming with musicians at Ozark Mountain Soul April 4-8 at The Farm in Eureka Springs. He will also lead a banjo workshop starting at noon April 6.

More information at: opalagafia.com/ozarkmountainsoulfestival and kyletuttle.com