Old Me (New Wig)

Album: So Long Little Miss Sunshine (2025)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Old Me (New Wig)" is an upbeat, sassy pop-country tune that works as both a breakup song and a personal reset button. Over a bright, forward-motion groove, Molly Tuttle inventories her clean break from the past: buying a hot-rod car, throwing out an ex's stuff, changing guitar strings, getting a new bed, and putting on a new wig to quite literally get you out of my hair. It's catharsis with a wink.
  • Tuttle co-wrote the song with her romantic partner, Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show, who also adds fiddle, harmonica, and backing vocals. The song surprised Tuttle as it took shape. "It's a little tongue-in-cheek," she admitted to Billboard. "We thought we were just writing your kind of a breakup song, but we got to the chorus and we suddenly realized, 'Maybe this is about breaking up with an old version of yourself that isn't really serving you anymore; your insecurities or bad habits or anything that you need to leave behind.'"
  • "Old Me (New Wig)" appears on So Long Little Miss Sunshine, Tuttle's fifth solo album, released August 15, 2025. The record marks a noticeable stylistic shift from her bluegrass roots, blending pop, country, rock, and bluegrass into something looser and more electric. It was produced by Jay Joyce (Miranda Lambert, Eric Church, Lainey Wilson) and recorded in fall 2024 at Joyce's Neon Cross studio in East Nashville.
  • The album title grew directly out of the song. Tuttle initially considered something more literal. "At first I thought it should be 'breaking up with the old me' from 'Old Me (New Wig),'" she told The Sun, "But it wasn't very catchy or memorable - too on the nose. Then I went back to the song. The line 'so long Little Miss Sunshine' seemed a little more poetic, not so dry."
  • The album artwork makes the concept unmistakable. Conceived by Tuttle, it shows multiple versions of her, each wearing a different wig, alongside one image of her without one. The visuals reference her lifelong experience with alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition she's had since age 3. Tuttle is a spokesperson for the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, giving the wig imagery and the song's central metaphor real emotional weight beyond the punchline.
  • The cover design was inspired by Tuttle's work with Ringo Starr on his 2025 country-leaning album Look Up, and specifically by the four-square layout of the Beatles' Let It Be. "That album just had these four squares of each member's face," she said. "At first, I thought about wearing maybe four different wigs, then it turned into nine. It was an ambitious photo shoot - it took 12 hours - but I loved how it turned out."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne

Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of WayneSongwriter Interviews

The guy who brought us "Stacy's Mom" also wrote the Jane Lynch Emmy song and Stephen Colbert's Christmas songs.

Art Alexakis of Everclear

Art Alexakis of EverclearSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer of Everclear, Art is also their primary songwriter.

Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers

Bill Medley of The Righteous BrothersSongwriter Interviews

Medley looks back on "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" - his huge hits from the '60s that were later revived in movies.

Dave Mason

Dave MasonSongwriter Interviews

Dave reveals the inspiration for "Feelin' Alright" and explains how the first song he ever wrote became the biggest hit for his band Traffic.

Michael W. Smith

Michael W. SmithSongwriter Interviews

Smith breaks down some of his worship tracks as well as his mainstream hits, including "I Will Be Here For You" and "A Place In This World."

Matt Sorum

Matt SorumSongwriter Interviews

When he joined Guns N' Roses in 1990, Matt helped them craft an orchestral sound; his mezzo fortes and pianissimos are all over "November Rain."