Sing For You was released in May 2001, Sunday Sometimes in 2004 and now five years in Nashville has given Molly Irene much more original material to be released. However, first enjoy her 2009-2010 Irish-Americana album Earned Heart and Linnet Be featuring traditional tunes and the songwriting of Eleanor McEvoy, Dougie MacLean, Richard Thompson, Ron Hynes and yours truly.
New 2009 Release: Earned Heart and Linnet Be
The charisma of Kirsty MacColl and Loretta Lynn, the healing of Eva Cassidy and the wisdom of Mary Black and Joan Baez come to mind when listening to Earned Heart and Linnet Be. It’s spirit cradles and jolts you. Now imagine if these fictional and non-fictional women had tea together: Sleeping Beauty, Dorothy Gale, Princess Buttercup, Mary Wollstonecraft, Maude Gonne, Molly Malone, Mary Anne Locke of Kilbeggan, Mama Lift, St. Claire of Assisi, Ophelia, Molly Brown, Maria von Trapp, Ma Joad and Rose of Sharon Rivers. Their dynamics would create the essence of this album.
13 Songs were compiled from some favorite traditional (folk) and contemporary Celtic songwriters. The album depicts the journey of a woman’s spirit, as it is born and reborn. These songs were carefully selected to fuel the stories within the grand story. Therein lies the beautiful journey of Celtic music paired with some Americana instrumentation. Producer Pat McInerney is the beating heart throughout the album as he upheld the role of artistic director, percussionist, and driving force. Engineer Thomm Jutz also wore many hats as artistic director, guitarist, keys, synthesizer, tin whistle, and mastering. Together they brought the finest session musicians in Nashville to give new life to old songs. The graphics of the album were by Molly Irene and Erin Travelstead.
“The recording process started in January 2008 and was completed in January 2009. With hundreds of songs to choose from and many rewrites to the vision the project became what it was supposed to be. The deciding factor when we hit a wall on the final five tunes was that the album was morphing into the struggles with virtue, innocence, manipulation, heartbreak, despair, strength, idealism and time as it ages and changes us all. The album is feminine with thought provoking and mature messages. What was lost is found in universal love; the essence of a woman’s heart.” -Molly Irene
More about the making of Molly Irene’s past recordings
2001 Release: Sing For You
Molly Irene produced and released her first CD, Sing For You, in September of 2001. The record was created as a collection of older and more recent recordings spanning 1997 to 2001. Her earliest recordings consisted primarily of local musicians from Kansas City and recording engineers from the University of Missouri. These recordings hold a special place in her heart, as they represent some of her finest and most spontaneous creations. Originally, the title song Sing For You, was never intended for the album. She improvised the song as a warm-up, but it proved to be the best tune to describe her life as a female artist. The entire album is soothing to the soul because it has a home grown, folk appeal filled with tenderness and honesty; salt of the earth.
After completing college Molly spent a summer acting. She then returned to St. Louis with more ambition to follow her music career. She took part in several Women in Rock promotional shows and secured support dates for local bands. The following year she traveled to Ireland to feed her muse. She returned home determined to go back to Ireland in four months with a cd to share. Nick’s Pub (a dogtown spot in the heart of St. Louis) hired Molly Irene and violinist Tom Bailey to play weekends. This financed her album and trip back to Ireland. Within three weeks Steve Deibel produced and recorded to analog Molly’s first completed album Sing For You. He encouraged an organic recording process so the album maintains a raw integrity. Upon her return to Ireland just two weeks after September 11 she backpacked through Ireland with a heavy load of CDs while busking on the streets and in the pubs with singer Sarah Zagurski. The fertile folk music culture of the country provided great inspiration - not to mention a historical resonance- to her work. 2001 marked an important year for Molly as she was first introduced to the music of Eva Cassidy and John Prine. It was also a year of performances with Sarah Zagurski and violinist Tom Bailey. These memories and recordings provided much comfort after Tom’s untimely death in 2006. He never knew that “Dulcimer Ditty” on Sing For You is still the top selling song online. This song took 26 takes to perfect!
2004 Release: Sunday Sometimes
Upon her return to the states she remained in St. Louis working hard performing and writing for the next Molly Irene installment Sunday Sometimes. Ireland inspired Molly Irene to experiment with a variety of genres soaking up the muse of collaborative efforts. Some old friends invited her to participate in a weekly session of Bluegrass music. The essence of Bluegrass and the spirit it invoked triggered a deeper understanding of the history of roots music. On the flip side she was also experimenting with a Police cover band, a couple roots / folk duos, traditional Irish, music ministry, and rock. Each avenue appeared to be a diversion from the other, but in the end the sounds had merged in the creation of Sunday Sometimes.
Molly found herself writing songs with a band in mind. Each song called for different musicians she worked with in her ten years as a St. Louis musician. Every song fell into another genre. Some songs offered an alternative appeal while others were jazz and blues-rock. Another had a Johnny Cash country appeal (”Bag the Bad Boy”). She included a St. Louis down home blues lament (”Morning Lament”) and the remake of the Sing For You songs (”I am a Tree” and Steve Deibel’s New Orleans infused version of “Standing on the Cusp”). This album showcases just some of the St. Louis talent that supported and inspired her as a musician and songwriter. Its essence is Heather Nova meets Carol King.
Molly Irene called long time musician colleague and friend to help with the undertaking. Casey Hunter with Spectra Sound furnished his home studio with 21 different St. Louis musicians within one year while maintaining his own hectic tour schedule. He produced and engineered the album while tastefully completing many of the bass tracks. Other credits on both Sunday Sometimes and Sing For You: Michael Huber with Paradigm New Media Group (graphics and album designs) Daniel Huber with DH Photo (photography) and Brad Sarno (mastering). Molly still has loyalties to her band back home and they continue to perform together when they can.
