Folk Matters
Mollie O'Brien brings wide breadth of folk to next show
The Portland FolkMusic Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting folk music and arts in the greater Portland area. The mission of the organization is to preserve, present and promote folk music and arts. This is the 14th season for the PFS concerts.
Mollie O'Brien
This month, PFS presents Mollie O'Brien with Rich Moore May 15 at Carvlin Hall, located at 1636 SE Hickory St., just north of S.E. Division at 16th, near the New Seasons Market.
Mollie O'Brien sings the breadth of folk music, not just the sing-a-long variety, but a dash of every aspect of American roots music. Traditional folk, jazz, R&B, blues, gospel and southern mountain country, you name it; she approaches every genre with an ease that makes you think she was steeped in the style since the first time a note left her throat.
O'Brien grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia, one of five children. She was exposed to music of every stripe, from performances by the Wheeling Symphony, to concerts by Count Basie, Ray Charles and the Beatles. O'Brien listened to singers Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins, Bonnie Raitt and Dinah Washington, Streisand, Sinatra and Betty Carter; and took voice lessons. Later, with her brother Tim O'Brien (multi-instrumentalist of Hot Rize fame), she performed in church and at coffeehouses. All the while, Mollie dreamed of heading to New York to sing and act on Broadway and make a big splash in show business.
After her sophomore year of college, Mollie set out for the Big Apple, but auditions were discouraging and gigs were few. She stuck it out for four years, long enough to discover the irresistible pull of swing music and the stylistic stretches required for jazz. Eventually, she moved to Colorado, where brother Tim had already staked out territory in the booming music scene.
Mollie moved to Boulder, Co. in 1980, worked as a duo with Tim and formed her own R&B band. Now, a couple of decades later, she's married with two teen-aged daughters and a firmly established singing career.
Mollie O'Brien is simply one of the best interpreters of American music. She has built a loyal national and international following with both her solo career and her collaborations with brother Tim. She has performed and recorded with a virtual "who's who" of modern acoustic music, including Chris Thiele, Jerry Douglas, Todd Phillips, Nina Gerber, Sally Van Meter, Scott Nygaard and many, many more. Mollie's recordings are a tribute to the variety of her taste and the versatility of her performance. On her solo CDs Every Night in the Week and I Never Move Too Soon (on Resounding Records) and Tell It True, Big Red Sun and Things I Gave Away (on Sugar Hill), she moves without hesitation from style to style, dipping into the songs of Lennon and McCartney, Percy Mayfield, Memphis Minnie, Chuck Berry and the Subdudes.
There have been any number of collaborations, most notably the Grammy-winning True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe (Sugar Hill) with a stellar bunch of bluegrass greats. For the past few years, Mollie has worked with Garrison Keillor and Robin and Linda Williams as the Hopeful Gospel Quartet, with her own five-piece band and as a duo with husband Rich Moore. Partners in marriage for over 24 years, professional musicians for longer than that, Mollie O'Brien and Rich Moore are just now starting on another journey, that of a performing duo. The release of their new live CD, 900 Baseline in June 2007, is proof that working couples can make beautiful music together. Blues, vintage roots covers and gorgeous ballads all get the Mollie and Moore treatment - just one voice and one guitar covering the whole range of great American music.
Admission for the show is $10 for PFS members, $12 general admission, $5 ages 12-18. Kids under 12 years of age are free. There are no advance sales, just tickets at the door. There is no smoking and no alcohol, but there are food and beverages available and it is a relaxed and enjoyable spot to bring the family or meet friends - or make new friends who love folk music!
Membership in the Portland FolkMusic Society offers a variety of experiences. Details can be found at the PFS website ( www.portlandfolkmusic.org ), a fascinating site that will help amateur and professionals interested in Portland's diverse Folk scene see what is going on every week of the year.