Mollie O’Brien is a singer’s singer. For her, the essence of the song is never sacrificed and there are no musical boundaries; as a result she’s considered one of the top interpretive singers in American music today. She has been called one of roots music’s best interpreters and singers, and her voice described as “smooth,” “smoky,” “powerful,” and “bright and bold as sheet lightning.” As a result she’s at the top of her game and unafraid of taking risks both vocally and in the material she chooses. Once you’ve heard it, you’re hooked.

 

Mollie came to the acoustic music world’s attention through her folk and bluegrass recordings with her brother, Tim O’Brien, and through her performances on 1996’s Grammy winner for Best Bluegrass Album True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe. In addition she is known for her work on A Prairie Home Companion. However, it has been her collaborations and recordings since 2006 with husband, Rich Moore, that has finally allowed her vocal abilities to shine their brightest.

Growing up in Wheeling, West Virginia, one of five children, Mollie was exposed to music of every stripe, from performances by the Wheeling Symphony to concerts by Count Basie, Ray Charles, and the Beatles. She listened to singers — Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins, Bonnie Raitt and Dinah Washington, Streisand, Sinatra, and Betty Carter — and took voice lessons. All the while she 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, she set out for the Big Apple, but as the auditions were discouraging and the gigs few, she eventually decided to move to Colorado, where brother Tim had already staked out territory in the booming music scene. She moved to Boulder in 1980, worked as a duo with Tim, and formed her own bands. Now, a couple of decades later, she’s married with two grown daughters and a firmly established singing career.

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. And showcasing her old-time, folk, blues, and gospel chops are three albums with Tim O’Brien (Take Me Back, Remember Me, and Away Out on the Mountain — all on the Sugar Hill label). Her current collaboration with husband Rich has seen them perform throughout the US and Europe. Together they’ve released three albums (900 Baseline, Saints And Sinners, and Love Runner). She’s also recorded two “family” albums, one with her and Rich along their two daughters (Daughters), and one that also includes her brother Tim and his two sons (Reincarnation—The Songs Of Roger Miller).

Mollie has earned rave notices at major festivals and venues throughout the U.S. and in the United Kingdom, Europe, and South America.