Mollie O'Brien

Mollie O'Brien
Background information
Born (1952-10-25) October 25, 1952
Wheeling, West Virginia, U.S.
Genres
OccupationSinger
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • piano
Years active1980–present
Labels
Websitewww.mollieobrien.com

Mollie O'Brien (born October 25, 1952) is an American singer whose repertoire draws on folk, bluegrass, Americana, blues, jazz, gospel and R&B. Raised in Wheeling, West Virginia, she became active in Colorado's music scene after moving there in 1980.[1] She has recorded as a solo artist, in a sibling duo with her brother Tim O'Brien, and with her husband, guitarist Rich Moore.

Reviewers have particularly noted O'Brien's work as an interpreter of other writers' songs. In a review of the sibling duo's Remember Me, Geoffrey Himes of The Washington Post described the contrast between Tim's tenor and Mollie's alto and the way their gospel and blues influences expanded a bluegrass framework.[2] Her solo albums have similarly ranged across acoustic blues, country, folk and pop material.[3]

Early life

O'Brien was born in Wheeling and was the second-youngest of five children. Her family listened to a wide range of music, and she and her younger brother Tim attended performances by artists including Count Basie, Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles and the Beatles.[4] In high school, Mollie and Tim performed songs associated with Peter, Paul and Mary at churches and coffeehouses. She later studied voice in college.[1]

After her sophomore year of college, O'Brien moved to New York City, hoping to work in theater. She spent four years there and worked in the garment industry, where the city's radio stations exposed her to additional blues, folk and jazz.[4] She returned to Wheeling before moving in 1980 to Colorado, where Tim was established as a member of Hot Rize. O'Brien began performing in jazz and R&B clubs in Denver and Boulder.[1] Colorado Public Radio later described her range as encompassing blues, folk, jazz, pop and gospel.[5]

Career

Recordings with Tim O'Brien

Mollie and Tim O'Brien reunited for a Mother's Day concert in 1984 and released their first duet album, Take Me Back, in 1988.[1] Reviewing a 1989 performance at the Birchmere, Alona Wartofsky of The Washington Post wrote that O'Brien moved readily among gospel, country, standards and contemporary material and praised the siblings' harmonies.[6]

The siblings followed Take Me Back with Remember Me (1992) and Away Out on the Mountain (1994), all on Sugar Hill Records. The Washington Post praised the song selection and restrained acoustic arrangements of Remember Me.[2] Its review of Away Out on the Mountain likewise highlighted the duo's interpretations and their ability to connect folk, blues, bluegrass, country and pop traditions.[7] A 1996 Michigan Daily feature also singled out their close harmonies and noted that Away Out on the Mountain included songs by Lead Belly, A. P. Carter, Lucinda Williams and the then-emerging Gillian Welch.[8]

Solo recordings and other work

O'Brien released the solo albums I Never Move Too Soon in 1987 and Everynight in the Week in 1990 on Resounding Records.[1] She also performed with the Colorado women's music collective the Mother Folkers and appeared on the group's 1989 live recording. O'Brien was among the members inducted with the Mother Folkers into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame in 2019.[9]

Her first Sugar Hill solo album, Tell It True, appeared in 1996. A review produced for WVIA-FM emphasized the breadth of the record, which moved from traditional and gospel material to Western swing, jazz and an acoustic arrangement of Terence Trent D'Arby's "Sign Your Name".[10] The album appeared at number nine on Gavin Report's Americana chart in April 1996.[11]

Big Red Sun followed in 1998. The album drew on songs by writers including Memphis Minnie, Willie Dixon, Randy Newman, John Hiatt, Lucinda Williams, Chuck Berry and Steve Goodman. MusicRow praised both O'Brien's singing and her choice of material, describing the record as a mixture of blues, acoustic folk and Americana.[3] Things I Gave Away was released in 2000; its repertoire included songs by the Beatles, Percy Mayfield, Richard Thompson and Kate MacLeod.[12] In a review originally published in 2000, Darryl Sterdan characterized the album as an eclectic set spanning jazz, blues, folk and roots rock.[13]

O'Brien contributed vocals to True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe, which won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.[14][4] She became a regular performer on A Prairie Home Companion in 2001 and performed with its Hopeful Gospel Quartet.[1][15] She has also appeared repeatedly on Mountain Stage; a 2011 performance recorded during Celtic Connections in Glasgow was broadcast by the program in 2012.[16]

Work with Rich Moore

O'Brien met guitarist and bassist Rich Moore at the Denver Folklore Center in 1981, and they married in 1983. They played together in the R&B band the Late Show while pursuing other work and raising two daughters.[5] After their daughters reached adulthood, O'Brien and Moore began working primarily as a duo. Their first release together was the live album 900 Baseline (2007), followed by the studio album Saints & Sinners (2010).[1] A 2013 Peninsula Daily News profile described their performances as combining blues, bluegrass and folk and discussed O'Brien's movement among bluegrass, gospel, R&B and pop material.[17]

The duo released Love Runner in 2014. Colorado Public Radio reported that the record mixed three original songs with work by writers including Randy Newman, Dave Van Ronk, Chris Smither and Tom Paxton.[5] George Graham's WVIA-FM review described it as a mostly acoustic album shaped by folk, jazz and blues and centered on O'Brien's vocals and Moore's guitar.[18] O'Brien and Moore recorded Daughters with Brigid and Lucy Moore; it was released by Remington Road Records in 2016.[19]

O'Brien, Moore and their daughters also joined Tim O'Brien and his sons as O'Brien Party of 7 for Reincarnation: The Songs of Roger Miller (2012).[20] Mollie O'Brien and Rich Moore released another duo album, Lost in the Crowd, on Remington Road Records in 2025.[21]

Discography

Solo albums

  • I Never Move Too Soon (1987)
  • Everynight in the Week (1990)
  • Tell It True (1996)
  • Big Red Sun (1998)
  • Things I Gave Away (2000)

With Tim O'Brien

  • Take Me Back (1988)
  • Remember Me (1992)
  • Away Out on the Mountain (1994)

With Rich Moore and family

  • 900 Baseline (2007, live)
  • Saints & Sinners (2010)
  • Reincarnation: The Songs of Roger Miller (2012, as O'Brien Party of 7)
  • Love Runner (2014)
  • Daughters (2016, with Brigid and Lucy Moore)
  • Lost in the Crowd (2025)

Other appearances

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ankeny, Jason. "Mollie O'Brien Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  2. 1 2 Himes, Geoffrey (January 7, 1993). "O'Brien Siblings' Kin-Folk Charm". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  3. 1 2 "Mollie O'Brien/Big Red Sun" (PDF). MusicRow. October 23, 1998. p. 10. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 "About Mollie O'Brien". Mollie O'Brien & Rich Moore. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 Hill, David (January 21, 2014). "Mollie O'Brien and Rich Moore: A Musical Marriage". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  6. ↑ Wartofsky, Alona (February 26, 1989). "Tim O'Brien". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  7. ↑ "Previews, Reviews and Lyle Lovett's Views on Love". The Washington Post. August 30, 1994. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Folk Fest Brings Diverse Crop of Artists to A2". The Michigan Daily. January 25, 1996. p. 5B. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  9. ↑ "The Mother Folkers". Colorado Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  10. ↑ Graham, George (March 27, 1996). "Mollie O'Brien: Tell It True". The Graham Weekly Album Review. WVIA-FM. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Gavin Americana" (PDF). Gavin Report. April 26, 1996. p. 21. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Things I Gave Away". AllMusic. August 29, 2000. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  13. ↑ Sterdan, Darryl (October 13, 2025) [2000]. "Classic Album Review: Mollie O'Brien – Things I Gave Away". Tinnitist. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  14. ↑ "39th Annual Grammy Awards". Grammy Awards. The Recording Academy. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Feeling Confident and It Shows: Mollie O'Brien". A Prairie Home Companion. December 29, 2001. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Mollie O'Brien and Rich Moore on Mountain Stage". NPR. January 5, 2012. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  17. ↑ Urbani de la Paz, Diane (March 1, 2013). "Duo to Come to Port Townsend for Evening of Song and Story". Peninsula Daily News. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  18. ↑ Graham, George (January 29, 2014). "Mollie O'Brien and Rich Moore: Love Runner". The Graham Weekly Album Review. WVIA-FM. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  19. ↑ "Daughters by Mollie O'Brien, Rich Moore, Brigid Moore & Lucy Moore". Apple Music. June 24, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Store". Mollie O'Brien & Rich Moore. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Mollie O'Brien & Rich Moore". Mollie O'Brien & Rich Moore. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.