Grammy-award winner Mollie O’Brien embodies the Americana music genre with her mix of blues and folk, with some gospel and jazz thrown in.
The singer-song writer will perform with her guitar-virtuoso husband, Rich Moore, at the Dolores River Brewery Friday, March 27 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 and are available at the door.
“We’re quite thrilled to be playing Dolores,” O’Brien said in an phone interview with the Star. “Our shows are fun and relaxed, with a good variety of songs and Rich and I bantering back and forth a lot.”
O’Brien became known to the rest of the world in 1988 when she and her brother, Tim, released the first of three critically-acclaimed albums for Sugar Hill Records. Eventually, Mollie recorded five well-received solo albums, and was a regular on the radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion” from 2001 through 2005.
O’Brien says she doesn’t recognize a lot of musical boundaries. She’s not afraid to re-interpret folk classics, traditional gospel, and forgotten ballads.
“I’m always looking for stuff that has not been covered to death,” she says. “I comb online and go through old record stores. It’s getting harder to find. Some of the original sheet music is so old it’s crumbling.”
Once she hones in on an old tune, the fun begins.
“I try to turn it inside out, and make it tempo-wise a different arrangement,” O’Brien said. “I like to change the song enough so the audience does not recognize it until the chorus.”
Rich Moore also has impressive musical chops, and is well-known in the Colorado music scene. He produces some of the funniest onstage running commentary, and is a powerhouse guitar player who can keep up with O’Brien’s twists and turns from blues to traditional folk to jazz to rock and roll.
Moore’s played in bands with Pete Wernick and Celeste Krenz, but now is “the band” behind his duo act with his wife Mollie.
“I’m the drummer, the bass, the rhythm and the lead,” he says. “It’s a joy to play behind Mollie, she leads the way and I enhance her.”
The early folk and blues scene in Philadelphia influenced Moore’s guitar interests.
“Chris Smithers, Dave von Ronk left a big impression on me,” he said. “I listen to a lot of ragtime and sneak that into my playing.”
Moore said it’s a secret how he and Mollie can tour so successfully as husband and wife, “so I can’t tell you.”
The Denver-based duo has been touring smaller towns in Colorado, playing Ridgeway Thursday before heading to Dolores, and then on to Carbondale.
“I love the small town feel with families and kids coming to hear the show,” O’Brien said. “It’s going to be really cool with a variety of music styles.”
jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com
