In the wee small hours of a summer night, a group of singer-songwriter friends gathered to share their latest tunes at a hilltop campsite at the 2004 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. The song circle grew smaller as, one by one, sleepy campers drifted off to their tents, leaving only Laurie MacAllister, Abbie Gardner, and Carolann Solebello in the citronella-scented candlelight. Not yet ready to call it a night, these women, who had long admired each other’s solo work, began sharing favorite songs by other songwriters. Before long, Laurie, Abbie and Carolann were singing their fellow campers off to sleep in three-part harmony on songs by contemporary writers like Gillian Welch and Iris DeMent, bluegrass standards, old-time southern gospel, and classic American tunes. And before the sun rose on Hillsdale, NY, Red Molly was born.

In the two plus years since that pivotal night, Red Molly has performed at a number of excellent venues in the northeast and is steadily garnering a devoted regional fan base. They have opened shows for artists such as Aztec Two-Step, Catie Curtis, Jonathan Edwards, Jeffrey Gaines, John Hammond, Johnsmith, Michael Smith, Bill Staines and David Wilcox. In a particularly satisfying turn, Red Molly was selected to perform in the 2006 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist Showcase. Even more exciting, Red Molly earned the highest number of audience votes, and will therefore appear at Falcon Ridge 2007!

In July 2006, Red Molly’s first full-length offering, Never Been to Vegas, was released. Recorded on a chilly December evening before a warm studio audience of fans and friends, Never Been to Vegas is a collection of 14 carefully-chosen songs that span more than a century of great American songwriting. In uncluttered arrangements for three voices, songs by timeless greats like Hank Williams and Billy Edd Wheeler, new traditionalists like Gillian Welch, Patty Griffin, and Red Molly’s own Abbie Gardner mix easily with traditional American folk and gospel. Never Been to Vegas quickly climbed into the top 30 on the Radio & Records Americana chart... a rare accomplishment for an independent album.

The magic of Red Molly likely stems from the richness and diversity of each member's "pre-Molly" experiences. Laurie (vocals, guitar, banjo) left a career in psychology to pursue music. She worked for several years as a backup singer, and also released two solo albums, These Old Clothes (1999) and The Things I Choose To Do (2004). Abbie (vocals, Dobro, guitar) studied classical flute as a child and directed/arranged a cappella music at Boston University. In 2004, she released her first solo album, My Craziest Dream, with her father (jazz pianist Herb Gardner), and is influenced by her mother’s longtime love of bluegrass music. In 2006, Abbie released a second solo album, Honey on My Grave. Carolann (vocals, guitar, bass, mandolin) spent several years as a professional theatre actor before releasing her solo album, Just Across the Water, in 2000. She went on to release two albums with power folk quartet CC Railroad, Smile Whatever (2001) and Black Horse Motel (2004).

Why the moniker Red Molly? Is it an homage to a mysterious great-grandmother with auburn hair and a fiery disposition? An infamous, left-leaning union organizer from Maryland? The notorious "ladies of the evening" of 19th century London? The brave, leather-jacketed heroine of a Richard Thompson song? Or merely the hard-working farm mules of rural America? We’d tell you, but then we’d have to kill you. We do so love a good, old-fashioned murder ballad…