Mollie O’Brien and Laura Love Make One-Of-A-Kind Musical Shows
Kathy Foster-Patton
Mollie O’Brien and Rich Moore and Laura Love and Orville Johnson were playing at the Little Schoolhouse in the Pines, which is up Boulder’s Four Mile Canyon. I was conflicted—eager to hear the music but a little leery of going to the show. The weather report indicated rain, which meant it would be snowing up there—typical for mid-April. I had never been to the shows at the Little Schoolhouse and the Little Church in Salina, but heard rumor that parking was a hassle. Finally, torn, I lit upon the perfect solution—and bummed a ride to the show—I was set.
Mollie O’Brien is particular. It was apparent as soon as she walked in the door to set up for the show at the Little Schoolhouse. She wants her music to sound perfect; she wants to work out all the details of a show, she wants the CD’s to stack on the merchandise table just right. And at the end of the night, her audiences know the result of that perfectionism—they depart having heard some very special music.
The spring snow didn’t stop the Boulder music fans from clambering into their four wheel drives two days after tax day to get their Mollie O’Brien fix. Allison Hybertson organizes the shows in Salina—originally holding them at the church there—hence the name, Little Church in the Pines. The church is now under renovation, so the shows (and the church pews) moved to the quaint and cute schoolhouse with its large stove and two outhouses. Molly was the impetus for this show and worked with Allison to set it up.
The Little Schoolhouse show was the first in a series of gigs for the Mollie O’Brien/Laura Love foursome in April and May. Mollie and Rich kicked off the first set and played the first half together, then were joined by Laura and Orville for the second half of the set. The group did songs from a variety of writers and performers—including Jesse Winchester (country, bluegrass, folk), Blossom Dearie (jazz), and a traditional tune that AP Carter rewrote and ultimately claimed as his own (“Jealous Hearted Me”). They highlighted gospel, old time music, spirituals, and field-hauling songs, covering a wide spectrum and delighting the audience.
Mollie is from West Virginia, which also played into the set list with their choice of Hazel Dickens’ “ West Virginia My Home.” Laura took that opportunity to explain that she is from Nebraska—the gateway to the rectangular states, getting a big chuckle from the crowd.
In the first set, the performance of “ Looking For Trouble” was a highlight for me—the first tune and a bluesy number that Mollie belted out, really giving the audience a taste of what was to come. I loved “Now At Last”, the Blossom Dearie song written by Bob Haymes that Mollie sang as though it was written for her. My favorite of the set was “The Piney Wood Hills” a Buffy Sainte-Marie tune, with Mollie and Laura switching back and forth on the lead. I also enjoyed “Two Of Us,” a song that Laura said she sang with her sister when they were ‘folk pups.’ That song always evokes The Beatles and the “Let It Be” album for me. Rich remarked after the tune that he was so pleased to see people under thirty singing along with them.
Throughout the night, Laura Love wore the hugest smile in the house. Afterwards, she explained why. “It’s hard to describe what I enjoy most about playing with these folks. I think I’d have to say that it’s a tie between the phenomenal musicianship and the phenomenal personalities of all three of them. We all love old archived songs and rare musical chestnuts as well as obscure yet brilliant songwriters. Mollie and Rich and Orville are not only fantastic, tasty, sensitive, and soulful players and singers, they’re also politically exactly where I’m at which makes the journey so much easier. I think it would be next to impossible to enjoy making music with a right wing Republican, Christian fundamentalist, no matter how technically brilliant they were. There is such an intimacy and vulnerability and emotionality about singing and playing together that is almost like crossing over into another world when I perform with people as good as these three.”
Mollie echoed Laura’s words. “I love singing with Laura Love and Orville Johnson. It’s that plain and simple. I’ve been pretty much singing solo since I quit working with my brother Tim years ago. It’s what I loved about doing the Hopeful Gospel Quartet work—all that harmony singing. But Laura and Orville work out their parts in a different way than the Hopeful Gospel Quartet did. The Hopeful Gospel Quartet was always pretty standard harmony singing—very fun and very well done. Laura and Orville usually sing in a duo setting and they conjure up some very interesting parts that aren’t Harmony Singing 101. It’s really fun to find a 3rd part to sing with them. Of course, I love hanging out with them too. Laura is so energetic on stage and such a performer. Orville, too, turns it up to 10 when he’s singing as well. That’s all fun. And it’s fun after the gig too. We have a good time—lots of talking and eating and drinking.”
What was apparent at the Little Schoolhouse is that these performers are very comfortable together, having a lot of fun. The song selection process must have been interesting and Mollie explained a little more about how they decided what to perform. “I basically look either for songs that are in my current repertoire that I think would sound great with another one or two harmony parts on it. I also look out from the song list and try to pick things that I’d probably never do with just Rich and me like “Keep It Clean” or any number of gospel tunes that I normally wouldn’t do.” Laura elaborated more. “Mollie’s voice is so rich and nuanced and travels so easily between playful and exquisitely sad and mournful. She is a chanteuse like no other and I loved her music way before I had the privilege to get to know her and sing with her. She and Rich communicate sort of like twins in that they have this way of communicating that is often unspoken and a lot like telepathy. It is wonderful to see two people who’ve been married for so long still delight in each other’s company. I get the sense that they both revel in bringing the other a gorgeous ballad or a risqué turn of the century blues they’ve discovered in some dusty old vault somewhere. I am the least musically savvy of all of them, so I enjoy what they all come up with for us to play. Orville is a music historian and just all around genius too, so I just sit back and listen and feel lucky beyond belief to be able to learn from them. Their musical knowledge and sensibilities inform much of the music I now write and listen to.”
The second set kicked off similar to the first one, but with Laura and Orville starting things off. Halfway through, they were joined by Rich first, and then by Mollie. This set included a lot of Gospel, spirituals, field hauling songs, and tunes that surely were sung by the freedom riders in the 60’s. Laura pulled out her electric bass for this set. Orville and Rich focused on their guitars until the last song when Rich switched to a ukulele. Highlights for me were “Shadey Grove,” the freedom songs: “We Shall Not Be Moved” which morphed into “Straight On Freedom,” and the field hauling medley—“Load Up” and “Paul and Silas (Keep Your Eyes on the Prize).”
The snow was coming down steadily by the end of the last song. The crowd left hurriedly, delighted with their musical experience and CD’s tucked into their pockets. This weather would be typical for most of their shows together. Laura talked about it later. “On this last little tour, we encountered so much big weather. Snow, ice, sleet, hail—just everything wet and cold and slidy and to make things even more interesting, we were driving on snaky little narrow, windy, twisty mountain roads to get to you all so we could play some music—yet through it all, I kept thinking that there was no one in this world that I’d more enjoy plunging to my death with then those three.” Luckily, they survived!
Mollie Obrien and Rich Moore
with Laura Love and Orville Johnson
Little School House in the Pines
Salina, CO
4/16/2009
Recording:
Unamplified Set. 2mxl2003s center, 2 akg C1000s outer, 4 trk 24/48> 2 tk 16/44.1 using Audacity on Ubuntu 9.10. comments: prennix at gmail dot com
Audio
stream | mp3s | zip (mp3s)
01 Looking For Trouble
02 River’s Invitation
03 It Ain’t Love
04 Jealous Hearted Me
05 Now At Last
06 Every Night Of The Week
07 I love You A Thousand Ways
08 Two Of Us
09 West Virginia My Home
10 When I Get Home I’m Gonna Be Satisfied
11 Piney Wood Hills
12 Keep It Clean
set 2
01 Shadey Grove
02 We Shall Not Be Moved > Straight On Freedom
03 “Life Goes Round Like a Wheel”
04 Checkers
05 Cuckoo
06 Cotton Eyed Joe
07 Ruby
08 Unto The Dyeing Lamb
09 Working on a Building
10 Load Up
11 Paul and Silas
12 Nobody’s Fault But Mine
13 Swing Low Sweet Chariot
corrections to info@thespps.org, please
Notes:
Set 1: 1-6: Mollie and Rich, 7-12: Mollie, Rich, Laura, Orville
Set 2: 1-4,6: Laura and Orville, 5: Laura, Orville, Rich 7-13: Mollie, Rich, Laura, Orville
All songs included, some talking edited by request
