Red Molly

Red Molly
Red Molly at the CT Folk Festival New Haven CT
Background information
Origin	Greater New York
Genres	Folk music, bluegrass, Americana
Years active	2004 - 2015
Labels	Self produced
Associated acts	Anthony da Costa, Abbie Gardner and Anthony Da Costa, CC Railroad, Mark Allen Berube, Marc Douglas Berardo
Website	http://redmolly.com
Members	Laurie MacAllister, Abbie Gardner, and Molly Venter
Past members	Carolann Solebello

Red Molly is a folk trio consisting of Laurie MacAllister (vocals, bass), Abbie Gardner (vocals, guitar, Dobro, lap steel guitar), and Molly Venter (vocals, guitar). They perform original works composed by each of the group members, as well as covers of other songwriters including Hank Williams, Gillian Welch, Richard Thompson, Mark Erelli, and Ryan Adams. Their fans are known as "Redheads."

Red Molly was formed late one night at the 2004 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. MacAllister, Gardner, and Carolann Solebello, three solo singer-songwriters, were the last ones left at a song circle. They liked the way they sounded together and decided to form a band. The name Red Molly is taken from a character in the Richard Thompson song "1952 Vincent Black Lightning."

Their career started to take off in 2006. They were the top vote getters in the 2006 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist Showcase. WUMB in Boston named them Top New Artist of the Year and picked their Album Never Been to Vegas as one of their Top Albums of 2006. They have appeared in John Platt's Under the Radar series in New York, a showcase for up and coming musicians.

In 2007 they toured with Pat Wictor and Ellis, the other winners of the Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist showcase, on the Falcon Ridge Preview tour and performed with them in the Most Wanted Song Swap at the Festival itself.

Their album Love and Other Tragedies reached number 15 on the Americana Charts on June 30, 2008.James reached number 4 on the same chart in May 2010. Light In The Sky was released on October 4, 2011.

On June 15, 2010 Red Molly announced that Carolann Solebello would be leaving the group and replaced by Molly Venter. On July 24 Solebello announced to the crowd at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival it was her last show with the band and concluded: "I know about 75% of you by face, and I wanted my last show to be with my friends here at Falcon Ridge, not at some small club in some country I didn't know anybody." Solebello continues to perform as a solo artist and released her fourth solo album "Steel and Salt", in 2013.