MOLLY PARDEN
The story of Molly Parden’s music is something of a mystery - she’s been known to say it’s something that happened to her more than a dream or vision she sought after. She comes with a classic American folk artist story in which her father built houses, her mother gave birth to enough children to form a baseball team, and she wiggled away from her pitch-impaired siblings to find where music was being made: first in the big city of Atlanta, then years later in the smaller town of Nashville. One needs only to see her perform live —a skill that she’s been honing for 15 years, and it shows— to understand her ease, the way she has befriended her preternatural gifts of crafting melody, singing, and playing the guitar. Her quiet confidence exudes as she smiles through a painstaking lyric, assuring the audience that heartache is a natural curve on the path of existence. Yet she doesn’t pity herself, nor you, and doesn’t need a pledge of allegiance from anyone. She is simply there to tell a few stories and be on her way. Completely unpretentious. The intensity of her lyrical matter is offset with pragmatic conversational banter between songs, a comment about last night’s meal, or a seemingly random poll on modes of transportation, just to make you laugh. Disarming. As one song ends, the listener aches for the next universal truth to be presented in another singable refrain, while simultaneously bracing for an unexpected belly laugh.
As far as the creative process, she doesn’t seem to ask for anyone’s input outside of her studio collaborators. Making music is an intimate conversation, and she keeps her inner artist well protected. She takes influence from being alive in this world. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Every moment leads to the next, and every decision compounds, which is why she rolls her eyes at the notion of time travel. It would be impossible to snip even one thread from of the tapestry of the holy and irreplaceable Today. In typical tortured artist fashion, she oscillates between loving and loathing the concept of granting strangers access to her personal life on platforms and in places where society commonly gathers. Some days it’s all too delicate to share, some days it really doesn’t make a difference, and some days it is beautifully unifying. Perhaps this is why she has taken to kissing touring goodbye for the time being: to retreat into herself and take stock, as all of us need to do from time to time. Until then, we treasure the glimpses we get into the mind of Molly Parden.
MOST INFLUENTIAL ALBUM
SEA GREEN, SEE BLUE | JAYMAY
When I heard Jaymay sing, I realized that good music could be simple and effective. Then I realized that I could do it too. Then I realized that I could do it better than her. Thanks for the affirmation, girlfriend.