MOLLIE O’BRIEN PERFORMS AT TOWNGATE

WHEELING, W.Va. (November 2, 2009) - - Wheeling native and internationally renowned singer Mollie O’Brien brings her powerful voice to Towngate Theatre for a special live music performance at 8 p.m. Thursday, November 19. Tickets are just $10 and can be purchased at the door.

Performing jazz, R&B, blues, gospel, and southern mountain traditional, Mollie O’Brien has been deemed one of the best interpreters of American music. She has built a loyal national and international following with both her solo career and her collaborations with brother Tim O’Brien.

Growing up in Wheeling, one of five children, Mollie was exposed to music of every stripe, from performances by the Wheeling Symphony to concerts by Count Basie, Ray Charles and the Beatles. She listened to singers — Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins, Bonnie Raitt and Dinah Washington, Streisand, Sinatra, and Betty Carter — and took voice lessons. Later, with her brother, Tim, she performed in church and at coffeehouses. All the while she dreamed of heading to New York to sing and act on Broadway and make a big splash in show business. After her sophomore year of college, she set out for the Big Apple, but the auditions were discouraging and gigs were few. She stuck it out for four years — long enough to discover the irresistible pull of swing music and the stylistic stretches required for jazz. Eventually she moved to Colorado, where brother Tim had already staked out territory in the booming music scene.

Mollie moved to Boulder in 1980, worked as a duo with Tim, and formed her own R&B band. Now, a couple of decades later, she’s married with two teen-aged daughters and a firmly established singing career. She has been called one of roots music’s best interpreters and singers, and her voice described as “smooth,” “smoky,” “powerful” and “bright and bold as sheet lightning.” Once you’ve heard it, you’re hooked.

Mollie’s recordings are a tribute to the variety of her taste and the versatility of her performance. On her solo CDs — Every Night in the Week, I Never Move Too Soon, Tell It True, Big Red Sun, and Things I Gave Away— she moves without hesitation from style to style, dipping into the songs of Lennon and McCartney, Percy Mayfield, Memphis Minnie, Chuck Berry, and the Subdudes.

Showcasing her old-time, folk, blues, and gospel chops are three albums with Tim O’Brien - Take Me Back, Remember Me, and Away Out on the Mountain.

She has also appeared in numerous collaborations, most notably the Grammy-winning True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe with a stellar bunch of bluegrass greats. For the past few years, Mollie has worked with Garrison Keillor and Robin & Linda Williams as the Hopeful Gospel Quartet, with her own five-piece band and as a duo with husband Rich Moore.

Mollie has earned rave notices at major festivals and venues throughout the U.S. and in the United Kingdom, Europe and South America.

Husband Rich Moore will join Mollie on the Towngate stage for the November 19 performance. The release of their live CD, 900 Baseline, in 2007 is proof that working couples can make beautiful music together. Blues, vintage roots covers and gorgeous ballads all get the Mollie and Rich treatment - just one voice and one guitar covering the whole range of great American music.

No reservations are taken for Towngate live musical shows. Tickets are available at the door only, so arrive early for best seats. Each show lasts about two hours and refreshments are available. Other upcoming performances include The Fabulous Bender Boys January 9; National Fingerstyle Guitar Champion Pete Huttlinger February 27; Roger Hoard March 20 and Kim & Friends May 21.

The Towngate Theatre is located at 2118 Market St. in Wheeling’s historic Center Market district, and parking is either curbside or in the nearby Center Market garage.

Admission is $10. Members of Oglebay Institute receive a discount. Call 304.242.7700 for more information.

This program is made possible through the generous support of the members of the Institute as well as with financial assistance from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the WV Commission on the Arts.