LA Music Review | Art, stories and advice
Soulful, classy and truly meaningful!
Hi Molly, welcome to LA Music Review! Tell us a little bit about you and your music.
Molly Mary Mahoney is an East Bay-based jazz and crossover singer…
…who grew up in an extremely musical house. Molly reminisces, “There was always music around the house growing up. My parents are both singers, and my dad plays guitar and piano. We’d often sing in three part harmony. Sometimes my brothers would even join in.” Later, the family would even form their own big band, which Molly performed with throughout high school and college.
Her talents stood out to her family, and by the age of ten she caught the attention of a big band leader in a very public way:
My mom sang with a big band in New York and was trying to get the band leader to hear me sing. He was quite reluctant since I was only 10 years old, but then one night at a performance he called me up on stage.
It was a defining and critical moment to Molly’s career that she remembers fondly, recalling, “I sang ‘All of Me’ with a 19-piece big band and it was amazing! He hired me on the spot and I was a regular with them.”
Congrats on the release! What was your inspiration when you were writing this project?
Released on February 14, 2022. Molly points out that she’s always been a fan of Cole Porter, but the deep dive she did after learning of their genetic connection really inspired her:
When I started reading his biographies and researching his canon of music more, I was overcome with how prolific he was! I knew I needed to narrow my focus a little.
Fittingly for the time of year, she chose to narrow her focus to love songs.
Molly is recreating and retouching Porter’s compositions for the twenty-first century and putting all of herself into getting it right. Her pianist and arranger, Joshua Hegg, elaborates,
The compositions themselves are rife with emotional meaning.
What really brings it into this century is Molly’s personal connection to Porter. It inspires her to know she has such talent in her blood, and this knowledge has moved the album’s conception and creation. Joshua sums it up: “Now, with the benefit of nearly 100 years since Porter put pen to paper, we are highlighting new aspects heard with a modern ear.”
What is your vision for this song?
This project has many meanings for Molly.
It was something she cooked up during the pandemic, a time when her life as a prolific touring artist was put on hold. And logically, she is planning a tour for “My Cousin Cole,” which will capitalize on her last tour. Her performances are theatrical and Cabaret-inspired.
Don’t be afraid of your roots, your family, or who you are.
Family is so important to Molly, and following up on her past performing with her family with an album dedicated to a famous relative highlights that.
Since family and music have always been closely tied to her, finding out that that tradition went back a century really meant something to her. She found a new reason to do what we should all do: celebrate family, our heritage, and the soul of all of that.
What is your favorite part of this body of work?
Molly is extremely proud of “All Of You,” the first single.
She is most proud of landing on a theme: Porter’s love songs. The way she brought the album together through this theme really allowed her to go deep instead of wide. The focus on love songs strikes her as incredibly universal.
Anything else we should know about it? Future releases?
Cabaret, classical, and crossover singer Molly Mary Mahoney’s sophomore album will be out this Spring, a tribute to her distant cousin Cole Porter. The album, “My Cousin Cole,” will debut on May Fifteenth, 2022 as a digital download for sale on her website. She also plans to release a few singles to major streaming platforms in the coming months.
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