“Abbie Gardner gives the grit to Red Molly with her Dobro playing. On her new solo CD we get to hear not only her instrumental and songwriting prowess, but her marvelously versatile voice, which can convey pain or playfulness or pure bad girl blues power.” -John Platt, WFUV
FOR RELEASE MARCH 25
NEW YORK (February 28, 2022) – Red Molly’s Abbie Gardner announces the release of her solo single, “Born in the City” on March 25. It’s off the album, DobroSinger, due out May 13. The song co-written with Will Kimbrough is inspired by growing up around NYC and loving all the beautiful diversity
“Born in the City” celebrates each other’s differences by bringing together a back-porch musical vibe with modern big-city chromatic slide guitar licks. Gardner says, “The contrasting combination is kind of like me – playing this traditionally male bluegrass instrument, but doing it as a woman, in Jersey City within view of the Empire State Building.”
The song opens to simpler times around a potluck party. Gardner says, “In school, we would celebrate everyone’s heritage by bringing in the food of your people. The variety was always impressive and sharing it all was a way to connect and experience the differences as something wonderful. It taught me to embrace differences over everyone trying to be the same. I consider myself very lucky to have grown up this way and would love for people to realize what they’re missing out on by only surrounding themselves with people who are just like them.”
Gardner traveled across the country as a solo act, but when everything shut down in 2020, she had the opportunity to make the record she’s always dreamed of making. Using a tiny closet recording studio in her home in the shadow of NYC, she gathered a collection of songs. She recorded them raw – singing and playing without a band, without separating the voice from her instrument, and without any studio tricks to hide behind. The result is intimate – you can hear every breath, every chuckle as if you are in the room with her.
DobroSinger Track Listing
- Down the Mountain
- Only All the Time
- See You Again
- Born in the City
- Three Quarter Time
- Cypress Tree
- Too Many Kisses
- Honky Tonk Song
- When We Were Kids
- Those Memories of You
- You Belong to Me
About Abbie Gardner:
Whether performing solo or with the Americana harmony trio Red Molly, her acclaimed tales of love and loss, both gritty and sweet, are propelled by her impeccable slide guitar playing. Her father, Herb Gardner, is a swing jazz and stride pianist and Dixieland trombonist. Gardner’s first full-length recording, My Craziest Dream (2004), is an album of jazz standards featuring her father on piano, and it earned her an entry in the 2009 Hal Leonard book “The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide.” She made seven records with Red Molly and toured the world for over a decade before the band focused on individual solo careers. In this space of transition, Gardner recorded Wishes on a Neon Sign (2018), collaborating with kind-hearted outlaw Chris Stapleton (on the wistful “Bad Leaver”), Nashville regular David Olney (on the deliciously slick “Empty Suit),” and bandmate Molly Venter (on the deeply true “Cold Black Water”). She’s opened for Lori McKenna and Martina McBride.
Tour Dates
June 9th Nashville, TN – Songwriter Thursdays at the American Legion Post 82 (with Noel McKay)
August 3 Endless Mountain Music Fest, Corning, NY
July 8-10 New Bedford Folk Festival, New Bedford, MA
August 7 Bartlett Arboretum, Stamford, CT
Praise for Abbie Gardner
“an album that’s both introspective and expressive, with the accessibility factor weighing in heavily on each of its entries” – No Depression
