“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 APRIL 29
NEW YORK (April 11, 2022) – Red Molly’s Abbie Gardner announces the release of her solo single, “Only All the Time,” on April 29. It’s off the album, DobroSinger, due out May 13. A spring-is-coming song, “Only All The Time,” answers Dolly Parton’s “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?” with an energetic guitar part to shake out the winter blahs and a sing-a-long melody that almost inspires the flowers to emerge.
Inspired by Dolly Parton and co-written with Gardner’s Red Molly bandmate, Molly Venter, the song highlights strong female musicians and songwriters. “Only All the Time” taps into an old tradition of one song answering another song. Gardner says, “Red Molly covered that song, and it occurred to me that since it was written as a question, we had the opportunity to answer it. We’d like to say, yes, Dolly, we think of you, ‘Only All the Time.’” It’s not until the song’s end that Gardner mentions Dolly’s full title, “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind,” whereas, throughout the rest of the song, it’s more subtly phrased, “Asking if you cross my mind.”
Lyrically the song talks about the kind of love that stays with you long after a relationship ends. It can be bittersweet, filled with regret, or what could have been if it hadn’t ended. These ordinary everyday sensations bring the memories back: “when my bare feet touch the ground” and “when the air takes on that feeling” before a storm.
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
May 7 First United Methodist Church (w/Pat Wictor), Port Jefferson, NY
June 9th Songwriter Thursdays (with Noel McKay), Nashville, TN
June 21 Rockwood Music Hall, New York, NY
July 8-10 New Bedford Folk Festival, New Bedford, MA
August 3 Endless Mountain Music Fest, Corning, NY
August 7 Bartlett Arboretum, Stamford, CT
August 27 Club Passim, Cambridge, MA
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
