Manitoba Live Music Event

About

Tickets available through Park Theatre, Music Trader and online 

Songwriting duo Me and Molly was formed in Nashville, TN in 2015 by Molly Stevens and Declan McGarry. Despite having spent a few years writing and playing together across the US and Canada as solo artists sharing a bill, it wasn’t until Grammy winning producer Neal Cappallino (Alison Krauss) suggested they try performing as a duo that the idea crossed their minds. “We have a really unique sound together and a natural chemistry in our writing and performing,” says McGarry. “It just made sense. We had the songs, our voices blended great and we were good friends”.

Both thoughtful and charming, their songs are honest, thought-provoking ruminations on the universal yearning for self-knowledge. Drawing on their broad backgrounds and disparate influences, their unique take on Americana works so well because they each bring something different to the songwriting table.

McGarry hails from the prairie city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, yet is was music born in the heartland of America that first caught of the young songwriter’s heart. “I remember listening to Nanci Griffith and John Denver on family road trips” recalls McGarry. His first public performance – at the age of three – was at a family member’s wedding where he sang “Country Roads”. In his teenage years he was drawn to rock and roll, until he re-discovered a love for country music and Americana, bringing him back to where it all began.

Stevens grew up in Macon, GA, singing in church and at many revivals led by her grandfather, a celebrated preacher around the Southeast. Growing up in Macon, home to the Allman Brothers and Ottis Redding, among others, Stevens never knew a time when southern rock or sould wasn’t floating through the air. “Singing was just always a huge part of my life,” says Stevens. “The other kids played games and sports after school and I went home to practice or sing at a church event.”

Stevens studied theatre in college and moved to New York City shortly thereafter with acting aspirations. It wasn’t long, however, until she realized music was her true passion. Armed with a vintage 1950s Gibson acoustic given to her by her grandfather shortly before he died, she moved to Nashville in 2009 intent on turning passion into a career.

McGarry and Stevens’ command of the stage has been honed individually through years of hard work on the road. As solo artists Stevens and McGarry have had their fair share of success. McGarry was one of four artists nominated in 2012 for the CCMA New Artist Showcase. In 2013 and 2014 Stevens played CMA Fest in Nashville, and has performed with the Indigo Girls, opened for Wynona Judd, and more. Yet in the case of Me & Molly the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts; in their short time performing as a duo they’ve shared the stage with acts as diverse as the Dirty Guv’nahs, Angie Aparo, Griffin House, Billy Joe Shaver, Amy Ray, and Darlingside.

Me and Molly are currently working on their debut recording. Written in Stevens’ living room in East Nashville and recorded with producer Jeff Crawford (Mandolin Orange) in Chapel Hill, NC, the record features Phil Cook on dobro and banjo in addition to McGarry and Stevens.