Renowned songwriter and guitarist Molly Miller has released the single “Blues to Greens,” the second single off of the forthcoming Molly Miller Trio album The Ballad of Hotspur, due out on May 3 which is available for pre-order in multiple formats, including digital, CD and Vinyl HERE.
The Ballad of Hotspur is the trio’s third album and draws its name from a character in Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part 1, based on the 14th-century English knight Sir Henry Percy, who fought in numerous battles against the French in the Hundred Years War. He was given the nickname “Hotspur” as a tribute to his speed in advance and readiness to attack.
The album is a collection of instrumental Americana Jazz songs tinged with hints of surf rock and harkens back to 2020 when musicians were forced off the road by the pandemic. Molly realized she could take advantage of the moment to write new music, so she and Jennifer began sending ideas back and forth. After two years of writing and recording remotely the trio reconvened in person for the first time in just over two years at LA’s Valentine Studios to record the album in just two days.
“Blues to Greens” was written a week into the pandemic in March of 2020. Due to rain, less driving, and less flying, Los Angeles, which is where Molly calls home, was lush, clear, and beautiful. The juxtaposition of what was happening in the world and what was happening in nature was striking. Molly returned home from a walk, sat down, and wrote the whole piece in one sitting with the intention of trying to understand that something so dark can have multiple shades.
Music is everything to Molly, who has been playing guitar since age seven. She started off performing in a family band with her four siblings and drew inspiration from artists like Jimi Hendrix, Mickey Baker, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. In high school, she got into jazz, an obsession that continued into her years studying at USC, where she eventually earned her BA, MA, and doctorate in musical arts. A few weeks after graduating in 2016, Jason Mraz asked Molly to play with him. The same year, she became the chair of the guitar department at the Los Angeles College of Music. Since then, Molly has balanced performance and teaching, becoming a professor of studio guitar at USC in 2022. Along with Mraz, she’s played with artists such as the Black Eyed Peas, Scary Pockets, Sin Bandera, and Pomplamoose at the Hollywood Bowl, Royal Albert Hall, and Coachella, and Molly Miller Trio has toured as an opening act for Mraz and performed at Monterey Jazz Festival, Dizzy’s at Lincoln Center, and SF Jazz. The Molly Miller Trio will be playing songs from the album this Spring including an album release show at Motivo in Los Angeles on May 11th.
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