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Press
Capsule review: Nye’s polka bar is like that scruffy uncle who spikes the punch at family gatherings. While the fancy-schmancy Polonaise Room next door is a magnet for all of those out-of-town gawkers who anointed it America’s Best Bar in Esquire magazine, it’s this beer-and-a-shot dive bar — shoehorned in on the corner — that feels more like home on a bleak midwinter night a couple days before payday, when there’s little but lint in your pockets. Every Wednesday you can drown your sorrows with charming/tough rootsy rocker Maher, whose album “Balms of Gilead” was one of the best local discs of 2007. Tim Campbell - Star tribune/Tim Cambell
As a songwriter, Maher brings a fine feeling of restlessness to tunes like "3200 Miles" and also wonderfully puts a personal stamp on Blind Willie Johnson's "Soul of A Man," making wholly her own. - The Onion
Maher's got a lived-in voice whose weariness is bouyed by a fierce underlying ambition and an obvious love of music and people.
- Jim Walsh - City Pages
With this month's release of her second record, "Balms of Gilead," Maher steps out from the pack of Americana/alt-country songwriters in the Twin Cities. Never mind that she already stood out by being a woman with a previously all-male band in a mostly male-dominated genre.
As the album title suggests, "Balms" is awash in healing-powered songs and desert-y soundscapes. Lucinda Williams is the most obvious comparison it deserves, especially with wounded-poet songs such as "Let's Pretend We Never Have Met." But the disc's many different moods also show traces of Daniel Lanois-produced Bob Dylan and the Latin-ish acoustic work of Calexico and Los Lobos.
Like Bonnie Raitt, Maher clearly can play guitar but seems more focused on being a singer/songwriter.
- Chris Riemenchneider - Star Tribune
"Molly Maher and her Disbelievers command the stage with their rootsy charm but it's their ability to perform haunting low-fi ballads and whip them into full blown rockin' epics that sets them apart from other artists."
- James "Taco" Martin - E Company
Dusty hot lonely summer night kind of record. - John Ellen
"3200 Miles" and "Tugboat" from this forthcoming CD showcase Maher's soulful voice and guitar playing on rootsy blues numbers and hypnotic ballads alike. A rich collection of heartfelt tunes. - Dan Israel
Discography
2007 (Feb 13th ) Balms of Gilead
2010 Cast Your Bread EP
2004 - Hookhead & mare "self pronouncing"
appeared on many other Twin Cities artists records as vocalist or slide guitarist as well.
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Bio
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.“If it is possible for a band to own a town then Molly Maher and her band of Disbelievers have to be about as close as it gets to holding the keys. Molly has been the reigning queen of the Twin Cities scene. Aside from being an incomparable singer and songwriter with compelling depth and soul and cutting some tremendously engaging cd’s she has shared the stage with some of the best acts in the country. Among them, Los Lobos,John Hiatt, Lucinda Williams, Marty Stuart. And then there is the Disbelievers : Guitarist Erik Koskinen is a force to be reckoned with as a singer and songwriter. Paul Bergen, whose guitar playing has to be seen to be believed, Noah Levy on drums who is better off being Googled because his resume is just too long to be printed and Frankie Lee on bass who is a master of subtlty and understatement and like his band mates a formidible songwriter and singer. You will not see more talent performing more tightly on any stage anywhere. ”
Maher toured nationally with acclaimed singer-songwritter Marlee MacLeod as her bass player and opening act. She took on the Great Lakes in the Fat Lip folk/blues trio, hookhead & Mare. She has played the Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles, the Zephyr Club in Salt Lake City, Uncomon Ground in Chicago, the Engine Room in Athens, Georgia, Shim Sham Club in New Orleans, Ground Zero in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and back up the river to her home town, Minneapolis at the Turf Club, First Avenue,Lee’s Liquor Lounge and her Wed . night house gig at Nyes Polonais Room.
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