Molly Thomas And The Rare Birds have always been authentic but Thomas and her band have raised the bar on honesty and vulnerability for their new album, Honey’s Fury. The southern Alabama foursome amplifies Thomas’ recurring theme of our humanness, connection, and the personal transformation of our chaos and confusion into a raging river of sweet honey. During the four years of creativity that yielded Honey’s Fury Thomas has seamlessly woven 12 songs of love, betrayal, destruction, forgiveness, reflection, and healing into a powerfully inspirational album. Thomas effortlessly transforms the depth, range, and complexity of her existence into enlightening learning experiences that are touching and inspirational to her listeners. A notable example is Thank You where Thomas takes us on the wave of emotions surrounding her recent divorce, marital infidelity, and ultimately her path to forgiveness and healing. Her transformative and empathetic touch is most evident here.
Molly Thomas has always been a child of the water and metaphors of flow, movement, tidal change and bodily connection frequently surface in her lyrics. Born in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, Thomas has made her home in and cultivated the majority of her musical influences from the southern regions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. A hive for songwriters and artists whose emotive storytelling and beautifully gritty swampy swagger personify the region, The south has been the perfect location for Thomas to grow her self-described Indie Swamp Pop.
Glide is thrilled to premiere “Calling My Name” (below) from Molly Thomas & The Rare Birds, a poetically graceful track with a rumbling rock enigma that recalls Patti Smith and Heartless Bastards. Thomas comes across as cross pollinator or rock history, combining the highly charged confessional and big hearted singer-songwriter rock of the 70’s.
“Calling My Name” came from a poem that I wrote, which is the opening line of the song,” says Thomas. “After sharing the writing with co-writer friend, Christopher Hoffee, we collaborated and finished the song lyrics. Bandmate & co-producer, Rick Hirsch, joined in with the music and it became a song. The album title, Honey’s Fury, is part of the lyric in this track and is very symbolic of a time in my life where fury turned into honey, bitter into sweet. I hope that this song provides comfort for people who are struggling and know they can emerge stronger on the other side of a painful situation, and indeed, the world/universe will begin calling their name and showing a path that is appropriate.”
As a side-person Thomas has recorded and toured internationally, including late-night performances on David Letterman and Jay Leno’s Tonight Show with folk icon Todd Snider. Her violin, string arrangements and vocals have been featured on recordings and live performances with Matthew Ryan and Will Hoge amongst others, and her reputation as a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and collaborator speak for itself. Throughout her career, Thomas has released three critically acclaimed records as a solo artist and her music has appeared in films.
Honey’s Fury is her first with her touring band The Rare Birds and it is a collaborative effort that first took flight with her creative partner and co-producer Rick Hirsch. Guitarist Hirsch, whose roots are firmly embedded in the Georgia and Alabama music communities, is also is a child of the Gulf. Hirsch’s career took off as a founding member of the chart-topping southern rock band Wet Willie in the early 70s. In the mid-70s Hirsch recorded and toured with Gregg Allman and Cher on the “Allman And Woman” album, at which time Hirsch relocated to Los Angeles, where he wrote, recorded and performed with many legendary artists and music industry pioneers including Randy Newman, Glynn Johns, Russ Titleman, Tom Dowd, Billy Vera, Fatboy Slim and Joan Armatrading. In addition to many film and television credits Hirsch has had his songs recorded by Alabama, Tina Turner, Cher, and co-wrote Papa Come Quick (Jody and Chico) for Bonnie Raitt’s Grammy-nominated “Luck Of The Draw” album.
