Then and Now Episode 7: Mollie O'Brien and Rich Moore

Mollie O’Brien and Rich Moore first met in 1981 and had both been in several bands in the bar scene before then. They had sometimes performed together but hadn’t fully leaned into being a duo. After getting married and having children, they realized it was much harder to perform in the bar scene than it was before. They decided to lean more into performances as a duo in 2006, when their daughters had graduated high school. They primarily perform American Roots music.O’Brien grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia, where she frequently attended local performances of famous artists. At a young age, she learned to play piano and sing along with it. In high school, she and her brother Tim performed various songs (especially from Peter, Paul, and Mary) at churches and coffeehouses.Meanwhile, Moore grew up in Philadelphia, where, at the age of 12, he saw The Beatles performing on the Ed Sullivan Show and became completely absorbed in the idea of music. His mother had already been a pianist and his dad a classical choral singer, and that Christmas, he got his first guitar and (coincidentally) started learning songs from Peter, Paul, and Mary.The two love being able to share music with an audience, and they love being able to perform music together in the studio. O’Brien loves the process of getting the song just right in the studio, and Moore loves the technical aspects of recording in the studio. The two have various solo and duo albums, including their duo albums 900 Baseline and Saints and Sinners, and even though they sometimes have a hard time getting categorized, they are always passionate about the music they create.Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record Better off Dead here. Support the showThank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below.If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact:Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected] Hickman, multimedia producer, at [email protected] Lammers, podcast host, at [email protected] inquiries: [email protected] to our website for all of the latest news. Subscribe to The Mountain-Ear in print and online.Submit local events to promote them in the paper and on our website.Find us on Facebook @mtnear and Instagram @mtn.earListen and watch on YouTube today.Share this podcast by scrolling to the bottom of our website home page or by heading to our main hub on Buzzsprout.Thank you for listening!