About That Song: Molly Brandt
About That Song #79
In our special series, singer-songwriter Sarah Morris interviews artists about the songs that shaped them.
Hi! I’m Sarah Morris. I’m wildly in love with songs and the people who write them. There have been a few songs in my life that have been total gamechangers—songs that made me want to be a songwriter and songs I’ve written that made me feel like I am a songwriter. About That Song is a space where I can learn more about those pivotal songs in other writers’ lives.
For our 79th edition, it was a joy to connect with Molly Brandt, an alt-country rockstar making waves in the Midwest scene, to talk about the artists that set her on her creative journey and key moments that impacted her songwriting.
Molly Brandt. Photo credit: Daniela Buvat.
Sarah: Hi Molly! Since your 2023 debut album Surrender to the Night, you’ve captivated the Twin Cities and beyond with your gorgeous voice, distinctive songwriting, and impeccable style. You’ve graced big stages and festivals (hello, Blue Ox!), earned well-deserved recognition (Midwest Country Music Organization’s Americana Artist of the Year), and consistently dazzled audiences.
As you prepare for your summer Midwest tour, I’m curious: Do you remember the specific song that inspired you to become a songwriter? Tell us about that song.
Molly: I think I always knew in my heart I wanted to be a songwriter, and there were countless songs and albums that inspired me. When I started learning guitar in the summer of 2020, I was listening to a lot of the duo-fronted band First Aid Kit, becoming particularly enamored by the song “Emmylou.”
It’s a song with a driving groove, starting off with a melancholy and classic pedal steel intro (maybe it’s slide guitar?), then gracefully flowing into the first verse with the hauntingly beautiful voice of one of the sisters in this duo band. It is decidedly a love song, proclaiming “I’ll be your Emmylou and I’ll be your June, if you’ll be my Gram and my Johnny too,” making clear references to country music legends.
It’s an incredibly catchy and nostalgic song that is just plain FUN to sing. I started learning every First Aid Kit song I could on guitar and singing duets with my friends Jordan Stammers (who later sang background vocals in my band), and Mary Traxler (another incredible singer-songwriter and musician in the band Fruit Form). The tight harmonies and lyrical patterns made me want to try my hand at this. It was vocal harmonies in particular that got me started on making little demos on Garageband and harmonizing with myself.
The ability to make cool harmonies a la First Aid Kit catapulted my creative energies into something concrete: demos. From there, I continued to learn as many songs on guitar as I could, combing through the discography of artists I love: Sarah Jarosz, The Secret Sisters, Kacey Musgraves, Margo Price, and many more. Through the joy of simply playing and singing, I found what had been lost from my life for a long time—a childlike wonder and joy of simply singing and playing. I soon found myself actually writing new material, something I’d never really done before, all thanks to my fascination and enjoyment of the vocal harmonies and lyrical stylings of bands like First Aid Kit.
Sarah: I love that your journey began by falling in love with harmony before leading you to songwriting! Harmony singing might tie with songwriting as my greatest musical love—it was certainly the first way I allowed myself to create anything musically “new.” Once you began writing, did you immediately identify as a writer? It took me years of writing before I truly believed it. Was there a specific composition that gave you that “a-HA! I AM a songwriter!” moment? Tell us about that song.
Molly: I definitely did not feel like I could call myself a writer for the first year. Although looking back now, I know I could have from the very beginning. That feeling didn’t occur to me until 2023, halfway through the writing on my second album American Saga. My first album Surrender to the Night was basically a compilation of the first 9 songs I wrote (plus one Lucinda Williams cover). I thought it was mainly a fluke that I could pull it off and that anyone would like it, let alone even listen to it. I felt that the first album was just me saying “screw it” and releasing what I had, because life is short.
When I began writing songs for the second album in the summer of 2023, and as I did more collaborations with my partner, Eric Carranza, I started to see myself as a real songwriter. With Eric’s encouragement, with a house and recording studio of our own, and with even more life experiences under my belt, I felt that the songs were writing themselves. I started to see myself more as a conduit of the messages the universe was sending me. I found inspiration in sources I had never thought to tap into: podcasts, books, movies, TV shows, overheard conversations, and the observations of my own world.
Particularly empowering for me was the process of writing “Daughter of the Oil Tycoon.” I started off with the title and an interest in the Gilded Age that led me to discover podcasts, documentaries, and books on the subject. I loved learning about the muckraker Ida Tarbell and watching Ken Burns documentaries. I collaborated a lot on this one with Eric; he came up with the main groove/chord progression which was a canvas that I could paint lyrics and a melody on top of. I also got to write some very cool call-and-response background vocals, which made me feel like I was taking on another level of creativity and songwriting.
And nowadays, as I begin the songs for my third album, I feel unstoppable as the floodgates of creativity have opened up for me and I can decidedly call myself a songwriter.
Sarah: Cheers to feeling unstoppable! And how exciting that you're already working on album three!
I distinctly remember listening to “Bluff Country Paradise” on a long drive home from a show and experiencing that little shining “THIS is the right song for this moment” feeling. Your melody evokes all the female vocalists I longed to sing along with growing up, while your lyrics cleverly reference The Chicks’ “Wide Open Spaces”—all the while the song remains completely your own.
Molly: I grew up listening to The Chicks obsessively. My mom loved them and would play their early CDs in the car all the time. I went to see them in concert at an arena in Denver, Colorado at age 5.
Sarah: You got to see them when you were FIVE? AHH!!! That’s spectacular!
Molly: “Wide Open Spaces” was always one of our favorites. When I hear it now, I feel a deep, deep nostalgia and the echo of memories of very early youth. The song becomes more and more relevant as the years go by. As I got older, the lyrics “find a dream and a life of their own” definitely applied to me. I think about the year I left home for college. My mom and dad were crying when they dropped me off, but I had the biggest grin on my face knowing that I was free and ready to live on my own, ready to explore my own wide open spaces. “But what it holds for her, she hasn’t yet guessed”—those lyrics hit so hard.
I truly didn’t know what I was in store for when I left home. I still relate to the sentiment “She needs wide open spaces, room to make her big mistakes.” I’m actually tearing up talking about this right now because this is such a coming-of-age song that I think so many of us can relate to. I always had a deep sense of individuality and a need for unencumbered freedom, even though I know my mom and dad were sad to see me leave them. But deep down, they knew I needed those wide open spaces.
Sarah: A few years ago, I got to meet Susan Gibson, the songwriter of “Wide Open Spaces,” and I just said … THANK YOU for writing this song that meant so much to me, and to my friends, and to all the young girls who haven’t even heard it yet. I’m going to get teary now, too!
Not too long ago, you and I shared a songwriter’s night stage in Wyoming, MN, where you sang the catchy and cutting “Mr. Texas.” Can you tell us about that song?
Molly: I was inspired to write this song mainly through the experiences of me and my friends within the Twin Cities country dance scene.
Sarah: We have a Twin Cities Country Dance Scene? AHH! I’ve just heard a bit about this in the last few years and the idea of it makes me so happy.
Molly: Based also on encounters with men in the music industry, I created a quasi-fictional character who was essentially the epitome of “insufferable fake cowboy who acts inappropriately towards women.” Enter “Mr. Texas.”
We obviously live in the Midwest, yet we love our country music and the culture and aesthetics of cowboy life. Do we love cosplaying as cowboys from time to time? Yes! And there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m talking about the dude who really thinks he’s “all that,” puts on a fake southern accent, makes unwanted sexual advances, talks down to those he can’t use for personal gain, and is generally a womanizer of the worst kind. Underneath his cowboy image, is just another dude who isn’t really all that special.
The song is from the perspective of a concerned friend telling another woman: “girl he was just foolin’ you.” It doesn’t pass the Bechdel test, but it’s sure as hell a feminist anthem. Not dissimilar to Kacey Musgraves’ song “High Horse.” Just like her line “I bet you think you’re John Wayne,” my lyrics say: “He thought he was Buffalo Bill, he thought he ran the whole saloon.” Can you tell I’m inspired by my idols?
As we were preparing to record, I’d been planning a tour with Americana artist and self-proclaimed “sad cowgirl of Chicago” Reilly Downes & the Acid Cowboys. This song was a perfect fit to do a feature and collaboration with Reilly. We decided to record and release this as a single on the second day of our tour; we performed a sold-out single release show at The Hideout in Chicago. Reilly’s lead and background vocals are incredible on the track and cement this song as my feminist anthem. Now my friends and I two-step to this song and enjoy a great scene of country dancing!
Molly Brandt. Photo credit: Daniela Buvat.
Sarah: I have taken a few two-step classes from Emily May, and I think that when we’re done here, I ought to attempt some two-stepping to “Mr. Texas.”
On the topic of wonderful artist collaborations: On American Saga, you work with Jillian Rae on the gorgeous track “Beg, Steal, or Borrow,” which takes us to your home state of Iowa. Can you tell us about that song?
Molly: This song is one of the most personal and vulnerable I’ve ever released. I think the overarching message of this song is the regret and longing to do it all over again as I reflect on past experiences; the struggles of abuse, pain, and self-doubts living and growing up as a young adult, particularly the time period during and after my college years spent in Des Moines, Iowa.
When I was 20 years old, a sophomore in college, I was in a verbally and physically abusive relationship with a much older man who had lied about his age, consistently criticized and berated me on my music abilities and my personal beliefs, engaged in harassment long after the relationship ended, and caused me years of trauma and mental struggle. In this song, I look back at my time in Iowa, expressing my love for this place and the family/friends that live there, yet my hurt and complicated emotions towards the negative experiences and emotions I had.
I also express a desire to wipe clean my mistakes, start fresh, and focus on the things I cherish and love now. The song says “Iowa, you molded me” and “Iowa, I still love you,” but at the same time expressing regrets: “I should’ve never gone to college” and “I’ve made nothing of my name.” It’s sort of a desperation and even defeat. But at the very end we sort of see the clouds open up and hope come back in as I say I’ll “be a different me tomorrow, the day I learn to play guitar like the man I love.” Now I do have a man I love, and the abusive relationship I had is in the past and in a different state. Now I live and love in Minnesota and those regrets are no longer regrets. I was actually able to process a lot of emotions through the creation of this song. And Jillian Rae added so much emotion, texture, beauty, and color to this track!
Sarah: Thank you for sharing that story, Molly. One last question about your latest release: American Saga features a handful of interstitial tracks that reward listeners who experience it as a whole. In order! Not on shuffle mode! Which is the opposite of what the streaming algorithms might encourage. Can you tell us about those songs … or interludes?
Molly: The interludes are composed and performed by Eric Carranza, my musical and life partner, who plays guitar and sings in the band, and helped track and mix American Saga. We felt that the album itself is a “saga,” and we wanted to include a few tracks that provide moments of pause and reflection, enhancing the overarching narrative and providing different textures/sonic landscapes to make the journey a winding road and a saga unlike any other.
The interlude “Haunts” contains the melodic elements that are present in “Dollar Stores & Strip Malls” but with some different harmonization and an overall tone shift. It’s sort of a continuation of that song, as well as providing more context to this “cinematic universe” we’ve created with “American Saga.” “The Reckoning” sort of feels like another chapter or addendum to the saga. It follows “Daughter of the Oil Tycoon” and perhaps it’s a part of the story that takes place after the events of “Daughter of the Oil Tycoon,” perhaps the wreckage of the fire started by the daughter herself. Perhaps we are walking through the barren and charred remains of the town, the oil refinery, and the tycoon’s house.
The great thing about these interludes is that listeners can paint their own pictures in their minds and envision their own journey. The interlude “Crystal City” is sorta the precursor to “Queen of Clark County.” The setting is a loud casino in Las Vegas, where we hear me and Eric complaining about our surroundings, looking for something better, and devolving into a psychedelic, trippy, and warped cacophony of sounds, leading into a song about finding the “Queen of Clark County,” a.k.a. a burlesque dancer.
Then, our last interlude, “Revolution on the Horizon,” is a part taken from the chorus in the song “Ashes” but with only the reverberation part of the tracks being brought forward and manipulated by Eric’s incredible engineering skills, leaving listeners with a final and powerful sentiment, and a somewhat hopeful message. The album again invites you to the action of “taking back what once was lost, listen closely to the earth and follow that sound.” We explored different sonic landscapes in hopes of creating an album that truly takes you on a journey lyrically and sonically.
Sarah: It’s a beautiful thing to care so deeply about the story of an album in this way. And my little soapbox moment to say to readers PLAY THE WHOLE ALBUM! Before you go, do you have any upcoming Midwest shows where we might hear you sing any of these songs?
Molly: Yes!
May 28th in Minneapolis at Underground Music Cafe with Nashville-based band, Dallas Ugly
June 9th in Des Moines, IA at XBK with Clayton Ryan
June 12th in Minneapolis at 7th Street Entry with Mojohand
June 13th in Lanesboro, MN at Sylvan Park for “Art in the Park”
June 26th in Eau Claire, WI, at Whispering Pines Campground for Blue Ox Festival
July 12th in Chicago, IL at Fitzgerald’s Side Bar with Local Memory
Sarah: Reader, Molly Brandt is coming to a town near you! Go on and treat yourself to live music this summer. Thank you so much, Molly, for hanging out here with About That Song. All the best on your travels!
Be sure and grab tickets to one of these upcoming chances to see Molly Brandt live! May 28th in Minneapolis at Underground Music Cafe with Dallas Ugly, June 9th in Des Moines, IA at XBK with Clayton Ryan, and June 12th in Minneapolis at 7th Street Entry with Mojohand.
Listen to “Mr. Texas”
American Saga Album Credits
Co-Produced by Eric Julio Carranza and Molly Brandt
Tracked at Museum of Being in St. Paul, MN, Honeytone Studio in Neenah, WI, and Wild Sound Recording Studio in Minneapolis, MN
Tracking Engineers: Patrick Boland, Eric Julio Carranza, Jeff Patlingrao, and Steve Kaul
Digital Editing Engineers: Eric Julio Carranza and Jeff Patlingrao
Mixing Engineers: Patrick Boland, Eric Julio Carranza, and Steve Kaul
Mixed at Honeytone Studio, Museum of Being, and Wild Sound Recording Studio
Mastering Engineer: Gavin Lurssen
Mastered at Lurssen Mastering in Los Angeles, CA
Music & Lyrics co-written by Molly Brandt and Eric Julio Carranza
Additional Lyrics co-written by The Sunsettes: Adriana Rimpel, Jade Selmer, Lauda La Artista, and Molly Brandt
Album cover designed by Maggie Famiglietti
Album layout by Maggie Famiglietti
All songs Molly Brandt Incorporated ASCAP and Eric Julio Carranza ASCAP
Instrumentation:
Molly Brandt: lead vocals, backing vocals, keys, synth
Eric Julio Carranza: electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, synth, keys, organ, banjo, aux percussion, backing vocals
Ross Vander Werf: bass guitar
Brett Bjornrud: drums and aux percussion
Dave Power: drums and aux percussion
Frank Lloyd Anderson: pedal steel guitar
Kim Roe: backing vocals, washboard
Quillan Roe: banjo, backing vocals
David Robinson: acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Jake Johnson: fiddle, backing vocals
Dave Gustafson: mandolin
Pat Loftus: upright bass
Jillian Rae: backing vocals, fiddle
Reilly Downes: lead and backing vocals
Adriana Rimpel: backing vocals
Jade Selmer: backing vocals
Lauda La Artista: backing vocals
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Morris. Photo credit: Tom Smouse.
Sarah Morris is a superfan of songs and the people who write them, and a believer that certain songs can change your life. A singer-songwriter / mama / bread maker / coffee drinker who recently released her fifth album of original material, she’s been known to joyfully sing with people in her Big Green Bathroom.
