"Abbie Gardner gives the grit to Red Molly with her Dobro playing. On her new solo CD we get to hear not only her instrumental and songwriting prowess, but her marvelously versatile voice, which can convey pain or playfulness or pure bad girl blues power." - John Platt, WFUV

Coming five years and three Red Molly albums after her last solo CD, Hope is Abbie Gardner's latest solo recording- set to be released on April 1, 2011. The CD features her versatile voice backed by 3 types of slide guitar (dobro, lap steel, and National bottleneck) and a band comprised of not only her father, Herb Gardner (piano), but also her sister, Sarah Gardner, on organ. Ben Wittman (the drummer on Red Molly's James) locks in with upright bassist Craig Akin, who is featured on the first instrumental Abbie has ever recorded (a bass and dobro duet). The songs range from heartache to hope, from gritty lap steel to singing cellos, courtesy of Emily Hope Price. Folk sweetheart Robby Hecht lends his voice to three tracks and fellow member of Red Molly, Laurie MacAllister, is heard throughout. Longtime friends and collaborators Fred Gillen, Jr. and Beaucoup Blue also lend their voices.

"I feel like the songs revolve around Hope, both the song and the idea. Rather than having all hopeful songs, this CD reflects the glimmer of hope we all look for when in the midst of darkness." - Abbie Gardner

No shows booked at the moment.

MAY 2013

Just back from Merlefest and I’m totally inspired to work on Dobro.  I bought a brand new shorter tone bar from Beard that fits my little hands way better than what I’ve been using.  I got to see Jerry Douglas, Mike Witcher and a whole host of other amazing Dobro players on stage.  Thanks to the new video cameras the festival had this year, I could see their technique up close while hearing every note crystal clear.  Very inspiring!

Hooray!  My song Hello Goodbye has almost 9,000 YouTube hits so far!  In only 2 months!  It was a ton of fun to make and also fun to write.  Speaking of writing, this month I have a good number of co-writing sessions set up both in NY and down in Nashville.  The more I write for this RealWomenRealSongs project, the more excited I am about co-writing and ready I am to push the boundaries a little.  Even when these sessions don’t lead to the perfect song, they inevitably teach me something about music, writing, lyrics, or even just about myself and the way I interact with people.

Abbie

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