By: Zeb Hargett

On August 1, 2023, local musician Molly Thomas was on her way to Pensacola with her dog in tow, when tragedy struck. It was 9:30 am and Molly was crossing U.S. Highway 98 just south of Fairhope when another driver T-boned her. Her car flipped several times, and Molly had to be cut out of her vehicle and life-flighted to the University of South Alabama Hospital in Mobile. She was there for one week before facing a year-long recovery

She doesn’t recall the accident, but perhaps in a case of foreshadowing, just as she left her home, she remembers thinking, “If something happens I don't want my dog to get tangled in his leash,” and proceeded to take his leash off at a stop sign one mile from the accident. She then tells me that when she was being extracted from her car, while in & out of consciousness, she thought very strongly to herself, “I want to live. Until you’re looking death in the face, it’s not something you think about.”

At the time of the accident, Molly, an accomplished singer, songwriter, and jewelry maker, was two months into writing songs for a new album, Tumble Home, which is scheduled to be released on May 16th, 2025. The title is a nautical term for a boat and serves as the theme for the album. “It’s the gradual narrowing or tapering of the hull above the waterline that keeps it afloat. It’s symbolic of what my life has been.”

She tells me that since the accident, the album has become a tribute to all the people who lifted her up through her recovery. With offerings of financial support, flowers, handwritten notes, and texts, they all wished her a full recovery. A gifted musician, the crash left her hand shattered, which was a problem since she expertly plays the Violin, or ‘Fiddle’ if you will. She now has a plate securing her hand, and spent a lot of time in rehab, not knowing if she would be able to play again.

Molly’s artistic endeavors have taken many interesting paths. Born in Ocean Springs, her father was a Methodist minister, and the family often moved to places like Hattiesburg, Gulfport, and Jackson, Mississippi. I asked what it was like to move so often. “I liked it. I got to recreate myself with each move. I was a cheerleader when we lived in Gulfport, but focused on music when we lived in Jackson.”

Molly’s parents, grandparents, and sister were all musically gifted. Her grandmother taught voice and later earned a degree from Columbia University. Her grandfather, who earned degrees from both Columbia and Harvard, went on to become a college president. Furthermore, her mother was the founder & director of The Mississippi Boychoir and also taught voice. 

The parsonage where they lived had two pianos. Her sister would play in one room, and Molly would play in the other. Music came naturally to Molly, and at three years old, she picked out songs by ear on the piano. When her sister started violin lessons in the third grade, Molly began lessons at age 6. 

“From 6 to 16, I took private lessons using the Suzuki method, a technique that teaches children to play instruments by listening, memorizing, and practicing. As you get older, they teach you how to read music.” When she lived in Jackson in high school, she found a teacher in Hattiesburg who taught at the University of Southern Mississippi and would drive each week to take lessons. She participated in the Mississippi Public School’s Academic & Performing Arts Complex.

She tells me that as a teenager, she always dreamed of being on FAME, a 1982 television show based on a performing arts high school in New York. She joined a jazz quartet. “I began learning music theory and improvisation. Then college happened.” She attended Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, intending to major in Violin Performance. Not wanting to practice the violin eight hours a day, Molly switched her major to Sociology and graduated with honors.

A year into college, she met a guy who said, “I’d love for you to come play in my band.” The folk band was called the Picardi Three, a reference to playing in a different chord or key, such as “Amen” at the end of a hymn. The group consisted of one guitar player and two violinists, Molly being one of the violinists. 

“Picardi Three was great fun. It opened me up to the underground music scene (non-classical) and we played at The Pub Down Under & Tal’s Dart Bar in Hattiesburg.” It was at this point she began recording in studios, analog at the time. She recorded with Pat Sansone of WILCO and her other band, Watermelon Sugar.

Pascal Balthrop from Mobile was the person who invited her to play in Picardi Three, who with his sister, Lauren, are famous musicians in their own right. Pascal’s brother, Ryan, invited Molly to join his band, and she moved to Mobile after college in 1994. The band, Slow Moses, played Widespread Panic covers among other songs, and Molly was the featured fiddle player.

“It was a great experience. I stayed with Slow Moses for four years.” This is when she started writing songs. Slow Moses recorded an album called Blend, at Allen Toussaint’s studio in New Orleans, which grew in popularity throughout the Southeast. They also recorded a single, Joe Cain, giving accolades to Mobile’s Mardi Gras Chief Slackabamorinico. 

As her improvisational skills improved, she often didn't learn the songs played by the bands she would sit in with, so every time it was different. Slow Moses played covers and original songs, and Molly describes their music as “song-crafted, indie rock. “We played so much we had to hire a booking agent, and we got regular paychecks.” 

After some time, it became clear that she wanted to pursue a different career in music, so Molly left Slow Moses and moved to Nashville, where she stayed for 12 years. There, she played solo gigs, wrote songs, did session work, sat in with other bands, and bartended to make it all work. 

“I had relative success and enjoyed it. I was more of the East Nashville music scene as opposed to Music Row.” She admits the whole hustle got pretty tiring. She toured Europe, Canada & throughout the United States and played in Todd Snider’s band appearing on the Jay Leno Show, David Letterman, and Imus in the Morning.  She performed at The Ryman Auditorium, The Troubadour &  El Rey Theater in LA,  and many other theaters throughout the US. “I truly had some unbelievable experiences.”

Molly began matriculating toward the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay around 2012. She reconnected with an old friend from her early Mobile days, and he enticed her to leave Nashville and begin a new chapter. In 2014, she started her own band, Molly Thomas and the Rare Birds. The Rare Birds consist of Rick Hirsch (formerly with Wet Willie), drummer John Milham, and John Keuler, a talented musician, singer, and history major.

Always creative, in the mid-90s she took a pottery class in Mobile and worked in Mary Elizabeth Kimbrough’s pottery studio (Musician Will Kimbrough’s sister). “I enjoy working with my hands. When I moved to Nashville, I put it away and only got back into clay when I moved back down here.” More recently, she has begun making bracelets, earrings, and working with silver.” Molly sells her jewelry at most of her gigs and is gearing up to sell locally. 

Having played in multiple orchestras and jazz quartets in high school, Molly started playing fiddle in college. What is the difference between a violin and a fiddle, I ask? “About $100 and the size of the belt buckle,” she quips. The number one question she is asked is, Can you play The Devil Went Down to Georgia?  “The only difference between playing violin and fiddle is the style of music,” Molly tells me she is self-taught on the fiddle. “I have a good ear and process quickly.”

Tumble Home is her fifth album. It has all original songs and is co-produced and co-written by Ken Rose. She has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help cover graphic design and promotional costs. Molly describes herself as more of an artist than an entertainer. “Music is my path. It has to have meaning.”

Please support Molly’s fundraising efforts to release and promote her album, which almost didn’t happen. Watch the video to learn more about Molly, her music, and her jewelry and pottery art. You can hear Molly throughout the Scenic 98 Coastal area performing solo, in music-in-the-round, or with the talented Rare Birds. While she claims she still gets stage fright, she always delivers! 

Go to MollyThomas.com to learn more about her amazing career and hear her music.

Thanks, Molly, and good luck with Tumble Home!