Molly Burch - Please Be Mine (2017)

Molly Burch was exposed to the arts at an early age. Growing up in LA with a writer/producer father and a casting director mother, Burch's childhood was filled with old Hollywood musicals and the sounds of Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. After finding her voice in adolescence, Burch packed up for the UNC in Asheville to study Jazz Vocal Performance. "I was always really interested in singing before songwriting. I didn't always have the confidence to write," Molly says, "Initially it was more about finding the right songs to complement my voice." And that voice is the first thing you'll notice on Burch's debut album. It's smoky, with an incredible range, evocative of her influences. Searching for a bigger pond, Burch moved to Austin, Texas. There, she began to write her own music in earnest, with the lovelorn Everly Brothers and Sam Cooke as her guides. Motivated by an hourly studio rate, Burch recorded all basic tracks and vocals live in one room and in one day, with minimal overdubs happening later. A difficult task for any talented musician, it becomes more mind-blowing when you hear her belt it on tracks like "Downhearted" and "I Love You Still."