Red Molly traces its beginning to the 2004 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in Hillsdale, N.Y. The lively female trio makes its Wolf Trap Barns debut with its two original members, Abbie Gardner and Laurie MacAllister, and Molly Venter, who replaces Carolann Solebello, now striking out on her own. During the past seven years, Venter bonded and harmonized with the others at various folk gatherings and opened for them on several occasions, so she was a natural to fill the opening. “It’s also fortuitous that my name is Molly,” she said, laughing. “We look forward to Wolf Trap and seeing the friends we made at the Birchmere during the several times the trio headlined there and I opened for them. Last year, Red Molly broke into the top 10 of the American Top 40 chart and debuted at No. 1 on the Folk DJ Top Albums chart. We attribute this to a great product and wonderful radio promotion along the way. This show is bound to help us continue to build our local base. Our goal is to become better songwriters and make great music on stage.”

Venter meshes perfectly with her songwriting partners. By high school, she was writing songs, singing and playing for friends. Even after studying international relations at Williams College in Massachusetts, she could not get music out of her system, so she set out across the country in her Honda Element, sleeping in the car as she performed at festivals, clubs and theaters. The more she earned praise from folk music fans, the less she focused on pursuing a career in government, just as Gardner and MacAllister abandoned their respective careers in occupational therapy and psychology.