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It’s a moonless night in Joshua Tree, and there are no sounds except the crackle of the fire pit, and the breeze rustling through the palms when Molly Kruse walks outside of the cabin and sits in a wicker chair next to her Alvarez guitar…
The desert has always been Kruse’s favorite reprieve, a place where she feels most creative and in cosmic connection with all things. An hour and half southeast of Los Angeles, this eclectic desert community that Kruse calls “the hippie Old West” is a perfect setting to ring in the new year—and a new album. “There’s this calming spiritual energy here that you can’t find anywhere else. It grounds you and recenters you. I have a deep appreciation for the artists here and this sense of place they’ve cultivated.”
Before her music career drew her to Southern California, Kruse grew up in another artists’ haven, pre-Silicon Valley Bay Area. A music-loving family assured she came of age listening to a plethora of folksy artists spanning from George Strait to Brandi Carlile to Patsy Cline. “My grandfather fancied himself a cowboy, and our house was always playing country, classic rock, folk, and Americana, which all influenced my sound. The themes of country music—heartbreak, loneliness, tenderness—really left an impression on me and I also came to respect how technical of a genre it is.” She fell in love with country music, and with encouragement from her mother, started vocal training at age 12. She then would later teach herself acoustic guitar and start doing small local gigs.
A spiritual revelation (“God, the universe, whatever you want to call it”) would cause her to pack up her used Honda Civic and move to Los Angeles on a whim in 2012. Here she would release her self-titled debut EP, a frothy blend of soul and pop with a dash of Americana. This was where she began to experiment with the country sound in ornate tracks like “Ruby,” where the strumming of a banjo can sometimes be heard behind her rich, plaintive vocals.
Los Angeles is not a country music mecca, but surprisingly it’s where Kruse would hone her country sound, find her creative community and get to the heart of who she is as an artist. “My music wouldn’t be what it is without Los Angeles. It’s interesting because I feel L.A. is seen as a hedonistic place where artists descend into madness, drugs and all kinds of excess, but it’s been so formative for me. It’s where I became more balanced and emotionally healthy, which allowed me to grow as an artist.”
Kruse was finding her stride in Los Angeles when the pandemic hit, putting an abrupt halt to touring and live music, which was devastating. But the many nights spent in a quarantine would give her a burst of creative fuel that she had never experienced before. She funneled that angst into her upcoming sophomore project, Please Leanne. Often into the wee hours of the morning, Kruse would be confined at home writing songs that were a meditation on isolation, suffering and finding your way back to yourself.
A stroke of destiny would cause her to connect with the hit-making songwriter, Steve Seskin (Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw) who would become a co-writer on her latest songs–transforming where her music would go.She emerged from her pandemic chrysalis with the sharp sense of identity and purpose that she had been seeking. Kruse had changed, and as consequence, so had her music. “I struggled with a lot of self-doubt in my career, and now I’m just so much more confident and cemented in who I am,” says Kruse. “In my first project I was still figuring out how I wanted to sound and what I wanted to put out in the world. My music has become more focused and distilled.”
If her first project had faint whispers of country, this newest project is a resounding, unapologetic shout—firmly in the country and Americana music traditions. Where before she might have felt the compulsion to mix genres for crossover appeal, Kruse is done tip-toeing around her devotion to country. In a milieu where musicians are eager to show their breadth, she’s focused on depth instead.
Her rebirth as a country and Americana artist meant there was only one place she wanted to record and produce her new EP. In 2022, she would spend the summer in Nashville with producer and sound engineer, Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Ettes). In a shotgun house that he converted into his own recording studio named The Bomb Shelter, the pair would mix the instrumentals and vocals for tracks like “Ode to Billy Joe” and “Monsters.” “So much of good music is about collaboration, and finding the right writers, producers, players—it really makes the difference. I don’t believe in coincidences. These people were placed in my path to elevate my sound and push me to a different place creatively.”
Kruse had to mine her past to find the narrative vision for this EP. In the feisty “Out of My Hands,” she croons about kicking a disappointing beau to the curb and in the wistful “Please Leanne,” she begs a tortured loved one to release their demons. It’s radiant and unflinchingly honest. Vignettes from her life are quilted together in a colorful tapestry that takes the listener on a freewheeling journey. Her vocals harmonize with the rich instrumentation of guitar, piano, pedal steel, and drums in catchy chord progressions that stick with you. Sometimes it’s irreverent and daring, other times contemplative and morose. But it’s always distinctly and unabashedly Molly Kruse. She’s no longer singing for the crowd, she’s singing for her.
“I’ve always marched to the beat of my own drum, and this is a return to that. I’m embracing the sounds that I love to hear, that resonate with me the most. And I hope people come along for the ride.”After years of searching for her sound, Kruse is finally home. Perhaps the best part of her journey is that she’s only at the start of it. What’s passed is merely a prologue, and her future is still being written. She’s ready to release her music and start touring again.
“I’m in a space of joy and gratitude for everything my team and I have been able to do. I just feel so ready for what’s next and can’t wait to reintroduce the world to Molly Kruse.”
-Anita Little, Elle Magazine
