MOLLY LOVETTE

Monday April 25, 2022

@ The Nashville Palace in Nashville, TN

(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)

While the Lower Broadway area bathes itself in neon lights and is the touristy place to be on any given night in Nashville, just about 10 miles away from the hustle and bustle of downtown sits a mecca that music aficionados often call home – Music Valley.

In the shadow of the legendary Grand Ole Opry house, sits another of Music City’s most iconic venues in The Nashville Palace. Their stage has continuously featured some of country music biggest acts since first opening their doors in 1977, while welcoming country music’s newest talents and giving them a place to showcase their original material in front of a receptive audience.

Pam Miller has recently taken over the front room of the palace on Monday nights to play host for an exciting weekly series, “Nashville Woman of Country,” which on this night welcomed (among others) rising country sweetheart Molly Lovette.

“I am so happy to be here tonight. My name’s Molly Lovette,” she enthusiastically began as she introduced herself to the audience, eliciting a response from a crowded table near the stage; “Gotta Love It!”

With a small chuckle and smile on her face as she acknowledged that she knew she loved that particular table of people, she then stated before her opening song, “I wrote this one in high school when I was mad at a guy and I wanted him to know,” digging way back into her earliest material to play “Bad for You.”

“I moved to Nashville about a year ago,” Molly told as she began to share pieces of her own personal journey and connect with the audience on a different level. “This next song I’m gonna play for you is the first song that I recorded here in Nashville,” she explained as she continued to delve deeper into her back catalog with “Lovin’ You,” a song in which she said was not necessarily about loving someone, so much as wishing that you didn’t love them.

The very strong “Break a Heart” followed, and as was clearly evident by the audience response, she now had them 100% pulled into her set as she then introduced the first crowd participation moment of the evening with a rousing sing along during her recent single, the ultra-catchy “Hey Hey.”

She then delivered the very impactful “Seasons” - her current single - without any introduction which allowed the music and solid lyrics to do the talking for her while boldly proving that a great song can always speak for itself, before switching gears and sliding into the only cover song of her set with Jo Dee Messina’s “Heads Carolina, Tails California,” proving to be a very smart move as it  fit into her set at the perfect time to hold the crowd fully invested as they sung along with Molly.

“This next song is about two friends who really like each other and are afraid to admit it to themselves, to their friends…” Lovette stated as she played “Love You Loud,” a song that was recorded in more of a pop country form as a duet with Trevor Cissell, but delivered in an arguably stronger way with just her and her acoustic guitar on this night, giving her voice the perfect amount of room to wrap into emotional punch of the lyrics.

In a final crowd participation moment, she had the crowd clapping along with the very catchy, memorable new tune “Birthday Hangover,” before closing out her show with her powerful, signature song “One Woman Show.” 

With strong familiarity in her vocals that will find you trying unsuccessfully to pinpoint a true comparison to other great female country artists over the past decade, Molly Lovette achieves one of the ultimate goals of any artist as she keeps you invested within the familiarity while then capturing you into a unique flare that is 100% authentically her own!

Weekday shows like these in Nashville can achieve several different things for the artist/songwriting depending on how they approach their performance. With hers, Molly Lovette was able to put together a full display of who she is as an artist/songwriter throughout her 45-mintue set by using her time to span her entire catalog . By cleverly doing this, she not only put on a showcase that beautifully highlighted how far she’s come since her earliest days, but also gave the crowd on hand a very good look at where she’s heading as she gets ready to open her next exciting chapter.

FULL SET LIST

1) Bad for You

2) Lovin’ You

3) Break A Heart

4) Hey Hey

5) Seasons

6) Heads Carolina, Tails California (Jo Dee Messina cover)

7) Love You Loud

8) Birthday Hangover

9) One Woman Show

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