Music for Mollie Marriott is a family affair; her father was the late Small Faces frontman Steve Marriott, her stepfather is Joe Brown. She sang with Oasis aged 15, and has played alongside Ronnie Wood. Her album, Truth Is A Wolf, meanwhile, features contributions from Judie Tzuke, Sam Tanner and Graham Kearns.
Truth Is A Wolf is a beautiful but poignant album.
I wrote how I was feeling. I wanted to be honest. I didn’t see the point in being false. I always wanted to write from the heart, even the bad parts, and I wasn’t ready to do that for years. I didn’t want people to know I wasn’t handling things well, but then it was so cathartic to write, it felt okay.
How did you discover blues and soul?
My dad used to play me Ray Charles and it was certainly something I felt matched my soul. I was always drawn to the dirty guitar licks and vocals. I always loved how early blues was just the same line repeated over and over, and yet it worked and you felt it.
What are your memories of your dad, Steve Marriott?
Mum and I used to tour with him a lot and I would curl up and fall asleep next to his Marshall amps. He’d always sit me on his lap and play piano with me.
Your stepdad is Joe Brown.
Yes, he played a heavy influence in my musical upbringing. He helped me fall in love with Alison Krauss and Union Station. I have taken a lot of inspiration from them with their harmonies and with gospel backing vocals. It features quite heavily throughout my album. Mum used to bring the rockier side of things and then opera. She just loves it so I had a lot of Pavarotti blasting through the house growing up. I’d try and talk to her and she’d interrupt me and say, “Listen, listen here it comes” and he’d hit the note in Nessun Dorma and she would just fall in love.
You worked with Joe at his gig at The Royal Albert Hall to mark his 50 years in show business.
It was a fantastic night and I was so proud of him. It was a great line-up, I just loved performing with Dennis Locorriere. Joe is very professional and very old school when it comes to his craft and owning a stage. I like to think I’ve picked some of that up. As much as I mess around with my band, I have been brought up with how to behave on show day and I do have a routine for it. That’s certainly rubbed off.
Truth Is A Wolf is out now via MITA Records.
