Earlier this year Molly Drake, mother of Nick Drake, came to public attention following a limited pressing by Squirrel Thing Recordings of her home recordings on CD. Upon hearing a WNYC feature on the album, fellow Brooklynites Ba Da Bing Records reached out as fans to see if there were vinyl available. On October 15, the LP edition of these beautiful 60-year-old recordings will be released via a partnership between the two labels. The CD version, previously available only via mail order, will finally receive formal distribution.
Molly Drake’s music reaches an extraordinary level of delicate intimacy. With the help of her husband, Rodney, Molly utilized tape and direct-to-disk recorders in her Warwickshire, England home. Molly’s music was reserved for gatherings of her family and friends. Gabriel Drake, Molly’s daughter, remembers, “For Molly, music was a private joy, as was her poetry…She would sit for hours alone at the piano, working out words and music. It never occurred to her that her work could be of interest to a wider audience.” Despite penning several songs and poems, Molly’s music was never published during her lifetime.
The influence she had on her son, Nick, is apparent within moments; however, her work should not be overshadowed, as it is a powerful foreshadowing to his style of playing.
Molly died on June 4th 1993. She was buried in Tanworth-in-Arden, England, her ashes mingled with those of her husband and her son. On the gravestone are chiseled the words written by her son Nick: “And now we rise, and we are everywhere.”