It was Little Richard who made the song "Good Golly Miss Molly," a rock and roll hit in 1956, but today it is alternative pop singer and acoustic guitar player Molly Jenson who is the hit. Recently the voters for the San Diego Music Awards honoured the young singer/songwriter by naming her the best Acoustic musician for 2007. Her notoriety has in part been fuelled by her current album Maybe Tomorrow.

“I was nominated for Best Pop Album in 2006, which was surprising to me, because I don’t really know what I am, but I didn’t think that I would fit into the Pop category. That was the year that none of my friends won. It was kind of, like misery enjoys company. We all felt bad. I didn’t think that I would get nominated again this year, because my album came out in 2005. I got nominated for best acoustic act and I was in a category with all these amazing musicians and my friends. (In fact) I am going out tonight with two of the girls who were in my category.  When I won, I ran up onto the stage, but I was so flustered that I forgot to mention the people who were in the category with me,” says Jenson.

Then she shares something that tells you about the character of this talented young artist, “That night I went home, I couldn’t sleep because they (the other nominees) are all friends of mine. I had (email addresses) for all of them but one, so I emailed them to tell them that I am a fan of their music, I respect so much what they do, and they deserved to be up on that stage with me. I told them that I meant to mention them on stage, but I was too flustered and forgot. I said, ‘I’m sorry and I love you.’ They emailed me back and said, ‘Whatever you totally deserve it, and we are proud of you.’ It was really cool.”

Maybe Tomorrow has one of the more refreshing songs to come our way in a long time, “Thinking Of You,” co-written with Greg Laswell. The song features a staccato piano rhythm. Jenson says that in part the tune was inspired by the music of Ben Folds. She wanted a bouncy poppy song, and that is what “Thinking of You,” turned out to be.

“It (“Thinking Of You”) originated with a guy in Colorado. The first part of the song is about a waiter who brought me soup. I was in Colorado for a Christmas vacation and I went to the debutante ball. I fell in love with the waiter (you can hear the warm glow in her voice). That doesn’t happen to me often. I was enamored by this waiter, (but) I didn’t get his name or anything,” says Jenson. 

Continuing to talk about “Thinking Of You,” Jenson says, “A couple of months later I thought I would write a song about this guy (the waiter). I didn’t know him or much about him, but I wanted to write a song about him. I was wondering if it was the right thing to do, but then I thought I will write a verse about him. The second verse is about a movie star that I had a crush on, and it just kind of came together like that.”

The song, “Give It Time,” was born out of a personal struggle and stressful time in Molly Jenson’s life. “I was trying to figure out how I was going to pay for my CD, and I wanted to run away from it, but I couldn’t, so I decided to write a song about not running away from problems. The first verse says, “Where are you off to in such a hurry girl / Is something chasing you?” That was me running away from an issue that I knew I needed to deal with, but I didn’t want to, and it was too scary for me to deal with. The funny thing about that song is it took a long time to write it. It took a couple of months to really get it down. (Normally) I go into a studio, write a song and record it in the same day. This was one of the only songs that it took a long time to fall in love with and to figure out.”

 October 2007