The powerhouse Central Coast Celtic trio Molly’s Revenge was about to launch its 20th-anniversary tour in 2020 when the pandemic hit. Guitarist Stuart Mason remembers the moment.
“It was rough,” he says. “I lost my passion and drive for playing, not to mention all my calluses. I’m just now starting to get the fire back. I’ve been thinking that maybe we should call this new trio Molly’s Remains.”
The revived trio is composed of two-thirds of the first Molly’s – fiddler John Weed and Mason, with the addition of Weed’s son Tyler, a 17-year-old who plays guitar, banjo and mandolin.
“Ty didn’t seem very interested in music when he was young,” says Mason.
But the Weed home was musical, as both of his parents are fiddlers, and he was also home-schooled. “There wasn’t an aha moment when John and I knew Ty had musical potential,” Mason says. “It was an organic process that happened watching him grow up. Once he started playing it was warp speed, and it still is. Goes to show what can happen when kids are given an environment that fosters creativity.”
With fiddler parents, one might think Tyler would follow suit. He had other plans.
“Fiddle seems really hard,” Tyler says. “If your finger is off one millimeter the wrong way, it sounds horrible, and it is difficult to tune.” Instead, he picked up the guitar when he was 10, then mandolin two years later, and the tenor banjo a year after that.
Tyler has also tried his hand at composition. His tune “Tyler’s Ancient Jig” was featured on Molly’s Revenge’s last album, The Lucky Set.”
“His jig is pretty amazing,” Mason says. “It sounds like it was written a couple of hundred years ago.” His dad John agrees with Mason. “It’s pretty incredible that a teenager from Carmel could write a tune that sounds like old-time Irish folk,” Weed says.
Tyler looks forward to this weekend’s gig. “Until now, I hadn’t played much trad music with my dad and Stuart in quite a while,” Tyler says. “I grew up listening to them playing my whole life. It’s pretty inspiring now to be right down in there with them being a part of it all in public.”
MOLLY’S REVENGE plays at the St. Mary’s Celtic Concert Series St. Paddy’s Day Kickoff at 3pm Sunday, March 13. At St. Mary’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, 146 12th St., Pacific Grove. $25/in advance; $28/at the door; $15/children in advance; $18/children at the door. Proof of full vaccination and masks required. 224-3819, celticsociety.org