Flora Molton

Flora E. Molton (née Rollins; March 12, 1908 – May 31, 1990) was an American street singer and slide guitar player who performed gospel and blues music in Washington, D.C., from the 1940s to shortly before her death. She played slide guitar in the "bottleneck" style commonly employed by rural blues musicians, and she played the harmonica and tambourine.

Born partially blind due to cataracts, Molton grew up in Virginia. Her father was a minister, and she was influenced early by her religious upbringing and by blues musicians such as Bessie Smith. When Molton began performing on the streets of Washington in her thirties, she played blues music. Over the years, she moved away from blues songs, instead performing gospel music and what she called "truth" music, which involved themes of perseverance through life's struggles.

Molton was often accompanied in her street singing by musicians such as Phil Wiggins who had success as mainstream artists, and she sometimes performed with groups under the name Flora Molton and the Truth Band. Fellow musicians noted that the structure of Molton's music was often defined more by her singing than by her guitar.

Molton did not make scheduled performances until 1963, when she met a musician named Ed Morris, who helped her to arrange gigs at music festivals and other venues. She appeared at events such as the Philadelphia Folk Festival, performed at the Library of Congress, and went on a tour of Europe in 1987. Molton is the subject of the documentary Spirit and Truth Music, and she appears in the documentary Blues Houseparty. There are historical markers dedicated to her in Washington, D.C., and on U.S. Route 250 in Virginia.

Early life Molton was born Flora Rollins on March 12, 1908, in Louisa County, Virginia. She was partially blind at birth. Though she thought that she would be able to read large print, her schoolteachers taught her from memory. At the age of eight, Molton underwent surgery for cataracts, and her vision improved slightly. Though she was still discouraged from reading, by her teens she was comfortable reading large print.

Molton was influenced by religion from an early age. Her father spent most of his time working in West Virginia, both as a minister and as a coal miner. She was baptized at age seven and she began preaching at 17. A few years later, Molton became a member of the Holiness Church and started a ministry out of her home.

Molton sang the blues in her early years on the streets. "I was so young, in a wilder, different life then," she said in 1985. Later, she said she no longer performed the blues, describing her music as a mixture of gospel songs and what she called "truth" music, which dealt with the struggles of daily life. Over the years, various musicians accompanied Molton, and these collaborations were sometimes carried out under the name of Flora Molton and the Truth Band. Members of the Truth Band included Phil Wiggins, a blues singer later known as part of Cephas & Wiggins. Her guitar technique was described as "bottleneck" because, like many country blues players, she slid a broken bottleneck along the strings to make chord changes. Molton owned a car. Commenting on Molton's independence in spite of her vision problems, Phil Wiggins described her as "nobody's victim". She was also featured in the documentary Blues Houseparty (1989), produced by Eleanor Ellis. Molton is one of eight women honored by the Downtown DC Business Improvement District on a project that converted unused emergency call boxes into historical markers. There is another historical marker dedicated to her along U.S. Route 250 (Three Notch Road) in Zion Crossroads, Virginia.

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities presented Molton with four awards, and she went on a 1987 tour of Europe. The commission gave her a grant to record another album, I Want to Be Ready to Hear God When He Calls (1987). Molton sold copies of her recordings on the street. In 1988, she was selling copies of I Want to Be Ready to Hear God When He Calls for US$6.

By 1988, Molton said she was still singing on the streets to support herself. "I have to do it," she said. "It ain't that I just want to sit out here. I need to." She died at Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington on May 31, 1990, after experiencing liver problems. Though she was in her eighties, Molton had continued to perform as a street singer until she got sick about six months before her death. Before she became ill, she had been scheduled for a second tour through Europe.

Discography 1981: Living Country Blues USA, Volume 3 (with the Truth Band), L+R Records 1987: I Want To Be Ready To Hear God When He Calls, Lively Stone Records 1987: Gospel Songs (with Eleanor Ellis), Ocora 2014: I Want To Be Ready To Hear God When He Calls (CD reissue), Patuxent Music