West Art Welcomes Goodnight Moonshine feat. Molly of Red Molly, and Jon Knauss

We're excited to announce that Goodnight Moonshine is returning to West Art! Goodnight Moonshine is the intimate jazz-infused folk project of Molly Venter (of Red Molly) and guitarist/producer Eben Pariser (of Roosevelt Dime). Joining them is Lancaster-based singer and songwriter Jon Knauss! Join us in The Sanctuary for an exciting evening of intimate music and rich storytelling that you do not want to miss!

What to expect at the show:

>> Doors will open at 6:30. The show will start at 7:30.

>> Tickets are $20 in advance, and $25 at the door if not sold out. As always, we’re proud to present an all-ages show!

>> Parking may be available in the small lot across the street. Beyond that, there’s parking available around Buchanan Park and F&M College in the blocks surrounding West Art. 

>> Format: This will be a seated show in The Sanctuary. Our space is ADA accessible, and we will do our best to accommodate any specific needs.  

>> If you haven't yet discovered the magic of the West Art Coffee⚡Bar, now's your chance! We're open from 7 am-10 pm daily, with a full and delicious espresso bar menu, along with a lovely selection of beer, wine, and cocktails, plenty of N/A options, and some tasty bites from our favorite local bakeries. Something for everyone, all day long! Come hang out before the show and experience it for yourself!

>> Please note that all ticket sales are final. Thank you for supporting great music!

Band Bios:

Goodnight Moonshine is a guitar and vocal duet, and a musical marriage in all senses. The Duo combines the evocative voice and songwriting of Molly Venter, with Eben Pariser’s adventurous guitar playing. The result is folk music with a depth of improvisation and tonal subtlety usually reserved for jazz.

Molly is well known for her sublime singing in the prominent female-vocal-group Red Molly, while Eben cut his teeth as a street performer in New York City, playing guttural music of New Orleans with his band Roosevelt Dime.

Molly’s enviable voice, which can be called both “biker-chick smoky” (New Haven Register), and “like silk” (American Songwriter Magazine), has taken her career to highlights including Tønder Festival in Denmark, Kate Wolf Fest in CA, and multiple placements on television and film. In Goodnight Moonshine she is in full force as a songwriter. Her trance-induced stream-of-consciousness writing style results in compositions that probe the depths of her inner experience. Her hit song “Hold It All”, recorded with Red Molly and performed regularly with Goodnight Moonshine, questions the meaning of life, and grapples with acceptance, with honesty and heart usually reserved for literary writers- which she also is- she writes a weekly column on Patreon.com

Starting as a blues guitarist in his teens, Eben’s imagination was quickly captured by classic jazz, which he studied at the Oberlin Conservatory. “Pariser’s harmonic sensibilities are wide, imaginative” (NPR), and his career has involved singing lead and playing bass with Roosevelt Dime, playing drums and being musical director of Red Molly- but it is his love of guitar and improvising on display in Goodnight Moonshine. A natural producer, Eben has 8 studio records under his belt for himself and other artists. He conceived of and launched the record label, Equitone Records in 2023. He is currently building a progressive guitar driven jazz trio with Ryan Sands (Christian Sands) and Austin Phillips.

After cutting several records, and experimenting with limitless creative possibilities of studio production, Goodnight Moonshine is now thrilling audiences as an acoustic guitar duo. The format allows them to focus entirely on each other's gifts, and enter a hypnotic trance, a cycle of responsive vocal inspiration and guitar improvisation that deepens throughout the show. It is a main-line of the very best that both artists have to offer, and perhaps why their single-mike show has become an unlikely festival act- in 2023 they played Arts And Ideas (CT), Red Ants Pants (MT), and Sisters Folk Fest (OR).  They have gone on to wow festival audiences at Black Bear Americana Fest (CT), Musikfest (PA), and Falcon Ridge Folk Fest (CT), and played to sold out audiences in New Haven, CT, and Rockport MA in 2024.

Guitar and vocal duos are rare and few come to mind, but the ones that do, such as Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, and The Milk Carton Kids, have achieved and integration between singular talents in a format that is both genre-less and grounded in the commonness of two guitars, two voices. Goodnight Moonshine is taking their own stab at this unusual and deeply personal approach. Their show is punctuated by songs and banter that openly explore the complexities of their relationship to each other, the Creator, birth, life, death, and what happens when, “the honeymoon ends?” For Molly and Eben, It is the way they make space for each other while staying true to themselves that defines this music, and marriage.

Goodnight Moonshine is on the cusp of releasing their third studio record tentatively titled "Business Unusual"- 11 magical live takes selected from 30 days of recording, spiced with subtle and sophisticated accouterment including shimmering drumming from Ryan Sands, and 1000 ton bass by Adam Chilenski. They have two previous studio records; their self-titled debut album Goodnight Moonshine (2013), and I’m The Only One Who Will Tell You Your Bad (2018), as well as three singles; Harder Than It Should Be (2021), and What Do You Wanna Know (2022), and My Sister Evangeline (2024) all produced by Pariser.

While trying to make sense of his place in the world, Friar Jon finds himself at the intersection of queer culture, folk music, and religious mysticism. With influences like Townes VanZandt, Iron & Wine, and Jon Foreman, his melodies twinkle like stars and lyrics connect them into constellations.