HAMDEN — The sweet, pristine blending of three complementary voices accompanied by rich yet sparse instrumentation has been Red Molly's calling card for nearly 15 years.

But after each member of the band's current lineup — Laurie MacAllister (bass), Abbie Gardner (Dobro), and Molly Venter (guitar) — decided to take a mutually agreed upon break to explore solo projects, the trio is back together and hitting the road for a dozen and a half gigs in September.

The news certainly must be thrilling for Red Molly fans.

Many of those devotees approach Venter after shows identifying themselves as the group's "Number One" fan, she mentioned during a chat with The Newtown Bee ahead of opening their long-awaited tour at The Space Ballroom in Hamden on September 5.

According to the band's bio, "Organic musicianship, a respect for the traditions of American music, and an obvious love of crafting music together lend a joyous atmosphere to their legendary live performances, and a natural balance to their studio recordings."

But as fans, promoters, festival organizers, and the band members themselves will tell you, Red Molly is renowned around the world for their live shows.

Known for deftly weaving eclectic covers in with their own creative musical contributions, concert attendees will hear as many calls for Red Molly's cover of Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" or Willy Nelson's "Crazy" as they will for their most popular originals.

While every fan has their favorites, original or cover, Venter says when it comes to bringing song ideas to the table for consideration, the group considers each pitch on its own merit.

"We don't live in the same place, so there's a lot of sending ideas and demos to each other. So it has to get to the point where we are all together and signing off that we all really like a particular song, whether it's an original or a cover," she said. "I remember one song I sent off and within a few hours I got the demo back with harmony parts already on it.

"Sometimes we get so excited about a new song that the others immediately start writing themselves into it, or one of us writes up all the harmony parts, and other times we wait until we get together to begin working things up around one or the other's song ideas," she said. "But it's always so exciting when we get in the same room together."

Refreshing And Resetting

Venter said the extended break she, Gardner and MacAllister took after they produced their last project, The Red Album, helped each member refresh and reset, returning and ready to work better than they were individually and collectively.

"When we have time off the road, and we're not touring, we get to write more, we get to practice our instruments more, and as we're getting older we also develop as people," she explained. "So every time we come back from a break all three of us are more confident, we're better communicators, ad we're all excited about doing something new.

"So when you bring that all back into the mix it shows. We stand taller, we sing together more strongly, and we're having more fun because we're not always together all the time. There's an opportunity to refresh, and I realize how excited I am to see these people again who I don't have to live with constantly."

The Red Album, which dropped in 2014, represents the group's latest full album, the second since the departure of founding member Carolann Solebello.

That project was the product of a conscious decision to record more original songs than on any previous album, making their choice of specific covers all the more significant.

With their arsenal of new songs and select favorites at hand including a very long-awaited cover of the song that is their namesake, the band traveled to Nashville to work with producer Ken Coomer, a drummer for Uncle Tupelo and Wilco.

"I think he approached us, so we listened to some of the stuff he had done and liked it," she said. "We had previously only been recording with a great engineer in New York who was not a producer, so there was no real greater vision. So we not only liked what Ken had done, we liked that he came to us with a vision. He envisioned The Red Album as a little darker, a little crunchier — coming from our previous album that was really uplifting and optimistic.

"This album still had a lot of beautiful moments, but was rougher around the edges sonically — and he also brought in some players from Nashville and he of course played some drums on it. So it came out really cool."

Contributing Songs

Venter contributed a handful of her own songs to the album, including "I Am Listening," the first song she ever wrote on piano.

"I took piano lessons here in New Haven growing up, but that was really the only song I ever wrote on piano," she said, laughing. "But it's funny because I was actually house sitting and they had this big beautiful piano. A lot of breakthroughs for me happen in those moments when I'm totally free of distractions, or I find myself in somebody else's space for a couple of days. In that case it was a space that had a piano."

"Willow Tree," another tune on The Red Album, is something of a tribute to Venter's parents.

"I co-wrote that with my husband, Eben Pariser, who wrote the chorus as he was thinking about the late founder of The Band, Levon Helm. But there was no real story to go with it, so I took it off to a separate room and I tried to write my way through different story lines and started thinking about my father who had recently passed away," she said. "So it became a sweet love song.

"The chorus was really visual and evocative, and I turned it into a love story. And like all love stories, this one ended in heartache — which represented my parents. Two people falling in love, raising and family and eventually one of them passing away but finding redemption in that deep loved they shared together all their lives."

Since its 2011 release, the group issued an EP using the crowd sourcing site Pledge Music. That campaign exceeded its goal, which Venter said also helped figuratively raise the bar as Red Molly moves forward toward its new recording project.

She added that it will be the first project representing the newly configured five-piece lineup that now includes singer-bassist-guitarist Pariser as music director, and upright bass player Craig Akin, both previously from the band Roosevelt Dime.

"It's been a slow and steady build. We're not a household name yet, but we've been able to retain our early fans and a lot of the the new people who hear us," she said. "The bar we're setting for ourselves the next time around is all original music — not just from all three of us, but from five of us."

"We've been really good at finding covers that people relate to, but Abby and I really write a lot, too. But other than a song we co-wrote, the group has never delved in at that level — maybe it takes ten years of trust building to get there. But this summer we got together for a while week of song writing and it was fruitful, fun, and really energizing.

As predicted, tickets ($20) for their Hamden tour opener are going fast, but remaining tickets are available by clicking here.