Nadia Reid – Poor Mum (Molly Drake cover)

Nadia Reid closes the circle between Nick and Molly Drake with a pair of covers that work as a conversation across generations. “Poor Boy” was recorded first, for a 2023 Nick Drake compilation. “Poor Mum” follows as the response Molly Drake wrote after hearing her son’s song, a piece that stayed private until decades after both had died.

Tom Healy produced both tracks in 2022 during New Zealand’s lockdowns. Reid had a young baby at the time, which adds weight to her version of “Poor Mum”. The song explores maternal sacrifice and unfulfilled dreams. Healy handles guitar and pedal steel, with Samuel George Taylor on additional guitar and piano, Richie Pickard on bass, and Joe McCallum on drums.

Reid’s arrangement keeps things understated. Her voice carries the melody while the band builds a gentle foundation around it. The pedal steel sits in the mix without dominating. Nothing fancy, just solid playing that lets the song breathe.

Molly Drake never meant for anyone outside her family to hear her music. She wrote and recorded for herself and her household. “Poor Mum” was her answer to Nick’s public lament about being a struggling artist. Where he sang about his troubles, she sang about watching her child’s dreams take precedence over her own.

Reid pairs them as a digital double A-side, which makes sense. You can’t really hear one without thinking about the other now. The private response to the public statement. The mother’s perspective on the son’s complaint.

The recording happened three years ago, but it is being released now through Chrysalis Records and Slow Time Records. It’s out everywhere digitally.