Meet the Nashville Cat Rescuer With a Grammy-Winning Connection
She's rescued kittens from a baseball field, spent nearly 30 years working with a Grammy winner, and helped countless cats find loving homes. Meet the Nashville animal advocate whose dedication is earning her a special honor at this year's Pet Community Center Fur Ball! Image: Joana Zuniga / Manifold Studios
From rescuing kittens on the Nashville Sounds outfield to transporting community cats in her trusty Toyota Sequoia, Molly Reed has spent decades making a difference for animals in need. When she’s not working with Grammy Award-winning musician Delbert McClinton, she’s volunteering with Pet Community Center and Nashville Cat Rescue, helping cats find the care and homes they deserve. Ahead of receiving Pet Community Center’s Jourdan Parenteau Excellence in Service Award at this year’s Fur Ball, Molly spoke with us about her passion for animal rescue, the furry friends who’ve stolen her heart, and why she believes in doing more and expecting less.
Can you tell us a little about yourself? Are you from Nashville originally?
I’m from Seattle and moved to Nashville to work in music touring. I was fortunate to land with Delbert McClinton and have worked with him for almost 30 years. Delbert and his family are supporters of animal rescue and support my dedication to volunteering and making a difference.
What inspired your love for animals, and how did you get involved with Pet Community Center?
I was born with it. Even as a small child, I was fascinated by anything with four legs and wanted to help them.
Around 2013, the Nashville Paw Magazine did a feature on Pet Community Center and the TNR Program (trap, neuter, return) for Community Cats they started. I was fascinated and so impressed, and I knew I had to be part of it.
I reached out to them and immediately started learning from the amazing women who founded PCC. (Jourdan, Natalie, and Beth). This was before Pet Community Center even had a facility, so all the cats had to be transported to other facilities that had spay clinics. Fortunately, I had a full-size Toyota Sequoia and could put a lot of traps in it.
After PCC had its first physical location, transportation wasn’t needed, so I went in another direction and volunteered with Nashville Cat Rescue, which is fostering kitties and placing cats in permanent homes.
Later on, I learned about the working partnerships between Pet Community Center and local rescues. This opened a whole new world of opportunity for me because I could work with Pet Community Center, and also Nashville Cat Rescue, by taking in cats that were adoptable but needed a loving foster first.
This is one of the magical things about Pet Community Center and their Community Cat Program. They don’t just spay them and put them back out. They do what is best for the cats. They have numerous rescue partners, such as Nashville Humane, The Catio, Saving Stevie, Proverbs, and, of course, Nashville Cat Rescue, who work with PCC to do what’s best for the cat. That is what is so beautiful about what happens in the PCC Community Cat Program.
These days, I still have that Toyota Sequoia, and I’m still transporting cats for Pet Community Center.
We heard you’ve even rescued kittens from the Nashville Sounds outfield. Is that true?
I was a Sounds ticket holder, and there was a black cat that would run out on the field during games. With the help of some ushers, I managed to round her up, and she became my office cat at Delbert‘s.
Shortly thereafter, a gray tabby kitten appeared during a game. He was so tiny. I just wrapped him in a towel I got from the dugout and held him for the rest of the game. I took him to Delbert’s, where Delbert said, “No, we’re not gonna have any more cats.” But by the end of the week, they’d started a friendship that lasted 18 years.
Now we get to the kitten part. It was later in the season, and a flood had separated four kittens from their mama. I had never fostered before, but I didn’t hesitate for a second before taking them home and loving on them. One of them is still alive and doing well.
You’re being honored with Pet Community Center’s Jourdan Parenteau Excellence in Service Award at the upcoming Fur Ball. What does that recognition mean to you? Can you tell us more about the event?
I was speechless when I got the call. I have so much respect and admiration for the people who have been recognized before me. Those who had a vision for the Pet Community Center and who have made it better every year. To be honored as part of this group means so much.
Is there one animal you’ve rescued or cared for whose story has stayed with you?
Yes! Moonpie and Buster Brown, two middle-aged female cats with ear tips, whom I took in as fosters. I adored them, but nobody had any interest in adopting them because of their age. They finally got adopted, and then they were returned. I was devastated and had to start all over with making them feel safe and loved.
One day, I was talking to Katie at PCC, and I found out the backstory on these two girls. I cried as she told me about the loving colony feeder (the volunteer who had been feeding and caring for their outdoor cat colony) who was forced to move out of state for family.
Buster Brown and Moonpie stayed behind, and when Katie heard they weren’t doing well in their situation, she scooped them up and got them out of there … still needing to find them a foster. And that’s how our paths crossed. I had lived with these two sweethearts for months and never knew this!
After 14 months, an amazing couple contacted me and said they saw the picture of Buster Brown and Moonpie. I was astounded. They had to look through hundreds of pictures of cats before they got to them, and yet they were the ones they wanted.
Miracles do happen.
Pet Community Center helps keep pets healthy and with the people who love them. What do you love most about its approach to animal care?
Pet Community Center doesn’t just offer pet services, but they make it affordable so everyone is able to get their pet spayed or neutered and keep up with their vaccinations. This is so important to our community! And the Pet Community Center Food Security Program helps so many who might otherwise skip their own meals in order to feed a pet. Heartwarming!
You’ve spent years working in the music industry while also making animals such a big part of your life. Are there any surprising ways those two worlds overlap?
Working with a Grammy Award-winning artist who loves animals has been a blessing for me. If I needed a donation for a benefit auction, I could just say, “Hey Delbert, will you sign this?” or offer concert tickets at the City Winery.
What’s something about you that might surprise people?
That I was adopted. (And never looked back!)
What are a few of your favorite local businesses or hidden gems?
The Hoop House and Ladybird Taco.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
“Do More. Expect Less.”
The Fur Ball will be held at 14TENN in The Nations on October 8, 2026. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the Pet Community website.
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Jenna von Oy Bratcher
Jenna von Oy Bratcher is StyleBlueprint's Editorial Operations Manager and Lead Content Editor. The East Coast native moved to Nashville almost two decades ago, by way of Los Angeles. She is a lover of dogs, strong coffee, traveling, and exploring the local restaurant scene bite by bite.
