Nancy McCallion: guitar, vocals, penny whistle,
Danny Krieger: guitar, slide guitar, vocals
Kevin Schramm: accordion, bouzouki, banjo, vocals
Tom Rhodes: fiddle, mandolin, vocals
Steve Grams: bass, vocals
Ralph Gilmore: Drums, vocals
Influences
Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Woody Guthrie, The Pogues, Christy Moore, Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Steve Earl, Richard Thompson
Sounds Like
Tom Waits meets Lucinda Williams over a pint of Guinness
Nancy McCallion is best known as the songwriter and vocalist for original Celtic-Norteno-you-name-it folk-rock cult band The Mollys.
McCallion teamed up with high school music partner Catherine Zavala to form The Mollys in 1989, developing a solid following and racking up seven indie releases and countless rave-reviews (including a listing in the Washington Posts top 10 CDs of 1997) touring the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand before the group disbanded in 2003.
The daughter of an Irish-Scots immigrant and a Texas farm girl, McCallion grew up in Tucson, a cross-cultural border town. She heard, and was obviously influenced by, the Norteno sounds of her Southwest Side neighborhood, her older sisters Beatles records, and 1970s and '80s radio rock, mixed with her dad's Irish trad and her mother's Texas old-time country. Throw in adolescent Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and Pogues fixations and you've got the cultural stew that emerged as The Mollys' drop-jaw repertoire.
She never quit writing, and resumed live performance and recording as a solo over the last seven years. Her new songs are an eclectic mix of folk, roots, and country, with a little Tex-Mex Irish, reminiscent of The Mollys. Although often compared favorably to Lucinda Williams and other leading female writers, McCallion's sharp takes on life lived small also bring to mind Tom Wait's dark, quirky tales.
Hey Nancy! I'm tell my dad if end of school stuff isn't breaking my back i'll try to come. You know, the new music program at Kino and me, we dont get along so well. So I still play and sing for myself mostly holed up in my room. Haven't done a gig in forever. Next year I should have more time in my schedule to do stuff like that though. How've you and Danny and Emily been?
A scientific study has found that when Kathryn gets drinking and picks up the guitar, there is an over 80% chance that she will launch into a Nancy McCallion song! Happy New Year! David
We promised to keep all of you posted, so we wanted to tell you that we now have our album “A Prelude” available to download on our profile. We are still working on making the physical CD and merchandise available online, but until then, you can enjoy having our songs… SO DOWNLOAD NOW!!!!
