Biography
Contemporary folk music counts the Mollys among its most wide-ranging ensembles. The band originated with longtime friends and musical partners Nancy McCallion, its main songwriter and penny whistle player, and Catherine Zavala on guitar and mandolin. Bassist Dan Sorenson, drummer Gary MacKender, and Kevin Schramm, who plays accordion, guitar, and banjo, later joined, enabling the group to draw from an expanding range of influences.
McCallion, a first-generation Irish-American, and Zavala, raised in a bilingual Mexican-American family, began performing together during high school in the MoPhonics. That band formed in 1983 and appeared throughout the Tucson, Arizona area for four years.
McCallion first imagined the Mollys while studying at the University of Arizona, where she completed a degree in elementary education. Alongside a classical flute player, she organized musicians for a senior project that created a lesson introducing music to children. When the project developed into a concert, McCallion asked Zavala to participate, and the pair chose the name “the Mollys” for its Irish sound.
After working with a shifting roster of additional players, McCallion and Zavala finalized the present lineup of the Mollys by 1994. That year they signed with a national booking agent and started appearing across the United States. Their albums are Hat Trick from 1997, Moon Over the Interstate from 1999, and Only a Story from 2000.
McCallion, a first-generation Irish-American, and Zavala, raised in a bilingual Mexican-American family, began performing together during high school in the MoPhonics. That band formed in 1983 and appeared throughout the Tucson, Arizona area for four years.
McCallion first imagined the Mollys while studying at the University of Arizona, where she completed a degree in elementary education. Alongside a classical flute player, she organized musicians for a senior project that created a lesson introducing music to children. When the project developed into a concert, McCallion asked Zavala to participate, and the pair chose the name “the Mollys” for its Irish sound.
After working with a shifting roster of additional players, McCallion and Zavala finalized the present lineup of the Mollys by 1994. That year they signed with a national booking agent and started appearing across the United States. Their albums are Hat Trick from 1997, Moon Over the Interstate from 1999, and Only a Story from 2000.
Albums
