The Mollys "The shaman says women have four souls/The padre he says they've but one/The shaman says men they have three souls/But I have met men who have none/For poppies are worth more than cornmeal/And dollars are worth more than life!" --"The Sierra Madre" The Mollys mix Celtic wit with Chicana rowdiness and veteran musicianship to produce cross-cultural dance music with real lyrical bite. In the opening song of their new CD, Moon Over the Interstate, Nancy McCallion and Catherine Zavalla sing of the Tarahumara Indians, menaced by drug lords and ecological devastation south of the US-Mexican border. The song is typical Mollys: concise, literate lyrics wedded to foot-shaking tunes. A wry sense of humor is at work beside the guitars and vocals of McCallion and Zavalla and the accordion and bouzouki of Kevin Schramm, the bass of Dan Sorenson and Gary MacKender's drums. Emigration and the crossing of lines of time, space and cultures are this album's themes: Tales of hard-bitten miners, of lost homes remembered and of a legendary Southwest witch, La Llorona, haunting a free young woman. The title cut shows us a redneck kid cruising down the road with her beloved and rootless mother, shedding no tears: "'Cause Mama she knows how to want and she knows how to grieve. And she knows how to love as well as she knows how to leave!" Sensitive and tough. Jigs, polkas, mazurkas, conjunto! Wear your heart on your sleeve, perhaps, but, damn it, keep on dancing! - Bill Nevins |