When you combine genres of music such as celtic, tejano, polka and country-western all in a blender and set it to frappe, you get the Irish Tex-Mex style of music known as The Mollys.

The Mollys began as a three-woman band and played its first show on St. Patrick’s Day. Not having a name yet, the women decided “Molly” was a good enough Irish name to use, and it has stuck with the group ever since.

However, Only two of the original members are still with the band today. Nancy McCallion, who writes, sings, and plays guitar and the penny whistle, is one of them. She is of Irish-American descent (which influences much of her music) and spent the early years of her life in Scotland before ending up in Arizona.

Catherine Zavala, who grew up a Mexican-American in the southwest, sings and plays the mandolin and the bodhran. She stuck with McCallion, and together they added three new members.

Kevin Schramm (who is a veteran of European clubs and entertains on the accordion, guitar, banjo and bouzouki), bassist Dan Sorensen (who has seen enough R & B, country and rock and roll to tie a stick to) and drummer Gary Mackender (who in his spare time collects junk to make art).

McCallion’s songwriting abilities are unsurpassed. A dilemma that seems to run throughout her songs is that of broken dreams and of young women yearning for love and sex, but who distrust the small town men they have to choose from.

A lot of McCallion’s other songs are childhood memories of her father and grandmother. She tells each story with such vividness that the listener is transported away to a desolate southwestern town.

“I’m almost ashamed to say what artists influenced me,” Zavala said. “My dad had a lot of mariachi and conjunto records, but I didn’t speak Spanish. When I was young I listened to The Beatles and The Monkees. But I was young then, and Nancy got me on the right track listening to The Rolling Stones and Elvis Costello.

” I always wanted to be in the spotlight when I was younger,” she added. “It’s the idea of attention I guess — the performing thing.”

Zavala originally wanted to be an actress, but she thought there was too much involved. She has a very down-to-earth take on it all now.

“You can get all rich and famous, but who really wants it? I wanted it when I was 20, but I’m glad I didn’t get it,” she said. “With acting, there are so many things going on, but with music, it’s just me and the music. If I wasn’t singing, I’d probably be puttering around on the streets somewhere.”

But having a little bit of that money and fame might not hurt The Mollys right now.

“We’re at a level where we’re struggling financially as a band right now,” Zavala said. “With age, its getting easier to make the financial end of it make sense. We hope to eventually get to a point where that won’t be a worry.”

Despite some financial setbacks now and then, The Mollys are continuing to tour, sharing its original brand of music with anyone who will listen.

“As far as numbers go, we’re doing well,” Zavala said. “We get surprised now and then. Sometimes we’ll play a venue and get a lot of old people, [then] sometimes all teenagers. I think our music has brought young and old generations together, and that’s pretty cool.”

McCallion’s uncanny lyrical style, matched with Zavala’s intensely strong scratch pad of a voice and combined with the soulful rhythms of the rest of The Mollys, has won the group quite a following in the Southwest. The band has even won the Tucson Area Music Awards every year since 1993.

“There’s a lot of high energy, good music and interesting tunes,” Zavala said. “We’ve got a lot of new stuff from our latest CD which will be out in April. I’m even learning the fiddle for it.”

The Mollys are touring the nation on the heels of its latest release, “Hat Trick.” The group has played at many festivals, including the San Francisco Celtic Music and Arts Festival.

“The festivals are great,” Zavala said. “They’re a nice medium between the noisy bars filled with smoke and the sound system feeding back. There’s a lot of enthusiastic people dancing around on the grass.

“But we’re pretty much a bar band,” he added. “We kind of grew up musically in bars. As we travel more, we have to learn to adjust.”

The Mollys have never been to Iowa as a band, but are looking forward to playing at The Maintenance Shop.

“Most of all, we’re expecting a good beer from there,” Zavala said.

The Mollys perform at The M-Shop Saturday at 9 p.m.. Tickets are $7, $5 for students.