Nancy McCallion is going Hollywood, and so is her husband, fellow Tucson musician Danny Krieger.
The couple makes its major motion picture debut in “The Age of Adaline,” a movie directed by McCallion’s nephew Lee Toland Krieger (“Celeste & Jesse Forever,” “The Vicious Kind”). Danny Krieger gets a one-line voice-over: “Keep it down in there!” You’ll hear Nancy a bit more as her song “Brighter in the Night” wafts from a car radio.
McCallion hasn’t seen the movie yet — she’ll go today when it opens nationwide — so she’s not sure how the song fits in the scene.
But buy the soundtrack and you’ll hear the full version, the one she recorded on her 2009 indie album “Take a Picture of Me.” It’s included on a playlist that features Bob Dylan’s “Simple Twist of Fate” and Jefferson Airplane’s “Comin’ Back to Me.”
“I’m excited that it’s on a soundtrack with a Bob Dylan song, (but) I’ve been at this so long that I don’t like to get my hopes too lofty,” said McCallion, 52, a professional musician since she was 19.
McCallion is best known in Tucson as the frontwoman and primary author for The Mollys, a folk-rock/Celtic band that draws influences from Norteño and Tejano music. Her latest project is Nancy McCallion and The Scarlet Lettermen, whose repertoire dips into folk, rock, country and Celtic.
This is not the first time the mother of a teen daughter has had a brush with fame outside Tucson, her home of 43 years. She and The Mollys once opened for Emmylou Harris at New York’s Lincoln Center, and her song “On We Go” was featured on the 1995 Putumayo compilation album “Women of the World: Celtic.”
Both were nice bumps for McCallion’s career, which she has pursued full time throughout her adult life. But the “Adaline” soundtrack has far bigger potential with its mainstream appeal. And that could introduce McCallion to a wider audience.
“It would be really nice if some people discovered me,” she said. “I would love to have other people cover my (songs).”
McCallion said she anticipates her heart will be racing today when the scene with her song playing comes on.
“It’s going to be so strange hearing my voice coming through those Dolby speakers,” she said.
