DONEGAL X-PRESS ON IRISH FUSION FAST TRACK
by Steve Miller
From the Frederick News-Post - March 13, 2001
While once a year, on St. Patrick's Day, many Americans miraculously discover their Irishness, others celebrate their bond to the Emerald Isle throughout the year.
Frederick native Jason Tinney is one of the latter.

He is a founding member of the Donegal X-Press, an Irish-influenced fusion band that has won acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Irish Voice, an Irish newspaper published in New York City, selected the band's latest CD, "Quinn's Diaries," as album of the year for 2000 and named the band Artist of the Year. Then Donegal X-Press took first place in an international song contest in Ireland.
Although they still appear most often in the Baltimore-Washington area metropolitan area, with three to five shows a week and regular gigs at Bushwaller's in Frederick, the band plans to capitalize on the newfound recognition and soon expand its touring schedule.
Mr. Tinney called the back-to-back accolades a "one-two punch" that couldn't have come at a better time than just before St. Patrick's Day, a time when demand for Irish music always increases.

Donegal X-Press is one of only a handful of Irish pub bands playing south of the Mason-Dixon line, he said, differentiating their sound from the more common Irish folk music.
Their third album is scheduled for release this summer.

Mr. Tinney and guitarist Brad Dunnells formed the band four years ago when the two were studying acting at Towson University.

The two were Irish-Americans with an interest in Irish music. What evolved was a traditional Irish pub band that borrowed from just about every American genre: Blues, folk, country, Cajun, rock & roll, and hip hop.

Mr. Tinney, a songwriter and harmonica player for the band, likes to say they "peppered up" the Irish music.

"I think the band is a great representation of the evolution of Irish music as it comes across the ocean from Ireland to the States," he said in a recent interview.

Mr. Tinney finds an Irish connection everywhere. He hears Irish strains in the Appalachian musical tradition of Western Maryland and West Virginia. He even catches glimpses of Ireland in the coutryside of Frederick County, but that's a commonality that cuts both ways.

"Ireland is growing up just as fast as Frederick with shopping malls and traffic jams," said Mr. Tinney, adding that he has been amazed by the pace of change in Ireland in the past two years.

The six members of Donegal X-Press recently returned from the National Song Contest for Peace in Cork, Ireland, where they were the first American group to win the competition.

Mr. Dunnells' composition, "Omagh," from the band's last album beat out more than 100 songs entered in the contest.

It was a whirlwind four-day trip that landed the band back in the Baltimore-Washington area just in time for the busy work schedule leading up to St. Patrick's Day.

"It's been an exhausting past couple of weeks. But fun," said Mr. Tinney.

As usual, the Donegal X-Press was bombarded with job offers this month. On St. Patrick's Day the group will be at Bushwaller's.

The band, which has played Bushwaller's on numerous occasions, originally booked the venue thinking Frederick would be a "low key" alternative to the bars in Baltimore or New York.

"That expectation might be wrong," said Mr. Tinney. "We are expecting a fairly wild night."
In addition to Mr. Tinney and Mr. Dunnells, the band's lineup includes Frederick native Marianne "Skye" Sadowski on fiddle and background vocals, Lyle Hein on bass and vocals; his sister, Laura Hein, on keyboards and background vocals; and Jeff Malcom on drums.