A Celtic Musician on St. Patrick’s Day

Now that the “high holy days” for Celtic musicians are done, I have some thoughts.

My Irish/Celtic folk band, The Boston Harbor Bhoys, haven’t played out all that much in the past few years. (Gee, I wonder why.) This year we dipped our toes back in the pool with four gigs across the St. Patrick’s Day season. (There was supposed to be a fifth, which was canceled due to weather because, well, it was for senior citizens and they don’t really do weather.)

We played at a scholarship fundraiser on the Saturday before the holiday. It was a great kickoff to our return to the fray. People danced and sang along. Many raffles were raffled. There was some speechifying, but not too much. That’s all typical for events like this. And we sounded effing good, if I do say so myself! We also managed to get through the night without playing “Danny Boy.” (Whew!) Unfortunately, we were not so lucky with “The Unicorn” and “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.” But we played them with smiles on our faces. If you can all stop requesting those songs (which are not, in fact, Irish), it would be much appreciated.

On St. Patrick’s Day itself, we performed in the heart of Boston for the first time. What a madhouse! There are several Irish pubs near Faneuil Hall all along the same row. Our venue was the famous Green Dragon Tavern. Why is it famous? It was a popular hangout of Paul Revere and other Revolutionary War figures, and the Boston Tea Party and Revere’s ride through Lexington and Concord were planned there. These claims are a bit dubious, however, seeing that the Green Dragon where those people met was demolished in 1832. This is a new Green Dragon styled after the original. But even though we were not standing on the same ground as those great men, it was still a fun place, with an enthusiastic and responsive crowd.

We play Irish and Scottish songs for the most part, but we also enjoy taking unexpected left turns into rock and pop music. This sometimes proves to be a double-edged sword, because as soon as you play one popular song, some people think you play all of them. After playing the ever-popular “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (always a crowd-pleaser) a man came up and asked if we knew any Bob Seger. No. We do not know any Bob Seger. To our credit, we refrained from asking, “Sir, if that’s what you want to hear, why are you in an Irish pub in the heart of Boston on St. Patrick’s Day?”

Because this year the holiday fell on a Friday, the celebration continued the following day. There’s nothing like extending excess and giving people more excuses to get drunk.

On Saturday, we had a morning/lunchtime gig at a pub that started off slow, but ended up being a lot of fun. For almost an hour the only people there were friends of ours, then just before noon, people came in with a bunch of kids, probably after an activity of some kind. A couple of the girls were dressed in matching Irish step dancing outfits, and they got up and danced to our music. I love when there are kids in the audience. Our kind of music really is for all ages. In the end, we also had a few more friends and relatives show up too. It was a good time.

After going home for a couple of hours to rest and regroup, we headed out for the final gig of the weekend.

We saved the worst for last. Well, it wasn’t horrible, just kind of…eh.

It was at a fairly decent-sized restaurant, maybe a little on the bougie side, with a bar attached. We were resigned to a cramped corner of the bar area. We met the woman who hired us as she was leaving, so she wasn’t even staying to hear what she paid for. There wasn’t a large crowd, but there were still some enthusiastic listeners. There was one table that requested “Galway Girl” (thankfully, the Steve Earle song, not the one by Ed Sheeran, which we refuse to learn) but then surprised us by asking for “The Auld Triangle.” Nobody requests “The Auld Triangle!” We usually open our second set with it because, frankly, we do a bang-up job on it, but we’ve never had anyone actually ask for it! We liked these people! They obviously knew their stuff!

But then they requested “The Unicorn.”

And wouldn’t let go of it.

It’s not a song we would generally play in a bar. But we played it for them, and with great (feigned) enthusiasm. Someone else requested “Danny Boy” but somehow we managed to wriggle out of that one.

There is a group of songs that we save for the end of the night. These are some popular standards and some rock songs that make for a fun finish: “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles),” “The Wild Rover,” a medley of “Dirty Water” and “Shipping Up to Boston,” and a few others.

We never got to those songs that night because most of our audience left after our second set. By the third set we were playing for a handful of twenty-somethings at the bar who couldn’t care less that we were there. It gave us a chance to pull out some of our rarer numbers that we enjoy and don’t get to play that often, but it made for a rather anticlimactic ending to the evening.

So, some final thoughts:

I love making music with these guys. One of them happens to be my son, and the other might as well be. We always have fun even under the worst of circumstances. And when our voices harmonize, oh man I love being in the middle of that sound. So thank you, Bhoys.

I hope this doesn’t sound egotistical, but we are very good at what we do. So let us do it. Most people, unless they are real Celtic music fans, only know maybe five Irish songs. We will probably get to your request without you even asking. And who knows? You might hear a few others that you enjoy!

Many of the songs that Americans think of as “Irish” are actually American. Usually the schmaltzy ones. We actually have what we call a schmaltz waltz medley that we play at senior events. But not in a pub, please. Save those weepers for the old folks. Most real Irish songs are not that sentimental. Even the ballads tend to have a bit of grit to them.

We never mention taking requests onstage. That doesn’t mean we won’t take them, but we don’t really encourage it either. We have set lists planned out. There’s pacing to our shows and the song you want to hear right this second often messes that up. If we just played a big ballad, we won’t be playing another one for a while.

Likewise, if you walked in ten minutes after we played your favorite, we won’t play it again just to accommodate you. Well maybe for a very big tip, but even then not right away. There’s a whole room full of people who just heard it.

All of this comes down to us knowing our jobs. We can be very entertaining if you keep an open mind and give us a chance.

Oh, and a note to venue owners and event planners: Irish music isn’t just for St. Patrick’s Day. It’s fun any time!