Boys of the Lough plays pre-Paddy’s Day show

Few people outside of Ireland and Scotland were familiar with Celtic music prior to the early 1970s. It existed, primarily, in kitchens and pubs sprinkled across the Irish countryside. Generations of self-taught musicians fiddled and sang folk tunes while exchanging local gossip, filling small spaces with colloquial banter and song.

“Irish traditional music existed only in tiny little unknown ghettos, really,” said Dave Richardson, multi-instrumentalist for Boys of the Lough. “To a great degree, as far as the general public was concerned, they didn’t even know it existed.”

When Boys of the Lough embarked on its first overseas tour of the United States in 1972, the band members believe it was the first time any professional Celtic folk ensemble had toured in North America. More than 35 years later, traditional Irish music has thoroughly infiltrated the United States—especially in New England, where Irish immigrants maintain a strong presence.

“Other bands saw that we had been able to tour this music, and it gave them the courage to attempt it themselves,” Richardson said. “It has turned into an incredible worldwide phenomenon.”

Richardson has been a member of the band for almost exactly 35 years. The Northumberland native joined the group in March 1973, replacing former member Dick Gaughan. In addition to composing much of the band’s original material, Richardson plays mandolin, cittern, concertina and button accordion. He spoke to The Wire by phone from a hotel in Minnesota last week in advance of the band’s show at the Rochester Opera House on Sunday, March 16—the eve of St. Patrick’s Day.

Boys of the Lough originated as a trio of musicians from Ulster in Northern Ireland, consisting of Cathal McConnell, Tommy Gunn and Robin Morton. Richardson’s description of the band’s origins, intoned in his distinct British lilt, sounds a bit like a traditional Celtic tale.

“Two of them were from Fermanagh: Cathal McConnell, our current flute player who’s been with us for 40 years, and an older man that he knew from Derrylinn on the shores of Lough Erne, called Tommy Gunn. Tommy had a regular job with the telephones. He was up and down telephone masts doing repairs and stuff like that. He was old enough to have served in the Second World War in the jungles of Burma in the lost army. He didn’t want to get on the road and tour, obviously, at his stage in life. And the other member back then was Robin Morton, who was from the other side of the culture. He was from the Protestant side of the culture. He had gone to university, he was very organized, very much into the social implications of folk music—you know, the radicalism, the left-wing side of it, it being the music of the people and all this kind of thing.”

Gunn dropped out of the group before it recorded its first record, and the remaining duo linked up with a pair of Scottish musicians named Aly Bain and Dick Gaughan. The foursome released its debut album, “Boys of the Lough,” in 1972 and left for its inaugural tour of the States.

Early in 1973, Richardson was working as a biochemist, doing research for a botanical project involving flowers. Music was just a hobby for him in those days, but musicians often stayed at his house and he had met members of Boys of the Lough. When the band asked him, at very short notice, to pack his things and fill Gaughan’s recently vacated slot for a five-week tour of the United States, Richardson jumped at the opportunity. Not long after returning, he and the other band members agreed to ditch their day jobs and form a full-time professional band.

“We had no idea how long it was going to last or what, but it was exciting,” Richardson said. “We were excited about the music. We were excited about the travel. We liked taking this new music to a whole new audience that had never heard it before.”

Some 35 years later, Boys of the Lough has recorded around 20 albums, toured the United States more than 70 times and also toured extensively in Europe, Asia and Australia. The band has undergone numerous lineup changes over the years, introducing new styles and instruments that reflect the diverse musical traditions of the British Isles. The current lineup includes McConnell, of Northern Ireland, on flute, whistle and vocals; Brendan Begley, of Ireland, on button accordion, melodeon and vocals; Malcolm Stitt, of Scotland, on guitar, bouzouki and Highland pipes; Kevin Henderson, of Shetland, on fiddle; and Richardson, of England, on several instruments.

“Our strength is in our diversity,” Richardson said. “We reflect dialects of the common language. And some of those dialects, of course, are in the United States, as well.”

The popularity of Celtic music these days is evident from the sheer number of acts that play traditional Irish music. Here on the Seacoast, Irish and Celtic nights are a regular feature of several venues, including The Press Room and Molly Malone’s in Portsmouth, and Kelley’s Row and Biddy Mulligan’s in Dover. Beloved Irish folk crooner Tommy Makem lived in Dover for several decades until his death last year, and his sons continue to perform around the region. In Boston, bands like Dropkick Murphy’s have incorporated Celtic elements into their raucous punk sound. 

Richardson compares the broadening of Celtic music in the 1970s and beyond to the blues revival of the late 1950s and early ’60s. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, 12-bar blues music existed under the mainstream radar, tucked away in black neighborhoods across the United States. But, as rock ’n’ roll swept the nation, people gradually became exposed to the blues, and millions of fans fell in love.

“Here was a music that had lain dormant for 30 or 40 years, again, hidden away in its own communities,” Richardson said. “A new generation discovered it because they found something in it that spoke to them.”

The more recent Celtic expansion is similar on many levels. Like 12-bar blues, it is a highly accessible form of music that appeals to sundry ears. The melodies are simpler than those of progressive rock and jazz, and the lyrics tell stories that people from all walks of life can relate to. In addition, there is purity to Celtic music that, if executed properly, transcends the stifling commercial forces of commoditization and westernization.

Another example of a band implementing Celtic traditions into its music is Leahy, a Canadian group of eight siblings who will perform at The Music Hall in Portsmouth on Thursday, March 13. Led by fiddler Donnell Leahy, the band blends a variety of folk styles to produce a world sound that has resulted in more than half a million CD sales. Leahy’s original songs have earned the group fans in the folk, country and Celtic arenas, demonstrating the sort of universality that appeals to international audiences. The brothers and sisters also exhibit spirited dance routines, and The Music Hall is billing their upcoming performance as a perfect primer for St. Patrick’s Day.

But, according to Richardson, the importance of St. Patrick’s Day for Irish and Celtic music has been overblown. Other than being a busy time for gigging, the holiday does not necessarily have much meaning for Boys of the Lough or other Irish bands. In fact, the often excessive celebration that St. Paddy’s Day entails often distracts people from the music.

“We’ve gone to cities where they’re very famous for the size of their St. Patrick’s Day celebration and the concert doesn’t work because they’re more focused on going out and drinking green beer and having a kind of massive holiday,” Richardson said. “And, that’s fine, you know? But there is a separation between the two sets of priorities.”

Richardson does plan to include a couple of songs that make reference to St. Paddy’s Day in the band’s set at the Rochester Opera House. But the concert will feature a diverse array of songs, some upbeat and festive, others slow and melodic and some with virtuoso instrumental solos. And, in keeping with Celtic traditions, the band members will exchange impromptu chatter and jokes.

“If you’re in someone’s kitchen, you don’t just sit there pole-faced and play tune after tune after tune. There’s a lot of gossip and jokes and catching up on the news. So we try and reflect all that,” Richardson said.

Last fall, Boys of the Lough came out with a new CD, recorded live in Pittsburgh in December 2006 and titled “Midwinter Live.” That disc, as well as a 2005 release titled “Twenty,” will be available at the show in Rochester. The band made another recording last October, which it plans to release sometime this summer.

It has been exhilarating for Boys of the Lough to watch Celtic music catch on across the globe, with new generations of musicians embracing the traditions of their grandparents. Although the music scene in the British Isles has changed immensely over the last 30 years, Richardson expects Celtic bands to continue proliferating deep into the 21st century.

“There’s a big wave of young musicians coming through at home in Ireland and Scotland and tremendous talent,” he said. “The question is whether or not the audience will develop with them, as well.”

Boys of the Lough will perform at The Rochester Opera House, 31 Wakefield St., Rochester, at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 16. Tickets are $19-$21, 603-335-1992. Leahy will perform at The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 13. Tickets are $20-$37, 603-436-2400.