Music Week: Gaelic Storm

On Wednesday, I promised some music that is a bit more "rowdy" and "raucous". After some unavoidable delays, I deliver with the group Gaelic Storm. You may be saying to yourself "Self, I've never heard of this group". Well, there's a good chance you have heard their music and just didn't know it. You see, they had a small part as the "steerage band" in a little movie called Titanic, playing the music to which you see Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet dancing with the other Third Class passengers. So now that you've going "ahhh", I'll let you know a little more about them.

Gaelic Storm is a California-based based, playing mainly Celtic infused music. They use many traditional Celtic instruments (pipes, whistles, bodhrán) and some instruments that from far outside the Celtic tradition (djembe, didgeridoo). They started out playing in a pub managed by band member Patrick Murphy, and their songs are best described as pub music. They play a few drinking songs, some jigs and reels, and other music that would fit right in an any Irish pub. They've even translated "Scalliwag" - one of the songs from their last album, Bring Yer Wellies - into Simlish.

Here are a couple of examples of their music. This "video" (you hear the music and get to watch the album cover for their best of collection, Special Reserve do nothing) is of "Johnny Tarr". It's a song about a hard-drinking man who put away the booze like other men breathe. When he finally dies (in a bar, of course) the doctor pronounces "It's not what you're thinking; this man died of thirst!" They often perform this live pretending to be someone else singing it (like Kenny Chesney or Michael Jackson).

Another of their fan favorites is the traditional song "Beggarman". I couldn't find a YouTube video of "Beggarman" that was descent and did not feature the videographer singing along (usually poorly, I might add). But you can go to their website and see most of the song as they perform it live on the ESPN show Cold Pizza.

BONUS! For those of you still reading, and just in time for St. Patrick's Day, you can download their song "Kiss Me I'm Irish" for free. Click here for the download.

Tags: Gaelic Storm, Celtic, Pub, Titanic