The root of fun Irish Music... Stockton's Wing

I thought it might make sense to start this blog with where it all began for me in terms of playing really fun Irish Music...

In the 80's (and to be fair the "Carter" part of the 80's... not yet even the Reagan years...), I started playing Celtic music for money in a band, playing a piano accordion. And from what I recall, I rocked with it (although I can barely play a note now).

... and at some festival somewhere... probably up in East Durham, NY, I bought an LP (vinyl baby) from a cool looking band called Stockton's Wing. The record was the now legendary Live (Take One) which featured hot Fleadh Cheoil winning trad players... and a totally hip 80s rhythm bass/drum combo. Stockton's Wing (which is also a place on the New Jersey shore mentioned in the Bruce Sringsteen song Backstreets) built on and polished the hip ceili music from folks like Steeleye Span, Horslips, Moving Hearts... totally giving it a pop funk flare.

My prayers were answered, I put the accordion away, bought myself a Fender Precision... and freed myself from playing boring 1-3-5 march time chord roots for every irish tune that came along. Stockton's Wing bass player Steve Cooney grooved tunes with lines you might hear from disco bands Chic or KC & The Sunshine Band. Slapping and popping was now cool in Irish music. Still is in my books...

For years, you could not get that cool record on CD. I happen to run into a friend last year who had a copied version on CD, that I promptly uploaded to my iPod. Since then, it has appropriately re-release and added to iTunes. Listening to it now is still cool and relevent, but in my opinion largely unanswered in Irish music in terms of pop funk flare.

In the band I am in, Celtic Cross, we have seven members, and seven die-hard fans of Stockton's Wing. On our new record Shores of America, we went into the studio to craft a funky irish tune set... and arrived at 22 which takes the dark traditional reel Musical Priest, slides a funk & hip-hop groove underneath... and then layers a haunting vocal by our singer (and my future blog-mate) Kathleen Fee. It is our twenty-first century tribute to a formative eighties LP...

P