If you are a lover of music, especially Irish music, then Galway is the town for you. We were almost literally awash in live Irish music daily the moment we arrived in town.
Pubs pride themselves on being able to offer traditional Irish music for patrons every night of the week. And I am assuming most of the performers are just local folks and students making a little extra money doing this on the side.
I have long been impressed by the musical ability of the Irish people as a group, and this trip to Ireland has done nothing to temper that thought. I have often joked that my family was run out of Ireland in the mid 1800s because nobody in the family could sing or play a musical instrument… thus resulting in my own general lack of singing and music performing ability. 🙂
In this piece I’m going to break down my discussion of the music scene into six… What I consider to be interesting, you may not… subtopics. First up, the song “The Galway Girl”.
The Galway Girl
The Galway Girl was written by one of my absolute favourite singer-songwriters, Steve Earle. I first heard and fell in love with it on his album “Transcendental Blues”, which he recorded with a number of Irish performers including Sharon Shannon.
My immediate thought was that this was a traditional Irish song that he was covering, but no, he, in fact, wrote it. While in Galway, I learned more about his writing of the tune while recuperating from some personal issues.
As it turns out, Steve wrote the song about a specific woman he met in Galway and became infatuated with. I will let other Irish media tell the story.
From “Ireland’s Own” article “Who Is the Galway Girl”?:
Steve was trying to sort out his life and decided that Ireland would be a good place to spend some downtime. He had come to appreciate Irish music and the Irish folk tradition through The Pogues, who were guests on Steve’s major breakthrough album Copperhead Road, released in 1988.
… he was introduced to some of Ireland’s top traditional musicians, including Sharon Shannon, and they told him about the vibrant music sessions to be found in the pubs of Ireland, especially in Galway and the west.
Steve already knew about Galway because he had earlier discovered that his great friend and musical mentor, the late country singer-songwriter Townes van Zandt, played his very last show in Galway in the famous venue the Róisín Dubh only weeks before his death on 1 January 1997.
From “Irish Music Daily” and as recorded in the “Irish Sun”….
She was in Quay Street when Earle approached her and asked if she could help him with a phone call he was trying to make. A few days later she met him again by accident on Dominick Street when he asked if she knew where he could find some traditional Irish music. She took him along to a few sessions.”
If you read either of these two original publications, you will see that the woman who inspired the song has been named recently. Apparently, she does not make a big deal of it and, as reported by her friends, no relationship ever developed between the two… An unrequited love for Steve, I suppose.
Sharron Shannon also got to release the song on an album, as per the agreement with Steve when they did the recording. Both releases did not garner much attention apparently. But, in 2008 the song was released in Ireland by the artist Mundy. It became an enormous hit in the country and apparently has found a permanent place in Irish culture.
I remember when I arrived in Dublin in 2017, I wondered if anyone had actually heard about this song that I loved so much… I heard it about half-a-dozen times in the first 48 hours. JListen to this version of the tune led by Mundy and Sharron Shannon, and sung by over 15,000 people in Galway on June 11, 2016,
The Other Galway Song I Love
If you were struck by the fact that the Galway girl sitting on the bench pictured above probably does not look anything like the woman that Steve wrote about in his song, it is because… I had assumed… was actually representative of the other famous Galway girl mentioned in a much older ballad, “The Galway Shawl”.
Nope! Apparently, it was put there by the people who own the bar behind it, and they give no other particular reason other than that the bar ownership wrote on Facebook: “Behind every great bar is a great woman… Say hello to our new addition at The Quays!”
That notwithstanding, you do need to know about the other great song about a girl from Galway. Ironically, I first heard this song sung by Steve Earle on an album by the Irish group called “Dervish” entitled “The Great Irish Songbook”. I don’t want this to all be about Steve so here is the group “Green Road” performing this classic Irish tune.
It’s All About the Music Culture
Galway is Ireland’s cultural epicenter… it was a European Capital of Culture in 2020… and as such attracts large number of artistic individuals, foremost amongst them musicians. And they are in full display in this town.
Galway is also thought of as the spiritual home of traditional Irish music (Trad). Galway resonates with the sound of guitars, fiddles, tin whistles, and the uilleann pipes. All driven by the traditional Irish drum, the bodhrán.
This results in regular “Trad” and more modern folk gatherings in the city’s many pubs, and a seemingly endless number of buskers performing on the city’s streets.
Live Music in Bars
One of the major reasons we decided to go to Galway was because we knew there would be lots of opportunity to hear live music – both traditional and less traditional forms of folk music. We were not disappointed.
Upon arrival at our hotel, we asked at the front desk for a place that we could head to immediately to check out some tunes. They immediately declared that Taaffes Bar was the place to go to. They were right! 🙂
Taaffes Bar
At 6:30 PM when we strolled in, the place was absolutely crammed with music lovers listening to the group in the following short video. There was clearly not room to squeeze more people in. So, I only shot a very short clip because it required me to stand right in front of the company of performers blocking the view of most of the patrons. But it will certainly give you a sense of just how wonderful this experience is.
The second video is from the next day when we popped in for a bite, drinks, and some Trad music at a less busy time.
Kings Head Pub
Technically, our first musical experience in the Kings Head Pub took place on our first night when we pulled in there just to eat… Having got shut out at Taaffe’s. While we waited for a table we sat at the bar and listened to the following group. It made me realize that perhaps not all the performers playing in bars are top-notch singers and musicians. LOL! But they were doing the song “The Wild Rover”, so we listened.
Our first extended sit down “drink and listen” session took place the second night we were in Galway when we returned to the Kings Head Pub and listened to this threesome playing more modern traditional Irish music… If there is such a thing.
This first tune is not an Irish one, but a beauty regardless… “Lakes of Pontchartrain”.
As the evening progressed, and some patrons moved on to other places, we gradually worked our way closer to the stage. At this point in the proceedings, I was sitting there thinking “would it be asking too much to have some band play the Galway Shawl sometime when I am here in Galway?” Then quite literally, this happened…
I think we best wrap up this section with the classic Irish sing-along tune, “Whiskey in the Jar”.
Street Performers
Grafton Street in Dublin is an amazing place to stroll to check out street performers. Many are very professional and often are fully “electrified”. And Galway certainly does not take a backseat to Dublin’s street scene.
The types of performers you see on the main pedestrian walkway are very similar to those on offer in the big city. Here is a small sampling of a few that we saw.
While listening to this trio I was found myself wondering whether they were music students one of the local post-secondary institutions. Very confident playing and very tight musically.
Second up, this musician playing the uilleann pipes, churning out a classic Irish sound. I thought the video ad in the background actually added to his performance… It seemed to fit with what he was playing. 🙂
And finally, this guy picking and singing. His banjo playing might be a little suspect, but he’s got that full bodied, hearty, Irish voice to him.
Music Stores
Galway also has plenty of great music shops for those interested in purchasing guitars and fiddles or more traditional musical instruments like the bodhrán.
None of us actually bought anything, but I am thinking about picking up a tin whistle when we get back to Dublin. 🙂
