Getting into a St. Patrick's Day groove...

There are a bunch of St. Patrick's Day gigs popping up over the next week ~ it blows my mind how much this community loves this feast day ~ so the Jazz Ambassadors will morph into the "Brodie Mountain Boys" for about a week and join in the fun.  We've got reels, we've got jigs, we've got fight songs and some rowdy ass drinkin' tunes, too.

But here is my all-time favorite Irish groove:  a little bit o Belfast soul a la Van Morrison.

I hope I get a chance to share this one albeit in a more Celtic band version (accordion, guitar, bass, flute and drum!) 

Then there is this hot little tune from wonderful, broken and beautiful Sinead - a Celtic reggae - that says:

Oh-ro You're welcome home [3x]
Now that summer's coming!
Welcome oh woman who was so afflicted,
It was our ruin that you were in bondage,
Our fine land in the possession of thieves...
And you sold to the foreigners!

And I always get in trouble insisting on this from the incredible Julie Fowlis - her take on Brother McCartney's "Blackbird" - is to die for, ya?  I can't get enough of this:  how about you?

And last but never least is this sweet and drop dead perfect Hibernian take on another old classic by Da Dannan... first time it took me about half way through to get what was going down.  Another gem. Blessings and Happy St. Patrick's Day as this weekend unfolds.