The Irish music coming out of Johnny Foxes one winter evening was some of the best traditional Irish folk music I had heard on my whole trip to Ireland some fifteen years ago. The Irish musician Chris Lucas was playing at Johnny Foxes and he was terrific. We got to talking and I have Chris get me a cd so I could submit it to a couple of fellows who distributed Irish music in the states. Chris handed over the recording and with a, you are so full of it shrug, returned to playing his classic Irish folk music. I put the cd in my bag and when I got home made some calls on his account, a few months pass and one of the cd distributors ask if he would be willing to do some personal appearances, that it’s a tough business, no guarantees yadda yadda yadda. So nothing ventured nothing gained, I call the number on the cd case and it’s disconnected, I try to find him in Dublin phone directories, no luck, google him for Irish folk musician Dublin, nothing. I call back my friend at the distributorship and he tells me that it was probably a long shot anyway, let it go.
So time passes and “Troubled Times” by Chris Lucas is one of my favorite Irish music cds and gets full play at the St Patrick’s celebration I have each year. Other lovers of Irish music ask me were they can get a copy and I have to let them copy mine, which kills me because I like musicians to make money on their talent, not have it recorded and given away. My daughter while at Providence College, DJ’d an Irish music radio show on the college station, and wouldn’t you know my copy of Chris’s cd ended up on her playlist, It did sound nice hearing it on the Irish radio station.
Irish Music-Paddy Barrys
Each year on occasion I would google a search for Chris Lucas Dubliner, Irish Music, Irish folk singer, but nothing would turn up. Now this will show how small the world is. This year just before Christmas I’m at Paddy Barrys Pub in Quincy Ma., the best little pub in Massachusetts, and there are several local musicians in attendance. I’m talking with Paul Kenney, An accomplished Irish Musician in his own right, about nothing in particular,when I ask Paul what part of Ireland he is originally from. Paul tells me he’s from Dublin and goes on to talk about some of the parts of Dublin and has some funny stories to tell, so I ask him if he ever heard of an Irish musician named Chris Lucas. “Oh Chris, he grew up two house down from me in Dublin” , I nearly fell off my stool, I ask Paul where has he been for the last 15 years, and he tells me he’s still playing and that he was over in the Boston area a few years ago. I finally did manage to find a youtube video, but I wasn’t sure if it was him, he seemed a lot older than he was 15 years ago.
Cheers
