Is there a pretty large group of people that create and consume Irish music in Columbus?
There’s definitely a market for it. When we started out we were the youngest people playing this type of music. We were a novelty. Now there are regular Irish music jam sessions where people get together to play and learn Irish tunes. [Craig McConville, general manager of Claddagh Irish Pub] hosts a weekly session on Sunday. He creates that music atmosphere that you see in Ireland. It’s people like that that are helping make the genre more popular. He’s been to Ireland. He gets it. What about the Columbus Irish music scene has changed since The Drowsy Lads started? I actually still don’t understand why there’s a niche that seems to have suddenly cropped up. There have been talented people playing Irish music here for 20 or 30 years, but it seems like it’s just started gaining popularity here within the last 10 years. It’s mostly because of people like Phil who’ve put in the time. Before he was with the Yankee Celtic Consort he was a part of the Irish Brigade. They had really close ties
