Songs of the Emerald Isle will celebrate a heritage shared by many here, and tease imagery of springtime during this week’s cold snap.
For local singer-songwriter Mike Langley, Thursday’s show brings a mix of traditional Irish tunes and some originals. Among them, one chronicles a never-ending journey, and another finds beauty in cemetery lilacs.
The takeaway? Finding good company and unlikely ties among strangers.
Admittedly, the surname Langley isn’t Irish — not even a little. A Brit found his way into the family tree at one point, but the Sioux City musician says his blood runs green.
That ancestry is what prompted a 20-day overseas trip last summer with his partner, Mary Kay, who also has deep Irish roots.
A few leads from family elders suggested distant relatives might turn up — somewhere. So Langley and Mary Kay left, with sights on the villages dotting the pastoral countryside. They touched down in Shannon on the island’s western side, and headed north to Galway and then Ballina among many stops.
As the story goes, luck was on his side; enough luck to find “a needle in a haystack.”
“They weren’t surprised by the concept, just surprised it happened to them,” Langley said of the family he encountered in the northwestern district of County Mayo, which stretches inland from sheer cliffs at the Atlantic coastline.
It turns out a distant relative named Seamus Weir is a local government representative there. And he’s also into genealogical research.
“They knew a branch of the family had gone off (to the U.S.) and wondered about them,” said Langley, who also dons garb as the roving minstrel at the Sioux City Riverssance Festival. Tours of old homestead ruins and cemeteries followed. And, of course, sharing of family photos.
Then, as musicians do, Langley found songs among the stories and experiences. (Hear recordings on his Facebook page, and watch a Journal studio recording.)
“I’ve always played Irish music and loved it. I grew up playing folk, bluegrass and Appalachian music,” Langley said. Traditional Irish music “is one of the originals of all that. Music from the British Isle eventually settled in Appalachia.”
Langley has performed other themed shows at Western Iowa Tech Community College, based on The Beatles, Neil Young and other famous catalogs.
He shares the Irish songs in a free performance at WIT, organized by The Institute for Lifelong Learning and funded by a Kind World Foundation grant.
Take traditional Irish song “The Land of the Dinky Stool,” in which many verses chronicle a journey.
“Never ending,” Langley adds with a laugh. He then recalls the welcoming pub scenes and regulars who asked about his beat-up guitar, insisting he play.
An early verse is about waking into an old Irish pub with glass-top bar. Wooden stools sit a foot off the ground, people gather with acoustic instruments, picking guitars and mandolins. Amplifiers are taboo.
“That blew my mind. Then we began singing,” Langley said.
There’s also “Star of the County Down,” an old Irish standard. His version tells of the trip and folks met. That includes the relatives who turned out to be cousins connected by a great-grandfather on Mary Kay’s side.
Then come songs the trip inspired, including one about lilacs blooming in Sioux City’s Calvary Cemetery near Langley’s home. The imagery sings to springtime, and spiritual uplifting in a place of death.
Langley penned some of the songs in Ireland and others back home. The sounds gelled, resulting in his recent CD recording “Cheers, Love.”
The collection of songs will likely grow after revisiting Ireland’s County Mayo again this summer, where Langley has scheduled performances as he further explores a celebrated heritage.
The details
What: A Night of Irish Music with Mike Langley
When: Thursday, March 10; 7 p.m.
Where: The Cargill Auditorium at Western Iowa Tech Community College.
(Use entrance 14, parking lot 4.)
Cost: Free
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