A party at the small West St. Paul home of Da�th� Sproule has no need of  a CD player or an iPod dock to keep the music coming. The twenty or so guests who might show up, instruments in hand, settle in his living room and strike up the lively tunes of traditional Irish music with him. His wife, Lisa Richardson, might host another musical gathering in the kitchen, while non-musician friends--and nearby neighbors--enjoy the sounds. It's called a "session," and it could last till dawn.

The guitarist and singer was one of the pioneers in the revival of traditional Irish music as a member of the legendary quartet Skara Brae in the early 1970s. He's played venues of all sizes while touring internationally with the Celtic supergroup Altan and doing extensive solo and collaborative work, but he appreciates his "cozy" home near the Mississippi river bluffs, within walking distance of other musicians--some Hibernia-born, some not--who play traditional Irish music: thousands of tunes for fiddle, flute, tin whistle, harp, uilleann bagpipes, guitar, piano and accordion that often don't have vocals but are linked to dances.

"We just happened to find a house that we really liked," says Sproule, a native of Derry, Northern Ireland, who has lived in Minnesota for more than 30 years and moved to West St. Paul with Richardson in 2006. "And I really love the area.�I love being near the Mississippi. It's just a great feeling."

Though they say they haven't necessarily migrated for the music, Sproule and other players and singers of Irish music have made St. Paul's West Side and West St. Paul home, anchoring Irish culture in an already diverse area probably best known for its long-established Mexican-American community. (An estimated 20 Irish-born immigrant families live on the West Side.)

Nicknamed "Ceol Heights" by the Irish-music crowd (ceol means music in Irish), the area offers affordable and conveniently-located housing that the musicians appreciate--and their culture draws the neighbors. "The neighbors have to like music because I play all the time," said Sproule, a 2009 Bush Artists Fellow known for his innovative arrangements of traditional songs. "I'm either playing or have the music on the stereo."  

The Making of a Community

Chuck Lentz didn't know the neighborhood when he and Mark Richardson found a good deal on a West Side duplex 27 years ago. That was before they formed The Eddies with three other singers and began performing mostly a cappella sea shanties, many of them Irish. "We have in our little part of the West Side a pretty decent and fairly stable neighborhood," he says. (A West Side friend of Lentz's who's been known to play Irish music on the Highland�Scottish--bagpipes is St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman.)

Some years later, accordion player Adele Binning bought a West Side house and Tom Klein, who plays the uilleann pipes, married her and moved in. Klein and Binning's friends came to visit and some eventually decided to move as well.

Maeve O'Mara, who's lived on the West Side with husband, Liam O'Neill, since 1999, likes the fact that neighbors know each other. "We really [like] the community over there. It's very safe," she says. The couple come from County Cork and own the St. Paul shop Irish on Grand.

David Aronow, a realtor with Edina Realty and a longtime fan of local Irish music who has helped Klein, Binning, Sproule and others find homes on the West Side and West St. Paul, cites the creative atmosphere as one major attraction, and he adds that the community's abundance of older homes has been another big draw for musicians, who appreciate their ornamentation, workmanship, and character--the same qualities they love in the 100-year-old instruments some of them play. The homes also tend to have good acoustics, he adds.

Because there are few "official" places to hear Irish music in the neighborhood, West Siders might not know about the Celtic revival in their midst, musicians say. "I guess in the Irish community it's known that there are a lot of players over here, whereas as the greater West Side goes, it's hard to say, because [the playing we do] is not a public thing," said Klein, who plays at the Irish Fair, St. Paul Farmer's Market and events. He also belongs to the Great Northern Irish Pipers Club.

The Irish Fair, held nearby each August at Harriet Island Regional Park, brings attention to local Irish music, says Kate Dowling, who lives in West St. Paul and plays wind instruments. With her husband, Jode, she founded the St. Paul non-profit Center for Irish Music (CIM), which offers voice and Irish-related instrument lessons. The Dowlings teach at CIM, and perform locally and nationally.

When a Party Becomes a Session

Living close to one another means musicians play together more often than they might if they were spread all over town--at house parties that are dubbed "sessions" when the music takes over. "We just play for a couple of hours and have a chat, and a few tunes and a few jokes and a beer," Sproule says. "The social side is central to the music." For O'Mara, whether a party becomes a full-fledged session depends on how many musicians show up and the number of straight-backed chairs she has for them.

At one of the weekly sessions, hosted by the Dowlings in late August, six musicians fill the couple's small kitchen, each within reach of the wooden table holding brownies and Summit bottles. Besides the Dowlings and Sproule, three other friends from outside the area round out the group with banjo, flute and mandolin. Someone points out that West St. Paul is not west of Saint Paul, which launches a discussion about other cities whose names defy their map coordinates. As no sense can be made of this enigma, notes and chords start to cover words until somebody picks a tune for everyone to join in on. They play from memory, tapping their feet to keep time, clearly enjoying themselves.

If it weren't a weeknight it might just go on�and sometimes it does. During the most recent Irish Fair, out-of-town musicians joined regulars at the Dowlings, playing and singing until 7 a.m. the following day. Mexican-American neighbors came over before dawn to listen, Kate said, adding that she also enjoys their music.

While Ceol Heights has a unique musical culture, Irish music and its players can be found in many other parts of the Twin Cities too. If those musicians decided to move to the West Side, Sproule would welcome them. "That would be lovely," he said. "You do mention it when people are looking for a house. You'll say to them, 'there's a lovely house two blocks away.'�The more the merrier."

Where to hear West Side and West St. Paul musicians play:

Weekly traditional Irish music sessions:

Keegan's Irish Pub
16 University Avenue NE
Minneapolis

Kieran's Irish Pub
601 First Avenue North
Minneapolis
Also Sunday afternoon session hosted by Kate and Jode Dowling

Merlin's Rest
3601 East Lake Street
Minneapolis

Sea Shanty session, first Monday of the month:

The Dubliner
2162 University Avenue West
Saint Paul

Susan Klemond is a St. Paul-based freelance writer who writes about her community, faith, and education.
    

Photos, top to bottom:

Da�th� Sproule, of the Celtic supergroup Altan--and Saint Paul.

Tom Lockney (banjo) and Bill Hayes (Irish flute) add their notes to a session at the West Side home of Kate and Jode Dowling.

Pete Tritz holds forth on the mandolina.

The Dowlings, on flute and fiddle

"Whether a party becomes a session depends on the number of musicians and straight-backed chairs."

Kate and Jode at home.

All photos by Bill Kelley