Galway or BUST!
A bus full of banjo players with jokes — now that’s how to see Ireland
RELAND – The conference room at the Old Ground Hotel was crowded with newly assembled musicians and traveling tourists — and 17-year-old musician Flynn Whitmore was a bit nervous. One of the most respected tenor banjo players in Ireland, Enda Scahill, had just played a finger-flying, knee-bobbing jig with other well-known traditional Irish musicians at the meet-and-greet session and Scahill invited the music students to leave their seats and come up and play. ● “I didn’t want to play,” said Whitmore. “But … Enda told me to get my banjo. So, I did.” ● That first day, we were strangers. But just a few days later, Whitmore would venture out on to a jagged fang of the Cliffs of Moher, hundreds of feet above the sea spray of the Atlantic ocean, to draw notes out of his four-string in the whipping wind while the rest of us tourists and newfound fans marveled at how much his confidence had grown. ● This was no ordinary bus tour through Ireland. This was a mashup of a dozen banjo-playing musicians of all levels and abilities, mixed in with an audience of music-loving tourists, all packing together the same bus to explore the Emerald Isle together, one note, Guinness and Irish joke at a time.
‘I hear the biggest city in Ireland is growing. It’s Dublin.’
So how did I end up on this bus − swaying and bobbing through the narrow lanes that separate endless farms of sheep and cows − with a dozen banjo players?
Wild Atlantic Music Tours is a travel company that provides the uncommon experience of exploring Ireland with star musicians leading the way, quite literally on the same bus with tourists. Sometimes it’s a fiddler or a guitarist. Sometimes it’s a band. The point is to experience Ireland through its best storytellers and musicians, and to observe and appreciate the history of this mystical country through the music. Wild Atlantic Music Tours takes its buses to big cities like Galway as well as remote villages with little more than a church, a soccer pitch and a pub. Guides Eddie King and Robert Hanrahan are like Irish cousins showing us the best places to eat, drink and tune out our worries with a harp, a bodhrán and a banjo.
This particular Wild Atlantic Music Tour − in October, 2023 − was the first of its kind featuring Scahill, the former front man for the popular CeltGrass band We Banjo 3 which, during its decade-long run, drew thousands of fans to its performances at Milwaukee Irish Fest. Scahill had experience in these tours, going on them with We Banjo 3 years ago; last year, he was ready to do one on his own, especially for other banjo players and music-minded tourists.
I don’t play the banjo. And I didn’t know anyone − other than Scahill, a little bit. But I was determined to go. In 2016 my cousin invited me to visit Irish Fest for the first time and I joined her, mortified, in the fifth row at the Harley-Davidson stage of a We Banjo 3 concert, embarrassed to make eye contact with the performers. This was not my scene. I listen to hip-hop, K-pop, dance, R&B. Banjos? I was sure I’d hate it.
But We Banjo 3 just brought so much energy to the stage and their versatility between cover and original music was unlike anything
I’d ever heard before. Their sound was big and pure and danceable and I loved them, and so did Milwaukee, and Wisconsin − so much so that in 2018 I wrote two stories about We Banjo 3, and that’s when I first talked to Scahill.
Right before the pandemic I took one of those DNA tests that confirmed my GermanPolish Milwaukee South Side roots, but there was a surprise: Holy eejit, I’m Irish, too! Not a lot, but I vowed to embrace the shamrock enthusiastically. In 2023, with We Banjo 3 on hiatus, Scahill had focused on his solo work, his Irish music podcast Inside the Banjoverse and a new passion. He started teaching banjoplaying students all over the world on his banjo-lesson Patreon account. A Wild Atlantic Music Tour just made sense (and he’s doing another right now).
That bus took us all along the middle-west coast of Ireland, with visits to the Aran Islands, Doolin, the Cliffs of Moher, Kylemore Abbey, Connemara, the Burren and the
international and charming city of Galway. We learned to walk with the sun for good luck at the temple on the Inis Oirr, that County Clare is the home of traditional Irish music, that Doolin has both pine and palm trees, that the Burren in spring has both Alpine and Mediterranean flowers, and that and some scenes from The Banshees of Inisherin were shot in a perfect tiny old smokehouse with a low roof and uneven floors.
‘He’s Scottish — he’s not allowed to ask for water at a bar. They’ll take his passport.’
We tourists came from all over and so did the banjo students: Ireland, Scotland, the U.S. Young Flynn, whom we all adopted, is from Australia. And yet even with all the beauty of exploring Ireland’s patchwork green countryside and pursuing the end of every rainbow, incredibly, Scahill managed to get more than a dozen performers to join our musical motley crew on tour. They are all renowned musicians who left us mesmerized:
Mark Donnellan (fiddle), Brian Donnellan (concertina), Aodán Coyne (guitar and vocals); Micheal Ó hAlmhain (whistle), Eoin O’Neill (bouzouki), Manus Maguire (fiddle); Sorcha Costello (fiddle), Diarmuid Ó Meachair (melodeon, accordion); Christy Barry (flute, spoons), James Devitt (fiddle); John Carty (fiddle, banjo), Fredda Hatton (harp, concertina), Julie Langan (fiddle); Liz Kane (fiddle), Mirella Murray (piano, accordion); Brian McGrath (banjo), Mick Conneely (fiddle), Damien Quinn (bodhran).
These musicians, along with the bus tour banjo students, played master classes in the morning, or sets in the afternoon at pubs, or full concerts at night. Some were private concerts just for us; others drew packed crowds, like at the Crane Bar. That meant that music filled several hours of the day. And every session got better than the last as the group got more comfortable playing in public and playing together.
‘Do you know how to have $1 million after 10 years playing the banjo? Start with $2 million.’
We got history lessons, too, on the music and the instruments. Barry explained that jigs were different than barn dances and peasant music, that music and dancing were the religion of their grandparents and that musicians played for the dancers.
“That’s what got your energy up was the dancing,” said Barry, brilliant blue eyes shining.
Ireland’s Young Musician of the year in 2022, Diarmuid Ó Meachair grew up with Irish as his first language and sang an Irish language song about a man who loves drink alcohol. Sorcha Costello brought the crowd to a standstill with her fiddle, and a massive line of new fans formed to buy both of their CDs, just to support these young talented people and music. (Never mind that most of us customers don’t own a CD player.)
And on the cross routes in between the pubs and sites, bus life on Wild Atlantic Music was never boring or confining, and the guides never dragged out a ride, as most were between 1-2 hours. In fact, the bus provided stressfree downtime to hear Enda, Rob and Eddie outdo each other with Irish stories and Dad jokes, or just close the eyes and rest. The view of the Wild Atlantic Way, one of the world’s longest coastal drives, must be seen in person; no camera will ever do it justice.
We were all moved by the tour, the history, the culture, the love of a country that has taken in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. But it might have changed one young man’s life.
‘Tá áthas orm’ — means, ‘I am happy,’ in Irish
Do you believe in destiny? Whitmore is Australian, but his parents chose to name him Flynn, an Irish name; they gave him the middle name, Mackenzie, which is Scottish. Crazier still, it was just a few years ago that Flynn took up banjo − in rebellion. His mom Bronwyn was determined to make music part of his education. The Woodford Folk Festival is a 45-minute drive from their home, and she plays the harp; dad plays the digeridoo.
So, Flynn’s first choice was drums. “Mum said, ‘something with notes,’” said Flynn.
Flynn’s second choice was electric guitar. “’Something acoustic,’ said mum.”
“Funnily enough, I then picked ‘banjo’ − just because I knew we wouldn’t be able to find a banjo teacher. It was a complete joke,” said Flynn.
But the scarcity of Irish traditional music in Australia wasn’t a problem. After seeing The East Pointers at Woodford, Flynn came across Scahill’s banjo video lessons on Patreon and took off with it. His talent, drive and enthusiasm for the music became apparent within minutes of meeting young Flynn. Everyone on tour was telling Flynn he’ll be performing on stages in no time.
But playing ‘ Mouse in the Kitchen’ with new friends on tour is one thing for Flynn. When Whitmore met Carty, he was awestruck.
“I didn’t want to whip out my banjo − I just respect him so much.”
Whitmore was content to play as much as he wanted, but also sit back and appreciate the music as a fan, too.
‘I tried work. But I found it took up the whole day’
Scahill wanted his bus tour to be a one-of-a-kind experience. After he endured the pandemic, which shut down We Banjo 3’s touring for more than a year, he had had enough of that (like the rest of us). His home country of Ireland is a treasure and being here is a privilege. So, more than anything, Scahill wanted his banjo students, who play songs with titles and lyrics that reference Irish cities, towns and people, to come with him, tour Ireland, and actually play in those towns, and meet those people.
“When they come to Ireland, and are playing with the best musicians in the country, the whole purpose of the tour is immersive and it’s inclusive,” said Scahill. “You don’t have to be at a ‘level’; or worry if you’re not good, or enough you’ll get pushed aside.”
It doesn’t mean he’s grooming professionals, necessarily. He wanted immersion, and that goes both ways. Scahill started performing – on stage – at the age of 10 and his career has taken him on months-long tours all over the world, often to sold-out theaters or packed festivals. With all his musical connections, he was sure to invite guest musicians to join the tour, and the students, because he knew they would have fun playing with, and embracing, banjo students students and hobbyists. There’s not much room for ego on this bus.
Perhaps the best part of the tour was listening to Scahill talk about the challenges of being a musician, of dealing with success, and fallouts; of dealing with critics, and comparisons. He’s achieved a lot in his career, but also seems bolstered by getting back to the roots of music, by teaching others how to play. A side benefit was for the other tourists like me, who don’t play, but now better appreciate the banjo and the music overall.
Maybe young Flynn will be on stage one day; maybe not.
“I want him to figure it out himself, which he will,” said Scahill.
But Flynn’s passion for the banjo, for being around music-minded people, for hiking in Ireland’s woods − and crawling out on its precarious cliffs − rekindled the wanderlust in all of us.
Lori Nickel is a sports columnist with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.