Some of us didn’t have to wait for St. Patrick’s Day this year for the luck of the Irish.

All 1,201 of us attending the sold-out performance of the world famous Chieftains in Fayetteville two months ago were very lucky, indeed.

It was the Chieftains' first ever appearance in Arkansas and if a second show could have been scheduled at the Walton Arts Center’s Baum Walker Hall, my guess is that all the tickets for it would have been snapped up, too.

Ever since The Chieftain’s former publicist Charles Comer introduced me to the band’s leader, Paddy Maloney, about a decade ago, I have been hoping by some miracle the globe-touring band would some day come to Fort Smith. And if not here, somewhere in Arkansas.

Thank you Walton Arts Center!

“We’d been to every state except Arkansas, but we heard the show here sold out immediately… and during the show it seemed as if everyone in the audience wanted to take in every note and every word.” Paddy told me after the show, seeming a bit surprised.

Apparently he underestimated the Chieftains Arkansas fans, We were with the band from the get-go. We soaked up the soulful, slow airs, such as Paddy’s moving musical tribute to the bands former harp player Derek Bell, who died in 2003. We clapped and tapped or feet so heartily during the jigs the event often seemed on the verge of a real Irish “hooley” (party.) We stood and cheered so hard for an encore that Paddy soon reappeared shaking his head and teasingly chiding us, “Disgraceful, disgraceful.”

The original Chieftains members – Paddy on tin whistle and Uillean Pipes; Matt Molloy, flute; Kevin Conneff, percussion and vocals; and Sean Keane on fiddle – were in top form. And so were their wonderful guest musicians and dancers from Ireland, Spain and Canada.

As he loves to do, whenever possible, Paddy invited local dancers and pipers to participate. I couldn’t locate the young dancers who appeared, but I caught up with the pipers. Linda Jones and Steve Wilson, both of Fayetteville and both members of the Ozark Highlanders Bagpipe Band, said performing with The Chieftains was the thrill of a lifetime.

Jones, who has been playing the great highland bagpipes for only 15 months and is already the Highlanders’ Piper Major, got a phone call from a piper in California.
“I was told the Chieftains were looking for a piper to play with them here, and was asked if I was interested,” recalled Linda, a Ph.D. assistant professor in the Department of Foreign Languages at UA-Fayetteville. “Of course I said yes and was as high as a kite for several days, so high I couldn't sleep!”

About a week before the concert, she called the Chieftain’s manager to learn what songs she would be playing. “I asked if extra pipers could come along, thinking it would ease my nervousness, and was told that Paddy said ‘the more the merrier.’ So I invited Steve.”

Wilson, a medical doctor with a solo family practice in West Fork, has been playing bagpipes for more than 20 years and is a longtime Chieftains fan.

“When Linda called to invite me to play with the Chieftains, I was honored,” Steve remembers. “But mostly I was so excited my heart was pounding in my throat. I couldn't get the words ‘Yes! Yes!’ out fast enough! I always dreamed of hearing them in concert, but to get to perform with them was beyond my imagination.”

The two had only a week to learn and memorize the Brian Boro March medley they played with the band in the concert’s beginning. They also played "Back of the Change Hoose," which they perform with the Highlanders. After the show, every one of the musicians made a point of individually complimenting them on their playing and their performance.

“The most impressive thing was how nice and personable everyone was,” Steve said. “All the musicians were more than willing to visit informally with us. Kevin, the drummer, even shared memories he had of the Ozarks years ago, when he camped on the Buffalo River. Paddy was as gracious as he could be. They invited us to eat with them in the hospitality room before the performance, but we were too nervous to eat. They treated us as equals and made us feel as if we'd been part of the Chieftains all along. I still can't believe it really happened!”

See what I told you? Some of us didn’t have to wait for St. Patrick’s Day this year to enjoy the luck of the Irish. Paddy Maloney and his merry band saw to that.

 

Linda Seubold, editor of Entertainment Fort Smith Magazine, can be reached at lindaseubold@efortsmith.com. Read her archived columns and articles online.

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