Is it almost time for St. Patrick’s Day already? The regular procession of holidays (President’s Day, Valentines, Fat Tuesday, etc.) might distract you from making plans to hang out in your favorite pub on March 17th and The Young Dubliners have concocted the perfect soundtrack called “With All Due Respect: The Irish Sessions.”  Born out of a demand from their fans to record an album of Celtic standards, it’s surprising they haven’t done this a long time ago.  

The Dubliners after all, are one of the most famous of all Irish Celtic bands since the 60’s. The Young Dubliners however, although they are from Ireland, have been a modern rock band over five previous albums. Let the confusion begin now though because many of the songs on this album are also part of the older band’s repertoire. Their performances of traditional Irish fare like “The Leaving of Liverpool”, “Raglan Road” and “I’ll Tell Me Ma” are more muscular than The Dubliners or The Chieftains but fall short of the thundering distortion of Celtic punk bands like Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys. 

The easiest comparison to make is with the Pogues as The Young Dubliners pay tribute to Shayne McGowan’s classic genre melding by including two of his songs “If I Should Fall From Grace With God” and “Pair of Brown Eyes.” The traditional pipes and whistles are in the mix here but much more emphasis is put on guitars and drums. So…may the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, and may you be in heaven listening to The Young Dubliners a half an hour before the Devil makes your I-Pod battery dead. 

Listen all week for songs from “With All Due Respect: The Irish Sessions”  by The Young Dubliners on Paul Shugrue’s new music show “Out of the Box” Monday through Thursday from 7-9 pm and Saturday from 1-5pm on Public Radio 89.5 WHRV and on-demand at www.whrv.org/outofthebox.