Irish Needed

At one time in American history, signs declared "No Irish Needed."

To that, Polson's Irish music quintet, the Montana ShamRockers, say "Oh, really?"

The Montana ShamRockers highlighted the irony of those old sentiments with their free performance at the Lincoln Community Hall Thursday evening, Nov. 14, as part of a tour of small Montana towns.

Designed as a tribute to America's veterans, their show "No Irish Needed" provided a heavy dose of patriotism bound in Irish pride as they used music to trace the indelible impact the Irish have had on America, Montana and the U.S. military over the years.

Beginning with the American colonists who were from Ireland or of Irish descent, they traced the impact of the Irish on the U.S. military back to the revolutionary war.

"Of course, when it came time to fight for independence and freedom, the Irish had 700 years of animosity built up against the British, and were the first in line," said Neal "Nialls" Lewing as he introduced "The Gallant Forty Twa," a song sung by colonial soldiers of Scots-Irish heritage.

Throughout the show, the ShamRockers offered salutes to the various branches of the military, and their veterans in honor of Veterans Day.

"We inaugurated this show about five years ago," Lewing told theBVD. "It was real popular. We got a grant from the Montana Gaelic Society to reach out to small communities. Lincoln was on our list because we go through Lincoln 20 times a year."

Throughout the performance, they brought the story of the Irish veterans' home to Montana, beginning with Sgt. Patrick Gass, who they said was probably the first Irishman to set foot in Montana as a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Likewise, the Civil War played an important role in Montana history and the music of the nation. The ShamRockers explained that many of the nearly 2000 popular songs to come out of the Civil War were set to old Irish tunes, including "We'll fight for Uncle Sam," a song set to the popular Irish tune "Whiskey in the Jar." The song celebrates the fighting spirit of the Union's Irish soldiers, with references to Thomas Francis Meagher, George McCLellan and other Irish leaders of the union army.

Meagher, a brigadier general who led the Irish Brigade of New York's "Fighting" 69th Infantry, went on to become Montana's Territorial Governor. Locally, McClellan is immortalized as the namesake of McClellan Gulch, site of first major gold strike in the Lincoln area.

Lewing, who also shares producing duties for the Port Polson Players with his wife Karen, said the ShamRockers have been together for nearly 17 years. In that time, they've toured Ireland twice and produced four albums, with a fifth on the way.

"I started programs like this back in 2009." He said. "This is just one of them that I put together."

He said they also have a show that focuses on Gass and another that's entirely about Meagher, a character of particular fascination to Montana's Irish descendants and in Ireland where, as a revolutionary, he was responsible for introducing the current Irish tricolor flag.

Lewing said the group's show,s like "No Irish Needed," aren't particularly static. He said somebody who sees the same show a couple weeks apart may notice there have been additions or changes, since they evolve as members of the group learn of different songs or interesting bits of history.

"It's fun to do," Lewing said. "It's fun to research all of these songs. We really get a kick out of it. Everybody contributes a little bit to it."