KTSW Loves: Wake The Dead Irish Jam Session

By Lucas Kraft

Promotions and Community Relations Member

On the first and third Wednesdays of every month, Wake the Dead Coffee House hosts a quiet circle of musicians in a back room behind the bar. For nearly 15 years, masters and amateurs alike of the accordion, violin, flute and harmonica have gathered in San Marcos to play Irish tunes. I spoke with Virginia Davis, a member of the Irish band O’Malarkey, who has also performed with Texas State’s symphony orchestra. She is one of the lead organizers of the San Marcos Irish jam session and knows much about the history of the genre in Central Texas.

“It’s like every city in this country, everywhere in Europe, Australia, Japan, it’s just a thing,” Davis said. “Irish sessions are a very big thing, and the particular tunes, you could go anywhere in the world and people know the same.”

Irish sessions typically have a leader who sets the tone, with musicians hopping in and out of sets as the tune calls for it. There is a strong improvisational element to it all; players need an exceptional memory for the music. Some sessions limit the number of instruments allowed, while others are more freeform. All Irish sessions operate a little differently, as Davis explained.

“The more advanced sessions don’t do what we’re doing,” she said. “When you’re sitting there looking things up — number one, they learn it by ear instead of by music. I went to one in Seattle once. There were only five people playing, and it was obvious they had played with each other for years and years and years. But they just cracker-jacked, just like that. And the Dallas group does that, too. They play everything real fast; they don’t name it at all. At the Lockhart session, there’s about four or five older gentlemen flute players, and I swear they know a thousand tunes each.”

Within traditional Irish music, some tunes feature singing, while reels are mostly instrumental. Jigs are often accompanied by dancing, contrasted with airs, which are slower and more methodical melodies played outside a steady rhythm. Niel Gow’s “Lament for the Death of His Second Wife” is a popular one among Irish session players. Laments express mourning through rhythmic instrumentals that almost replicate speech in the cadence between fiddle and bodhran drum. There is a kind of etiquette to it all, as Davis explained, with “unwritten rules that are traced back to the pub culture of 1940s England.”

Those who take Irish sessions seriously are expected to know and follow these customs. Depending on the size of the group, sessions can attract both professional and amateur musicians. Singalongs are a common staple of many sessions, though the San Marcos gathering doesn’t currently practice them. Davis expressed it’s something she’d like to explore in the future.

“A fiddler or some melody player will usually start the tune and people just jump in,” Davis said. “Like if it’s a big group, like San Antonio, if you’re in the inner group, the people in the inner group are people that pretty much know all the tunes that are going to be played. If you’re not familiar with very many, you’re not supposed to sit in there. You’re supposed to be kind of on the outer part. And every tune is traditionally done three times.”

Regional styles can differ heavily. Sitting in on the most recent session was an older couple from Oregon, who had attended sessions in Cape Breton, where the playing style is very percussive. There are many overlaps with other genres like zydeco, mariachi, folk and especially bluegrass, where tales and myths shape the tunes. Bluegrass traces some of its earliest roots to Irish music; the banjo isn’t so different from the mandola. So, if you enjoy attending Tantra’s Bluegrass Nights, you might enjoy a reel at Wake the Dead.