Music

The Lads Go Live

Barbara Arnold |

Eau Claire’s own traditional Irish music entertainment franchise,The Shillelagh Lads, has released its first CD, “Live!” Recorded live at Houligans Steak and Seafood Pub in Eau Claire, where the Lads are its official house band, the CD instantly transports you to an Irish pub filled with clinking glasses, conversational repartee, and that hand-clapping, toe-tapping, foot-stomping and jig-dancing music. In one of the first tracks, one of the group’s members in a brogue so thick you’d swear he just arrived off the boat from the Emerald Isle, challenges the audience with a toast “Vow to Have Fun.” And fun there is with 20 tracks, including “Haste to the Wedding,” “The Wild Rover,” and “The Parting Glass.” Voted “Best Folk Performers of 2011 and 2012” in Volume One’s reader poll, the CD is available for $10 at The Local Store. Catch the Lads’ live performances too. Schedule available at TheShillelaghLads.com.