Saint Patrick’s BandJammin’ – Hendrick Smithfield

Oh Mary won’t you play me a tune? To keep me dancing by the moon” as the song about Máire Úna Ní Bheaglaoich goes, and she did! It was a fantastic start to the bank holiday weekend.

Silence falls when a little old lady from Kerry quietly sits down and takes out a squeezebox. The simple acoustics of the hotel reception surprised. Wonderful tunes old and new. She said the fingertips get sore so she swapped to an equally alluring device and continued to enthral.

I’m sure the tourists wondered how much they had to pay for this. Tony Floyd Kenna and Downtown Detroit Jon, doing what they do, gathering friends, having a drink and doing five hours!!! Some nice covers in there too, Bowie continued the moon theme!

The Hendrick Smithfield is a surprisingly good spot for a gathering, acoustics for an acoustic set, a new hotel with a lovely ambience, lovely staff making time for customers and the visiting audience. The Scottish Rugby fans, landed in and could not believe their luck and delayed their assault on inner city Dublin to play a few chords.

The Hendrick front of house staff created a warm, friendly, Irish atmosphere, even though they hailed from India, Croatia and Portugal, I think ! … they all fit so perfectly in Ireland !

And making visitors feel at home is is something Tony and Jon do so well, let them get a verse or two in. As the old saying goes… “If you stand by the window we’ll help you out!”.

Tony and Jon have a sizeable back catalogue of original tunes, it is hard to tell where the boundary between tasteful cover and self-penned magic begins.
Ruth Egn artist and musician, delivers as an understated Irish Joni Mitchell, a wonderful vocal range and a guitarist of some merit.

Two yanks from Colorado, enjoying a light rosé, 42 years married, just sat there and soaked in a unique angle on Irish music, what we listen to, what gets us out of the house. The Deignans will be back to check out their Irish rebel county roots, we may just have helped their return.

But, my only small disappointment … Tony didn’t sing Hey Mary ! that feckin tune, its lyrics are stuck in my head. In an official press release, the Tony Floyd Kenna Music organisation stated “…only Robin James Hurt can sing Hey Mary the way it should be sung … Tony Floyd happy to humbly be the co-writer”.

Mary did play me a tune, and I left dancing by the moon.

Tony and Jon have a habit of finding these amazing venues and gathering a lovely set of musicians around them for a truly eclectic mix of songs, music and banter. Seek them out!