I couldn't tell that their accents were off. So, the Uilleann pipes and traditional Irish folk songs on display at Brown and Brew last month had me once again convinced that Hickory Stew music was as authentically Irish as a four-leaf clover. Then I met the band.
Addie Holland, the jubilant fiddler, calls herself "mostly Irish" and boasts the majority of the Irish genes for the group. The guitarist, Mike Dupuy, is entirely French, and Patrick Murray, the man behind the eclectic pipes - that odd-looking instrument that gives the music its Irish flavor - is Scottish.
"If we tried to perform at an Irish pub, we'd be run out of the place," Holland said.
None of it matters.
Hickory Stew, in its fourth year of existence, is one of Tufts' most unique musical ensembles. Absent are the Top Forty pop or Classic Rock sing-alongs one gets accustomed to hearing from campus bands. With Hickory Stew, the focus is on musicianship, and the result is a skill-level generally found among NEC-Tufts jazz players. Only Hickory Stew adds a most intriguing cultural twist.
Now there are three, but when Murray first conceived of the group it included Mark Slezak, (LA, '00) a mandolin player who now lives in Africa. (In case you're wondering, he's not Irish in the least). The band started during Murray and Holland's freshman year. The two were hallmates, and then-sophomore Slezak had been Holland's wilderness leader at freshman orientation. Then came Dupuy, also a freshman at the time, and the Stew's ingredients were in place.
Their first gig was an off-campus party.
"That was a really good show. We all looked at each other and said 'Damn, we got to play more,'" Murray said. "We've never played for people at Tufts and gotten a bad response."
Back at Brown and Brew, the remaining members crowd the small stage. It's not an easy venue for musicians; conversations are held well above a whisper and the din of clanking coffee cups often drowns out Murray when he takes to the penny whistle, a type of recorder. But on Sept. 27, Hickory Stew's first show of the year, plenty of fans managed to ignore the distractions. Some said they actually came to see the band.
"At Brown and Brew you have to fight for people's attention," Murray said. "There's always going to be people talking and making noise. But it's still fun, no matter what."
"It was great. It sounded pretty well and we got a lot of good compliments," Dupuy said. "We like to play and the fact that people like to listen is almost arbitrary."
Dupuy's casual talk is in tune with the band's prevailing attitude. In over three years, they've done only about 15 shows and jam more than they rehearse. The band's mix of traditional Irish and American folk songs sounds alternately perfected and improvisational. Solos are long and sometimes meandering, but mostly hold the beat and baseline. Chemistry from years of playing together is evident.
"We rely a lot on group dynamic and energy and not on technical skills," Murray said.
Band members say they miss Slezak, who introduced most of the American music and whose rhythmic playing sometimes defined Hickory Stew's sound. But, they're no strangers to change. Last year, Murray left Tufts for San Francisco where he played "semi-professionally" at local pubs and worked in a Uilleann (Gaelic for elbow) pipe shop by day.
Murray first picked up the obscure instrument at 18, so San Francisco was a time to hone his rapidly developing, albeit self-taught, pipe playing. A year later, Murray returned to Medford a much-improved musician, with an increased repertoire of Irish folk songs and a Uilleann pipe he made by hand.
"Coming back now, I'm good enough, and the pipes are a rare enough instrument so they kinda demand respect," Murray said.
And not just on campus. Murray performs Fridays at The Burren, a traditional Irish pub in Davis Square. Although the clientele may be a mixed bag of ethnicities, the owners and regulars are as Irish as they come. And, according to Murray, they're big fans of his work.
Dupuy, who studied jazz, and Holland, originally a clarinet player, are more casual about the band's focus. Last year, Slezak pushed for more local folk music, and they went along, producing a CD from a live recording at Oxfam Cafe at the end of last semester. Now, under Murray's influence, each is searching for his/her Irish side.
Next up for Hickory Stew is a show at the Crafts House this Friday. It's a familiar destination for the trio; Dupuy and Murray lived there in their sophomore year (they now share an off-campus residence), and in Murray's absence, the other three members played often for enthusiastic fans.
"Everyone there really supports us," Dupuy said, crediting the abundant Rolling Rock for some of the crowd's energy. "The Rolling Rock does come into play. The Crafts House is our main practice place, our home turf."
"The most fun we've had is always at the Crafts House. People go to see the band," Murray said.
Possible performances at the Mountain LOJ have not been ruled out by Dupuy, the group's manager by default. He took charge of the band with Murray in absentia and recently arranged for the Brown and Brew show. At the LOJ, Dupuy said, Hickory Stew provides a musical accompaniment for traditional Irish Contra dancing. It sounds a tad too hip to be true, but evidence in grainy, photo form is on the home-made album cover.
"We definitely like doing that and if they asked us, we'd do it again," said Murray, who said his schedule is packed. However, he is always open for opportunities to perform.
Looking further into the group's future, members say they are considering extending Hickory Stew's lifespan by a year. Murray - as a result of his West Coast foray - has another year of school, and Dupuy might work in the Boston area.
Dupuy expressed humble excitement when talking about the CD and Crafts House show. "I'm not intending to become a rock star with this," he said. But on the brink of concert number two, he won't rule anything out. "I'm really happy with the way things are going."
