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Countdown to St. Paddy’s Day (Week 2): The Mary Wallopers

Luke Osciak

Pictured is the Mary Wallopers’ album cover for “A Mouthful of Mary Wallopers”. Photo courtesy of the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Bryce Russell | Contributing Writer 

Countdown to St. Paddy’s Day (Week 2): The Mary Wallopers

Welcome back to our musical countdown to St. Paddy’s Day! Last week I told you about Indie Rock Irish superstars The Cranberries, but this week we are going to take a different direction and look at a new group out of Dundalk, Ireland: The Mary Wallopers!

Only just formed in 2019 by brothers Andrew and Charles Hendy along with Sean McKenna, the Mary Wallopers are quickly growing in popularity with their raucous and anti-authority take on traditional Irish folk music. Their first EP, A Mouthful of the Mary Wallopers, came out in 2019, and not long after the trio was turned into a full-fledged band, with the addition of Róisín Barrett, Brendan McInerney, Finnian O’Connor, and Seamus Hyland (who was just replaced last year by Ken Mooney). With all these new band members, the group expanded from simply guitar and banjo to having bass, accordion, tin whistle, drums, and the Uilleann pipes on their full debut album, 2022’s The Mary Wallopers.

The Mary Wallopers, inspired by classic Irish trad groups like the Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers combined with Celtic Punks like the Pogues and Jinx Lennon, are currently blowing up in popularity, both in Ireland and around the world. Their covers of classic folk songs are rambunctious, with the brothers’ unique voices singing songs ranging from topics like the history of Irish oppression by the British, to just having a fun night at the pub surrounded by friends.

They just released their second studio album, Irish Rock N Roll¸ in October of last year, and it has even more fun dancing and rocking Irish music. The band’s energy and liveliness is infectious when you listen, you can’t but tap your foot to the beat or sing along if you know the words.

If you are interested in the band at all, I highly recommend watching the video “Exploring Irish folk music w/ The Mary Wallopers // GemsOnVHSTM.” It’s a fun video of the original trio playing beautiful folk music around different areas in their hometown of Dundalk, along with some interesting bits of history. It will be linked at the bottom of this article for all those that wish to watch.

I hope this article has sparked some interest, and you give the Mary Wallopers a listen and maybe add them to your playlist for this St. Paddy’s Day. And, if you really like them after you listen, you may be happy to know they’ll be in Columbus this April 25th on their American tour. Here are my song recommendations:

  • “Cod Liver Oil & The Orange Juice”
  • “Smuggling The Tin” (only available on YouTube)
  • “All For Me Grog”
  • “Eileen Og”
  • “Bould O’Donoghue”
  • “Love Will Never Conquer Me”

Videos:

Come back next week to hear about the haunting contemporary group out of Dublin: Lankum! For more music reviews check out our arts and entertainment page!

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