Montana Shams rock Ireland

IRELAND – The Montana ShamRockers, Polson’s popular Celtic singing group, recently reached a milestone in their decade-long career. Three years in the making, the lads are just returned from their first trip to Ireland as Montana’s unofficial goodwill ambassadors.

The nine-day excursion included traveling the southern end of the island, taking in the history and culture, and of course, singing.

“We wanted to interact with the locals as much as possible,” said Port Polson Players Managing Director Neal Lewing. “We performed in a dozen different venues, sharing the joy of music with hundreds of folks.”

Mike Lozar, of International Brewery Design, was initially skeptical of performing on the auld sod. “I wondered if the locals would be put off by a bunch of Yanks trying to sing their music.” But the lads found their reception quite the opposite. “People laughed and clapped, sang along. We got a standing ovation, and a couple of places asked us back.”

Indeed, the last hours of their last day in Ireland was spent trying to figure out how to do just that. “We initiated some new projects to complete here at home and we made a lot of people smile. It was a magical dream come true.”

Rick Skates of First Citizens Bank, whom the lads call The Captain, controls the purse strings. “We saved money from 10 years of gigs and album sales and just kept putting it into the pot – our pot of gold, you could say.” Rob Sloan, also of First Citizens, added, “That fund is for travel expenses; we bought two sound systems and two albums, and the rest helped get us to Ireland. All five guys, all five wives.”

The group was formed in 2003 when the Port Polson Players assembled a show to mark the passing of Polson businessman John Dowdall, a full-blood Irishman, Polson community activist and Players co-founder. Dowdall was famous for breaking into Irish song at the drop of a hat, so that show included a ton of music. All the fellows knew John and had worked with him in some capacity. And the fun has never stopped.

“We wanted to distance ourselves from our real personas,” explained John Glueckert, current administrator of the State Hospital at Warm Springs, “so we perform under stage names.” Glueckert, Skates, Lozar, Sloan and Lewing are Liam, Mick, Paddy, Robbie and Nialls, whom Glueckert collectively labels “a great bunch of knuckleheads.”

To celebrate their first ten years, the lads kicked off the One Decade Down Tour at the 2013 Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle. The year-long tour encompassed Montana from Dillon to Wolf Point, performing at fundraisers, festivals, seminars and many of their popular Celtic Christmas Concerts; a highlight was their veterans’ tribute show in Big Timber in April. The tour culminated with the Ireland trip.

In Waterford, the lads met with Montana’s Honorary Secretary of State, Anne Cusack, owner of the Granville Hotel where Thomas Francis Meagher was born. The lads presented a Montana flag to the Granville, with a proclamation signed by the governor stating it had flown over the T.F. Meagher statue at the Montana state capitol.

Waterford’s favorite son, Meagher was Montana’s first territorial governor. The ShamRockers share the Irish-Montana connection through extensive research for two songs they wrote and performed at the dedication of the Meagher bust in Ft. Benton, where he disappeared mysteriously in 1867.

So how do the Shams, who describe themselves as “ordinary guys who just love to share the spirit of Montana and Celtic music,” juggle busy personal schedules with life on the road? It’s just plain fun, they all concede.

“At some point,” said Lewing, “I think you have to ask yourself, ‘What am I doing with my life? Am I making someone happy or just making noise?’”

Polson’s Montana ShamRockers are making a joyful noise indeed.