St Patrick's Day: Breathing, Oh! Love! It is a Killing Thing, The Mooch

We are sharing St Patrick's Day stories like St Patrick probably never drank green beer. No really. A deeper look at my Selcouth song "Breathing". A love story from na Skylark. St Paddy's Day Kisses and ear bites from Stout Pounders.

Welcome to the Pub Songs Podcast, the Virtual Public House for Celtic Geek culture. I am your Guide. My name is Marc Gunn. Today's show is brought to you by my Gunn Runners on Patreon. Subscribe to the podcast and download free music when you sign up at PubSong.com.

WHO'S PLAYING IN THE PUB TODAY

0:33 - - SONG: "St Patrick Never Drank" from Kilted For Her Pleasure

2:31  - WELCOME

-- Post a review in Apple Podcasts. If you enjoy this show, please subscribe or post a review on Apple Podcasts. I'd love your feedback.

-- Send an email to address in the show. I'll send you a gift of 3 MP3s from the St Patrick's Day album. Now on sale.

-- The Celtfather Story…

After reading a whole bunch of marketing material and books, I realize what I love about marketing. Great marketing is about telling a story that resonates.

I LOVE stories. It's something I'm trying to get better at. It's why I'm trying to rebrand the Pub Songs Podcast as Pub Songs & Stories. Because, sure, I love to sing for you. But I would also like to share stories.

So today, I'm gonna share a couple stories… and music from bands on the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. But it's really about the story.

Because every song I write, every email or blog I try to sculpt is about telling a good story. I didn't want Pirates vs. Dragons to just be songs. I wanted a story to go with it. Thanks to Rie Sheridan Rose, the songwriter and author of that story, we did just that.

My Firefly songs aren't just about characters in the TV show, they're the stories that were created by my experience within the show and outside of it.

Like "Breathing". I could've just written a song using words about trying to breathe. Or I could make it personal.

"Breathing" was inspired by the episode "Out of Gas". The ship, Serenity, breaks down in space, far from civilization. A compression coil blows, knocking out life support and injuring Zoe.

As Simon fights to save Zoe's life in the medical bay, Kaylee stands outside worried for both Zoe and the ship. It's not running. It's no longer creating air. She's in shock.

Mal gets her attention and asks, "you wanna keep breathin' doncha?"

That's the line that started my song. But it really plays a small role outside of creating a great call and response.

I decided to look back into a period of my life when I was having trouble with my relationships. I felt like I was screwing up all the time. Every time, I screwed up I spiraled further down. I questioned myself constantly. I was depressed.

What helped me through it was meditation and breathing.

My Apple Watch has a breathing app. I used it all the time. I started taking 20 minute meditation breaks to just calm myself and relax. It helped.

Slowly, I pulled myself back up. I found my happy place again.

So when I wrote "Breathing", I tied the experiences of the crew in that episode with my own life to create a fictional story of how to overcome stress, and how to give a spark of life a troubled relationship. I wrote a story on how to find your happy place again. It just takes a little breathing.

6:22 - SONG: "Breathing" from Selcouth (With special guest Kenzie Gunn)

10:42 - TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS. Every year, I take a small group of Celtic music fans on the relaxing adventure of a lifetime. We don't see everything. Instead, we stay in one area. We get to know the region through its culture, history, and legends. You can join us with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts and videos. We're going to Scotland in 2022. Join the invasion at http://celticinvasion.com/

12:04 - NA SKYLARK WITH A LOVE STORY

na Skylark, which loosely means "the Skylark" in Irish, is a Central-Kentucky-based trio that shares the rich beauty of ancient traditional Celtic music through voice, Irish harp, Irish uilleann pipes, Irish whistles, flutes, Irish bodhran, and a little Appalachian mountain dulcimer for good measure.

Wherever this little trio goes, na Skylark charms and moves audiences in a big way. The group's "Old Ceol" recording was named one of the best new recordings of 2017 by the Celtic Connections radio show, and na Skylark's music can also be heard on various Celtic and folk music podcasts, as well as in live venues and festivals around the Eastern half of the U.S.

You can find out more about the band at naskylark.com

13:26 - SONG: "Oh Love! It is a Killing Thing" by na Skylark from single

16:41 - STOUT POUNDERS TALKS KISS AND EAR BITES

Stout Pounders is a long-time contributor to the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast with music going back to 2010.

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