The Elders, Kansas City’s beloved Celtic rockers, retire. And then change their minds
A tricolor Irish flag hangs in front of a Kansas City garage, hinting at the music being rehearsed inside. The rapid stride of “Moore St. Girls” penetrates walls enough for those around the block to hear. Neighbors lounging on their front porches don’t seem to mind.
“Before you know it you’ll be tapping the street / Doin’ an Irish dance.”
Singer Ian Byrne, a native of Ireland and longtime Kansas City resident, delivers the lyrics while his band, The Elders, provides the music. This house and its cramped garage belong to his son, Kian Byrne, whose drumming propels the group.
After several years of “retirement,” and the loss of a band member to COVID-19 complications, the internationally renowned act is reemerging to perform concerts this week at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and Knuckleheads Saloon before heading out on the road this summer. The Elders are also unveiling “Well Alright Then,” their first album of all-original material in five years.
“Every time you hear of a band retiring, the whole conversation around it is, ‘They’ll be back. They’ll be back,’” Byrne says. “But we really had no intention of coming back. We were still going to practices on Tuesdays — our ‘band boy get-together’ — where we’d go up to the studio and bring a few bottles of wine. Often we might not play anything, just chat and talk about our kids.”
Bassist Norm Dahlor adds, “We always planned to do another album. We just weren’t planning to play it in front of people.”
However, they realized they’d captured something special on the new record and should support it with a reunion performance. But if you’re going to spend months working toward one show, might as well do several. And the several kept expanding.
Rehearsing within the garage are the two Byrnes, Dahlor, new guitarist Bill “Liam” Latas and new keyboardist Daniel Loftus. Soundman Chris Smedley mixes the music. (Nashville-based fiddle player Diana Ladio is absent at this practice.)
Most of the members sing, and they routinely switch instruments, incorporating traditional Irish ones into their lineup.
They’re surrounded by columns of amps, road cases and sound gear. A Pearl drumhead printed with the name “The Elders” shares space with an Abbey Road sign, a Grateful Dead poster and a license plate that reads “Sublime.” A 1950s Western of dubious quality plays silently on the TV.
“It’s the most gear that you can fit into one garage,” the drummer quips before counting off the next tune.
This array of paraphernalia is evocative of the group’s music itself: a collage of folk, rock and Celtic that is both very Emerald Isle and Kansas City.
Byrne says, “We play an alternative sort of traditional folk rock with an Irish flair.”
“We ride in a pop kind of format. It’s verse/chorus … then the mountain,” Dahlor says, raising his hands to emphasize an emotional swell.
How they became The Elders
While bands such as Sonic Youth, The Get Up Kids and Young Dubliners are forever saddled with a name that gets more ironic as time marches on, these Elders lean into their moniker.
“At first the name was funny. I almost didn’t join the band because of that name. But now …,” Byrne trails off.
The Elders’ roots go back to 1998 and involve a complex web of musicians who came in and out of the story. Among them was Dahlor, who recalls contemplating an Irish side project potentially called The Darlin’s – a riff on the fictional bluegrass outfit from “The Andy Griffith Show.”
The name went in a different direction instead. That happened when Dahlor – who was fresh off three years touring with KC arena act Shooting Star – moved to Los Angeles to form Toledo Waltz with Latas, drummer Shawn Poores and violinist Charles Waltz.
“Bill is part of the story … and he probably doesn’t know it,” Dahlor remembers.
“Because Bill and Shawn are younger than Charles and I, it got back to me that Bill had said something along the lines of, ‘The elders in the band don’t want to do X.’ I guess we had vetoed another thing which the young guys wanted to do. That always stuck with me — because it kind of hurt my feelings. But that’s how the name The Elders came to be.”
His original plan was to play Pogues and Saw Doctors covers. Maybe find a Wednesday night house gig at a local brewery. Things escalated quickly.
Guitarist Steve Phillips (formerly of The Rainmakers) and violinist/keyboardist Brent Hoad (The Secrets) became key members, with Byrne joining in 2001. This ensemble would go on to release nine studio albums. Their 2005 “Live at the Gem” concert was broadcast on more than 100 PBS stations. The band’s live finale, which was recorded at the 2019 Plaza Lighting Ceremony and released as a DVD, won a Mid-America Emmy.
Their story ostensibly came to an end in 2020. The beloved Phillips died of pulmonary fibrosis, exacerbated after getting COVID-19. Yet his work endures on “Well Alright Then.”
“Some of those vocal parts, mandolin parts and guitar parts, I guarantee Steve was playing up to his last breath,” Byrne reveals.
“Having his parts on there is so special,” Dahlor says. “Sometimes when we hear his voice, we start crying. Every now and then. Bang. It can really get to you.”
The title of the album spawned from Phillips as well.
Byrne explains, “Steve used to like that phrase, and it’s an old phrase from Ireland: ‘Well alright then.’ And with COVID and all this (expletive) we’ve gone through since 2019, and then Steve passing, it became one sad story after sad story. But you just keep going on. ‘Well alright then.’”
The new album and tour
The record boasts 15 original songs, ranging from the pub shuffle “Old Man Dan” to the dreamy acoustic ballad “Red Sun” to the poignant folk anthem “Better Man.”
“It’s kind of a sentimental album. Not teary. Just stories of closeness,” Dahlor says.
Is Irish music in general sentimental?
“Yes,” he replies. “It’s dramatic as hell. But it can be happy dramatic.”
“The Elders are distinctive in that they blend the Midwest vibe of KC with Ian’s roots of Ireland,” says Ashley Davis, a celebrated Celtic musician based in Lawrence.
“When I listen to their music, I hear the West Bottoms and Ian’s nights out in Dublin co-mingling as if on a dance floor as natural partners.”
The six-piece act has toured in Ireland 15 or 16 times, Byrne estimates. Apparently, those across the pond don’t protest having an American band performing sounds inspired by the “old country.”
“The (audiences) love it,” Byrne says. “The lads were actually concerned about that at first. But what we’re playing, even in Ireland, it’s completely different. It’s not, ‘Deedley Diddley Do.’ It’s not, ‘Oh Johnny, me mother is dead.’ None of that.”
The group has traversed Europe, Canada and the U.S., averaging around 120 shows a year for more than 20 years.
Byrne says live performances are the key to this collective.
“We always do well on stage. We practice hard. We try to get our vocals right. We’re really conscientious about our sound, our equipment and our team,” he says.
Even so, he admits they’re still shaking off a bit of rust from being out of the spotlight.
“There are going to be a few blunders. But hopefully we have a nice understanding audience. We’ve got a 22-song repertoire that we’re all trying to learn, and it means relearning the old songs,” Byrne says, mentioning an Irish tour might be a possibility next year.
“We’re just truly excited to be doing this again. Blessed to be able to play again.”
Well alright then …
Jon Niccum is a filmmaker, freelance writer and author of “The Worst Gig: From Psycho Fans to Stage Riots, Famous Musicians Tell All.”
The Elders’ Kansas City concerts
The Elders are about to kick off their national Well Alright Tour, including stops in Colorado, New York, Ohio and Michigan — and several Kansas City area locations. For more info and tickets, see eldersmusic.com.
▪ 7 p.m. April 28, Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
▪ 7 p.m. April 29, Knuckleheads (sold out).
▪ 8 p.m. June 9, Town Center Plaza in Leawood.
▪ Sept. 4, Kansas City Irish Fest, Crown Center.
▪ Sept. 28, Crossroads Hotel, 2101 Central St.
▪ Oct. 21, Kansas City Irish Center, 3301 Baltimore