Jackson’s newest Celtic band, Mind the Dresser, plays the traditional music of Ireland with a smattering of tunes from Scotland and Brittany. Dance tunes are played with drive and verve while waltzes and airs tenderly tug at the heart strings.
The band’s name pays homage to a time before the rise of public dance halls in the 1930s when neighbors would gather in a cottage for an evening of dancing and revelry into the wee hours. The furniture was pushed aside to make room for the dancers. The musicians would often stand on the kitchen table, which remained in the center of the one-room cottage. As space was at a premium, the dancers would need to “mind the dresser” as they whirled “round the house.” We owe our name to the late Charlie Lennon who composed the reel “Round the House and Mind the Dresser,” which we play.
The band features the quintessential melodies of fiddle, flute, whistle and accordion accompanied by piano, a combination of instruments that creates the classic ceili band sound first heard in the 1920s. The Celtic harp was first popularized by Derek Bell of the Chieftains but has become quite common in pub sessions all across Ireland.
Steve Whitlow (flute/whistles) and Karen Whitlow (accordion/piano) were founding members of Last Night’s Fun and Spirits of the House. They began playing at Fenian’s Irish Pub in 1996 and were soon performing at festivals and pubs all over the South. Melissa Thorson (fiddle) has played traditional music for nearly two decades. As a member of The Orchard Band, she was a regular fixture at Fenian’s Irish Pub for several years. She is also a performing member of Jackson Irish Dancers.
Yet the band might never have come to be if not for the efforts of Sarah Anne Waters (Celtic harp). While teaching music at Belhaven University, Sarah has long held a keen interest in Irish traditional music and was instrumental in reviving a monthly local session, where we all met in the spring of 2024.
That session was kismet, perhaps. A new band to continue the improbable tradition of a Jackson-based Celtic band. Hup!