Cavan's Prodigals enter Guinness World Records

A band with strong Cavan connections have been officially certified by Guinness World Records for the world’s longest annual musical residency, marking 29 consecutive years performing at Paddy Reilly’s Music Bar in New York.

For Gregory Grene, vocalist and accordion player with The Prodigals, who considers Belturbet a second home, the achievement and milestone is as much about celebrating what connects the Irish community across the Atlantic as it is about music.

Their remarkable relationship with the iconic 2nd Avenue Manhattan venue stretches back to St Patrick’s Day 1997.

Grene still vividly remembers the circumstances surrounding the band’s first booking.

“I remember walking into Paddy Reilly’s before a party,” he recalls. “I knew Steve Duggan from Cavan was there, and I thought playing up the Cavan angle might help!”

Grene approached the late enigmatic Duggan to ask about the possibility of playing a few gigs at the popular East Side bar co-founded by the former Senior Cavan footballer.

Duggan, from Ballyhaise, and was already a central figure in New York’s Irish community from before the time he opened Paddy Reilly’s in 1986 alongside famed Irish folk singer Paddy Reilly.

Grene remembers making his pitch to Duggan.

“Steve turned to a very imposing woman beside him and said, ‘So what do you think, Joanie? Should we give them the job?’”

The woman was, of course, Joanie Madden - the legendary flute and whistle player and leader of Cherish the Ladies. In lofty tone, she replied: “‘Sure, why not?’”

“It’s really a reflection of a mix between two things: the Irish community and the city that New York is.

“New York has been a city of wonders from the beginning,” says Grene, not only of the bands association with Paddy Reilly’s, but also of how the Irish there helped one another out.

“The Irish community has been so supportive. And New York is so open to the new - and, in this case, supportive of the less new, the sort of time-honoured.”

Decades later, the memory of that encounter remains remarkably clear.

“Well, Steve Duggan was memorable, and Joanie Madden, Lord knows, was memorable too. One doesn’t forget a moment like that. It was just such a funny and wonderful experience.”

The Prodigals line-up at the time included Grene on vocals and accordion, Ray Kelly on vocals and guitar, Andrew Harkin on bass, and Brian Tracey on drums.

Cavan links have continued through the years.

The current core line-up consists of Grene, Michael Lewis on vocals and guitar, and Eamon Ellams on drums. Ellams, from Liverpool, was previously a drummer with the Riverdance national tour and Broadway productions, while Sean Tierney, who plays tin whistle and flute, his father is a native of Loch Gowna.

Paddy Reilly’s became a “home” for The Prodigals, and for generations of musicians like them, a legacy the bar’s current owner, Desi Murray from Ballyshannon, has been keen to honour.

“Paddy’s was always much more than just a place to play,” Grene explains. “It was a meeting point for the Irish community and for musicians.

“For us, it became a home. There’s something very special about having a place where, year after year, you know you’re going to come back and play for people.”

For years, Grene knew the band’s extended relationship with Paddy Reilly’s was “unusual” in some respects, but it wasn’t until a friend pointed it out did he realise it was actually “record breaking”. The last longest performing residency was claimed by the band Southern Comfort, having performed at the Ernie Lister Bar on the harbourside in Devon, England, for 22 years.

It prompted Grene to do “some digging”. To prove the point he began the painstaking process of documenting the band’s history, pouring over old gig diaries and documents, even receipts and booking notes to piece together whatever evidence he could to impress the record book judges.

“Dates, the performances, lucky enough and maybe I don’t know why, but we still had a lot of that stuff stored away,” says a relieved Grene.

That evidence was submitted for formal consideration earlier this year, with the official confirmation coming last month.

For Grene, seeing the Guinness World Records certificate transformed something that had been part of the band’s everyday life for decades - playing every Friday event - into an official achievement.

“After all those years, it’s quite something to have it formally recognised,” says Grene. “To think that the band will actually be in the Guinness World Records book is quite something.”

From playing once a week on Fridays, since the pandemic ended the band now also play Saturdays too. The Prodigals are now planning to celebrate their record-breaking achievement and where better than at Paddy Reilly’s on September 18.

The date carries appropriate significance as well: It falls halfway to St Patrick’s Day.

“It seemed like the perfect excuse for another celebration!” laughs Grene, who with the band look set to welcome past members, some of whom they haven’t seen or played with for years.

“There are so many people who have been part of the story over the years, so it’s wonderful to have an opportunity to bring everyone together and celebrate it.”

The Guinness World Record is not the conclusion of the story either.

“That’s the thing about Paddy’s,” remarks Grene. “Once you’ve been doing it for this long, you don’t really think of it as something that has an ending.”