Irish music seems to take on many forms, everything from the psuedo-Irish tunes that really have their roots in Tin Pan Alley to the New Age Celtica of Enya to the traditional folk music also known among aficionados as "trad." For some, the definition would also have to include the "Punk Céilidh" of the Pogues. Still others would include bagpipe music, even though there's always been some dispute over the role of the warpipes in Irish music and culture.

Much Irish music in the Delaware Valley is instrumental, particularly within the traditional style. However, some musicians specialize in song, particularly sean nos, or "old style." (One particularly good local practitioner is Terry Kane, also known professionally as Treasa Ní Chatháin.)

Purists might argue that only traditional Irish music "counts," but millions of Irish Americans aren't even familiar with "trad." A good many of those for whom "Danny Boy" is the ultimate expression of Irishness simply don't like traditional Irish music when they hear it. (The converse is also true: Died-in-the wool devotees of traditional Irish music often turn up their respective noses at "Danny Boy.")

Within the Greater Delaware Valley, virtually all of those varieties of Irish music flourish. In many of the pubs, such as Brittingham's in Lafayette Hill, you can nurse your pint and sing along to "The Wild Rover" or "The Unicorn." You can tote your two-row button accordion along to the Commodore Barry Club in Mount Airy on a Friday night or to the Plough and Stars in Old City on Sunday afternoons to play in a traditional Irish session with other local musicians. You can join a band of pipers like Irish Thunder, Brian Boru or the Philadelphia Emerald Society. The Philadelphia Ceili Group holds forth at the above mentioned Barry Club (aka: The Irish Center) with concerts and workshops of traditional Irish music, while an hour west of the city in Chester County, the Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series takes place at the Coatesville Cultural Society. At a weekend beef and beer or in a club in Wildwood, N.J., you can listen to "shamrock and roll" by local bands such as Paddy's Well, Blackthorn or the Bogside Rogues.