BRICK – Saint Patrick’s Day may have passed but the spirit of Ireland and celebrating its heritage in song is never over. Singer Charlie Zahm knows that and he is bringing the songs of Ireland to the meeting room of the township library at 2 p.m. on March 21.
Zahm told Micromedia Publications/Jersey Shore Online.com that he was drawn to Celtic music through his mother. “I was visiting my mom and dad a couple of weeks ago in Florida. Everybody in my mother’s family plays an instrument and she used to walk around the house singing songs while she cleaned the house like ‘The Black Velvet Band’ and ‘When Irish Eyes are Smiling’ long before I ever learned to play an instrument. I learned those songs from her first.”
He was born in 1965 in Michigan, and currently resides in Pennsylvania. He is a big John Denver devotee and primarily performs Scottish, Irish, and early American traditional music. Zahm has also branched out into other genres, recording a CD of hymns in 2009 and a country album in 2013.
The singer recently performed at the Upper Shores branch of the Ocean County Library based in Lavallette where he shared his Celtic melodies prior to Saint Patrick’s Day.
He plays guitar, five-string banjo, mandolin, flute and pennywhistle and has also recorded several albums composed entirely of self-written songs, mostly in a traditional Celtic style. Many of Zahm’s studio albums and concerts feature former Del McCoury Band fiddler Tad Marks.
Zahm learned to play the banjo, his first instrument, at the age of 14. After attending college, he toured in Europe and Japan with Up with People. He has continued to play shows across the world from large concert halls to the bonnie hills of Scotland.
In 2014 the singer traveled to Qatar to play on Memorial Day for the members of the U.S. Military at the Al Udeid Air Base. He was also in the movie “Gettysburg – Three Days of Destiny.”
One of his fans who came out to his performance at the Upper Shores Branch and who plans to see him again at the Brick Library this weekend, is Whiting resident Joyce Terrana.
“I actually met Charlie at the New Jersey Renaissance Faire in July 2023. I went to Ireland with him on a coach bus trip in April 2024. He’s been going on trips to Ireland and Scotland with groups since 2015,” she said.
Terrana said, “all his shows are amazing. He’s one of a kind. Not sure if words can really describe his sound and his personality.” Terrana attended his show with her mother and other family members.
Zahm wished an early Saint Patrick’s Day to the packed crowd and provided a little historic context on the songs he sang. Several of them have some personal significance for him.
“I will be singing songs from all over the island tonight. Many of the best songs come from Dublin,” the singer said. Two songs that he performed were separated by about 300 years. One told the story of “an older fellow who has seen Dublin go from an old Georgian city, the city of his youth, to a modern European city with all the hustle and bustle that goes along with that.”
He said the second song was about “the most famous Dubliner of all time, the most famous person born and bred in that city. The most famous Dubliner of all time was born in poverty and she died in poverty and her name was Molly Malone.”
“She died in 1699 and my own theory is that a young fellow, a song monger…fell in love with Molly Malone and when she died it broke his heart and he wrote a song of her that we have been singing ever since,” he added.
“Now when you go to Dublin you will see Molly in all her bronze statue glory to welcome you as she is the unofficial ambassador to Dublin city for folks that are finding their Irish roots or to those who don’t have any Irish in them at all,” Zahm added.
“Around this time of year, I always sing a song that my grandmother from Ontario Canada sang to me. My grandmother was about four foot five and she would sit back and sing songs like ‘Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder’ and ‘Paddy McGinty’s Goat,’” Zahm remarked.
“You may all think of this song as a Bing Crosby song but I’ll always think of it as grandma’s song.” That song was the classic ballad “Galway Bay” written by Dr. Arthur Colahan, which was famously performed by Crosby.
Zahm appreciates libraries and said he was looking forward to his program at the Brick Library where he everyone can sing along with the beautiful old songs of the Auld Sod, of Dublin City and Molly Malone, of the sea and the shamrock, and many more that make Irish music some of the best in the world. To register for his performance visit theoceancountylibrary.libnet.info/ocean-county-library/event/15394954
