This little yarn is what I recall from the sixties around the Irish Loop, and those who remain are all 70 plus now. What made it fun was it only happened once a year. The community was tight knit and ties were strong. The people were bent on a good time kickin up their heels. Lots of homemade food and drinks. The local band who were called the Southern Twisters had three brothers and two friends in it. The late Johnny Sutton was the lead singer and guitar player. Sadly we lost Johnny at the age of 44 due to a heart attack. Phonse Sutton, guitar player and singer, Dave Power, guitar player, Dick Hewitt button accordion player and Herb Sutton on drums and sometimes the late Bernard Pennell filled in on drums as well. Johnny Sutton told me that they would start playing in the afternoon and go until 2 or 3 in the morning and they each got paid 5 bucks each.

Johnny could really work a crowd. Shook hands with most people who came to see him play and had a really good Stage presence. I will just mention Dick Hewitt was a top notch accordion player and he released an album a few year ago. He played a lot of the same songs Harry Hibbs played and sounded a lot like Harry. Dick would remain on stage after he played a set and use a guitar as a prop. They all had to have equal time playing to receive that big five dollar pay. Popular dances back then were The Lancers, Paul Jones and the Raspberry, also step dancing as Uncle Ben and Johnny Deacon liked to do. The band’s instruments belonged to the parish and I suppose the band had to pay a small donation from the big five dollar bill. Judging from the amount of hours they played, it averaged out to less than a dollar an hour. They were doing it for the love of music. The whole town had their backs for that one day a year.