Tommy McCarthy, 59, is the affable fiddle player behind The Burren, a Davis Square institution celebrating its 30th year in business. He runs it with his wife, Irish musician Louise Costello. McCarthy has seen it all: a fringe Davis Square; a Davis Square in development, including plans for a 25-story residential tower above the bar; a Davis Square with music spilling onto the streets and Bono at the bar.
He also runs McCarthy’s & Toad in Porter Square, and The Bebop on Boylston Street. We talked about his Irish origins; Boston nightlife (he thinks it’s great); his dream Davis Square restaurant; and the Cambridge music venue he misses the most.
Who are you, and what do you do?
Louise and I are both from Ireland, and we’re both traditional Irish musicians. Both of our fathers play traditional music, so it was played in the house as kids. All my family played. My three sisters were a little bit older than me, and then I came along. There was already a band in place by the time I came to know what was going on. There were photographs around the house of my father and my three sisters playing at various festivals and pubs.
When I was 18, I went to America, ended up going to Boston, and meeting Louise there. There was only really one traditional Irish music session in Boston, in the Village Coach House in Brookline. We started playing music together, and gradually more musicians started moving to Boston.
Back in the mid ’80s, when we went to America, Somerville wasn’t really a place we socialized in. Everything was kind of over in the Allston-Brighton area. That’s where all the Irish were at the time.
Apart from Johnny D’s, I don’t think I’d ever really been in Somerville before. I remember the night that we played at the Somerville Theatre; I think it was ’93 or ’94. We wandered down Elm Street to go for a beer. I just remember the street was very dark, and I was thinking to myself: How come there isn’t more action around here?
The Druid had just opened in Cambridge, so we were asked to play there. The Field in Central Square had opened, and we had started a session in the Brendan Behan Pub in Jamaica Plain. Within a week, we were playing three or four nights a week. There was a good gang following us. We were kind of filling the pubs. After about six months, we’re like: We’re gonna have to make a decision. Are we going to go back to Ireland or stay here?
And Louise says, “Well, if we’re going to stay in Boston, we should open a pub.” And then I thought, “Well, why don’t we go back over to Davis Square?” We got the train over and walked up and down Elm Street, and at the time there were a number of empty storefronts. The Burren was obviously empty. Because of the wide pedestrian in front, I said: This is the spot.
How hard was it to buy the space?
I was told I needed to get a lawyer, and at the time I couldn’t even remember my telephone number, never mind getting a lawyer. The city was very welcoming to us. Dorothy Kelly Gay was just becoming mayor of Somerville. She was a great help to us, and she introduced us to the right people to move things along and get a license, and then we started construction and opened the doors in January 1996.
What drew you to America in the first place?
Probably watching “The Bionic Man,” or watching American TV in England. My father went to America when I was 5 on a cultural, traditional Irish music tour. He brought me toys — an ambulance, a police car, and a fire engine — and it was way bigger than anyone’s toys on the street. And I remember my father was saying everything’s bigger in America. I wanted to see it.
A friend of mine called me up one day, and we were playing music together around London at the time. He said, “Do you want to go to America? Virgin Airways is offering a free return flight if you play on the airplane.”
We had to go for an audition, which we passed easily enough. I moved to Boston in November ’86, and that’s when I met Louise. I was only there a week.
Why Boston?
I suppose because of the Irish connection. It’s so close to Ireland, they call it County Boston. I was only in Boston for about a week, and a friend of mine asked me to play at a party on Sunday. I hadn’t been asking; I said sure — it was on Cape Cod, and I didn’t know where Cape Cod was. We arrived at this big house on a beach [in Hyannisport]. There was a big party going on, and there was a mural on the wall of John F. Kennedy and the pope.
I said: “That painting’s in every house in Ireland!” And it turned out it was a party for the Kennedys. I ended up staying there for a few days, hanging out with the Kennedys. I remember getting back to Boston and calling my mom and dad: I’d just spent three days hanging out with the Kennedys!
What were the Kennedys like?
They wanted to be as Irish as everyone else and welcoming. They were lovely. There were cousins and cousins. Everyone was a cousin. When we went to open The Burren, they were very good to us. They wrote us a nice letter.
What’s the latest with the construction in the neighborhood?
All I know really is that there’ve been a couple of neighborhood meetings, and it hasn’t really gone much further than that. There’s no plans.
There’s a group called the Davis Square Village, and they formed around two years ago now.
Last I heard, the mayor was saying that we need to plan the Square before we talk to developers. I get the feeling that Davis Square will not be demolished for a skyscraper. I think they’re going to change the zoning back to residential, but it will be at a reasonable height.
How has the neighborhood changed since you opened The Burren?
It’s like anyplace else. It’s gotten more expensive to rent or to buy property there. But, I mean, it’s still very bohemian, really, with the coffee shops and arts and crafts. It has that theme. I think everyone’s fighting to keep that; they don’t want it to turn into Assembly Row or Kendall Square.
What type of restaurant would you love to see there?
Mediterranean. Maybe Moroccan. We do a lot of vegan, vegetarian food. Good Indian would be nice.
Where do you like to hang out in the neighborhood?
Mike’s. I hop in there sometimes just to sit at the bar and have a margarita and a vegetarian pasta or something. But I’m not really much of a person for places that have TVs, and a lot of places do, and I’m not really into that.
Is there any food that you really cannot stand?
Well, personally, I’m a vegan. Any kind of dairy or meat doesn’t agree with me. I inherited my father’s stomach.
I remember my Irish nana saying that she had an “Irish stomach.”
I just remember my dad got an ulcer, and he was dealing with that all his life, and he was always drinking Pepcid and stuff, because he’s eating the wrong food. Someone pointed me in the right direction when I was about 15 and said, “Stop eating dairy and meat, and you’ll be fine.” I started eating lentils and chickpeas, and he was right. Every restaurant now, especially in Davis Square, has vegetarian or vegan options.
How would you describe The Burren to someone who’d never been there?
You have academics from the local universities and the local city trash man. There’s no class distinction. As long as you want to enjoy the music and the atmosphere, there’s a place for everybody.
How do you maintain this atmosphere amid so much aesthetically-driven new construction?
I suppose the biggest compliment we get is when people come through the door and say, “I haven’t been here in 27 years. I met my wife here, and this place hasn’t changed one bit.”
We built it to make it look traditional, and think that’s a compliment. It hasn’t changed. It’s still the same color on the walls and the same dark wood and the traditional Irish music in the front and shows in the back.
You don’t feel the pressure to keep up? It seems your defining feature is that you haven’t changed.
I think people would be disappointed if they walked in and saw that Louise hadn’t put up Christmas lights or autumn leaves. People love the traditions as well. You know, the decorations. That’s a big part of the pub as well.
What about food and drink? You have the most Guinness in the area, right?
That’s what they keep telling us.
What happened during the World Cup? Was it wild?
It was actually the opposite, since we didn’t have TVs. I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
We did get a lot of business from the Scottish fans. I think everyone did. I don’t think the World Cup in Boston would have been what it was, only for the Scots. You know, they were downtown and everywhere. Geez, you walk over to Harvard Square and see lads walking around with kilts everywhere. Just when kids were leaving the city, they came in and flamed it up again.
Where does Boston excel in terms of the bar and hospitality scene, and where do we fall short?
I suppose for us it’s the music, you know, because we have McCarthy’s Porter Square and the Toad and The Bebop. On that stretch from Davis Square to Boylston Street, where we have The Bebop, that’s where all the best music is in the city, because you have the Plough and Stars and Cantab. If you want to hear the real good old American music and traditional music, Mass Ave. from The Bebop to The Burren is the route. It’d be nice to see a few more [venues], especially nearer Harvard Square.
It’s a beautiful city. I’ve traveled to every state in the country and played music in every corner of it. Boston really stands out. It’s the right size. You can walk around it. It’s got everything: the universities, the dot-com businesses, and the nightlife is great. People like to go out and have a good time, and you can get from one end of the city to another without too much trouble. You can bar hop.
If you were the nightlife czar of Somerville, what would you change?
More outdoor events, and more events. We had four shows at the Somerville Theatre this year, and we’re trying to do more shows. If you can bring 1,000 people in every weekend, all the restaurants and coffee shops will benefit from it, just trying to bring more and more live music into the Square.
Is there any type of music that you really cannot stand?
I cannot stand AI music.
What’s AI music? Do I want to know?
Maybe I don’t know. I mean, modern music that just doesn’t have any kind of skill to play it, really; you’re just kind of pressing buttons.
Who’s The Burren’s most well-known customer?
Bono. I met him at a funeral, and I got talking to [U2’s] manager at the time. who was saying that they were planning to come to America to promote their album “No Line on the Horizon.” They wanted to go to the four towns that first played their record, which was Boston, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. WBCN played them first in Boston. So the plan was to do a Q and A in a theater and play a few songs. He said, “We’re looking for the right theater.” And I said, “I have a theater here.”
I didn’t hear anything for about six months. And then I was in Galway one evening, and I got an email from the U2 office on a Tuesday, saying they’d play at the Somerville Theatre on Thursday night, and we’d love you to come along, but keep it quiet because it hasn’t gone to the media yet. So I came home and said to my wife; “I’m going to Boston in the morning!” I jumped on the plane and flew over and gave them pints, and we had a great few nights together.
What Boston restaurant do you really miss?
The original House of Blues in Harvard Square.
Is there any food you’ll never eat again?
A steak with blood coming out of it.
Will you retire soon, or are you going to do this until you can’t do it anymore?
I think I’ll keep doing what I’m doing until I can’t do it anymore, until I don’t know my name. Hopefully that won’t happen. But, no, we enjoy it.
Interview was edited and condensed.
Kara Baskin can be reached at kara.baskin@globe.com. Follow her @kcbaskin.