Chieftains’ Moloney Unites Female Artists in Irish Song

March is St. Patrick’s month, and there is no better symbol for Celtic music than Paddy Moloney, the leader of the Chieftains. Small, compact and cheerful, he recalls the stereotypical Irish characters in the films of the ‘40s and ‘50s.

But despite his charm (or perhaps because of it) Moloney is far more than a picturesque musical storyteller. And the albums he has done over the years with the Chieftains have demonstrated that Celtic music has a reach extending far beyond the borders of Ireland.

It would be hard to find a country, or a musical form, that Moloney hasn’t encountered in his travels--individually and with the Chieftains. And he always manages to find some kind of cultural compatibility.

“No matter where I am,” he says, “even in a village in China, I find that if I pull out my little whistle and start to play I can generally find some way to fit in a melody or two.”

And it was appropriate--if a bit off in terms of timing--that the Chieftains’ latest album, “Tears of Stone,” arrived just a few weeks before St. Patrick’s Day. (The group is scheduled to play in New York City at Carnegie Hall on the big day.) Featuring a lineup of female artists ranging from Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt to Joan Osborne and Mary Chapin Carpenter, the album places these contemporary performers in a universe of Irish musical tradition.

Says Moloney: “Most of the songs are Catholic Irish folk songs that I’ve known for years--some 100 years old, or more. Songs about young women who had to leave or go into hiding or had some sort of problem for some reason. I’ve been fascinated for the past few years by the contributions being made by today’s women composers and singers. And I thought, with all these great songs about women that have been around for so long, I would love to do an album and ask the great female stars of today to come and do their interpretations.”

Given the nature of today’s recording industry, with its layers of agents, managers, promotion and public relations, it’s a wonder Moloney was able to even get the project off the ground. But having assembled tracks from Sting, Mick Jagger, Sinead O’Connor, Van Morrison and others for the earlier “The Long Black Veil,” Moloney should obviously not be underestimated when it comes to persuasiveness.

“There’s a story behind almost every track,” he says. “And the whole project took more than three years. With Joni Mitchell, for example, it was a year and a half between the time I first heard her do the song and the time we actually got the track down.

“Other tracks came very easy. With Joan Osborne, we talked about the song, she loved it, and we did it in Electric Ladyland studio. She was a bit uptight and nervous, but she just went in and sang it, and at the end she had a tear coming down her gorgeous face, and said she had to come to Dublin.

“Which she did, and, as it happened, Natalie Merchant was singing in Dublin at the same time. Joan and I were having lunch when we bumped into Natalie and her entourage. Joan asked her, ‘Why don’t you sing a song for Paddy?’ and Natalie said, ‘Well, maybe I will.’ So I booked a studio in London for 1 o’clock, she came in and by 3 o’clock we were done.”

Moloney had a more thorny process with Raitt, continuously running into intermediaries before he had a chance to approach her in person.

“We were playing in Denver at Red Rock and Bonnie was working there as well. She came to hear us and asked me to come to her concert the next day. I did, and she got me up to play the whistle in one of her songs. . . . And afterward she said, ‘Look, I’m the boss, and I’m doing a song for you on your record.’ ”

The result of Moloney’s diplomacy, combined with his thoughtful musical instincts, is yet another example of Irish music’s capacity to adapt to changing cultures and changing times. And no one understands that adaptability better than Moloney.

St. Pat’s Events: Every Irish pub in the Southland will, of course, be celebrating the wearin’ of the green. But there are some appealing performance events as well. Among them: Doyle’s Irish Cabaret, with music, dance and comedy at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, March 13. . . . The young pan-Celtic group Anam at the Pasadena Neighborhood Church, also on March 13. . . . The Spirit of Ireland, with the RTE Irish National Radio Orchestra, traditional instruments and dancers, at Royce Hall, UCLA, March 17. . . . The superb Irish American group Solas, on March 17 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre and March 18 at the San Pedro Warner Grand Theatre on March 18. . . . The new traditional band Nomos on March 19 at UC Riverside.