I first met Billy Briggs in 1981 at a Lalor Street pub on the Hamilton and Trenton borderline called The Celtic House. At the time he had a band called The Penn Valley Boys. There was Billy on banjo, Jim Bleasdale on mandolin, and another fellow who later died young of brain cancer on the guitar. I cannot recall his name. I was only beginning to play Irish folk at the time and I never joined him on stage, despite being experienced as a semiprofessional folksinger in the local bars and clubs. I later learned that prior to The Celtic House, Billy had bartended in The Workingman’s Pub, which he might have owned. The Adeline Street pub was formerly known as Scotty’s and was the first place where I ever entertained for pay. This was one of many coincidences in our lives, some others being that we were both born in Burlington County in the year 1952, we both worked for Circle F Industries and Gino’s fast food, and we both sang, of course. It was my interest in Irish history, sparked by the H-Block Hunger Strikers, that led me to meet Billy. I visited the pub once a week or so for a while, usually on music night, and came to know the regulars to a small degree. A year or so later Billy and his partner, a fellow named Gallagher, had a falling out over management decisions and the latter squeezed Billy out of the business, a maneuver which always irked Billy and over which he continued to hold resentment for many years to come.
Tags: CelticHouse, Lalor Street, Billy Briggs, The Penn Valley Boys
