St. Patrick's Day music in Philadelphia: The hearin' o' the green

Sharon Corr, of the Irish band the Corrs, appreciates the way Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

"It's a huge celebration, and I don't really believe in under-doing anything. If you're going to do something, do it big, and that's what you guys do, which I think is really, really great. We [Irish] do have that great heritage of great art, great music, so it's good to celebrate."

Saturday night offers a convergence of opportunities to explore Irish music of several shades of green, from Corr's own debut solo appearance at World Cafe Live to the Philly-based Irish American band Solas at Wilmington's Grand Opera House to Celtic Nights' celebration of traditional step-dancing and music at the Annenberg.

"Music needs to be a progression in order for it to stimulate. It needs to move and it needs to change," Corr says. She's talking about the relationship between traditional and contemporary Irish music, and as a recent judge and coach on the Irish television version of The, Voice, Corr witnessed a lot of new singers, many of them influenced by American urban music.

With her siblings in the Corrs, she played a combination of traditional tunes - often led by her fiddle-playing - and modern folk and rock, including worldwide hits such as "Runaway," "So Young," and "Radio," the latter two written by Sharon, although her sister Andrea sang the lead. The band released five albums between 1995 and 2005 before going on hiatus.

"I think we're really proud of what we've achieved, and we don't want to dilute it in any way. If we do something in the future, that will be nice, but there are no plans right now," Corr says, before a solo show in Houston.

Dream of You, Corr's first solo album, came out in 2010, but she is only now touring the States due to her commitments to The Voice of Ireland, to her family, to selective tours around the world, and to recording: Her second album, The Same Sun, comes out Stateside this year.

Corr recorded the album in Los Angeles with producer Mitchell Froom, and the style looks back to the mellifluous pop of the Carpenters, Dusty Springfield, and Burt Bacharach, music her parents played when she was a kid in the '70s.

"It's a bit retro, yes," Corr says. "To me, those are great traditions in songwriting, with a lot of attention to detail with no cover-up. There's just great artistry, and that's really what I aspire to."

It's a beautifully sung album, classic-sounding without being bound to the past. Although she plays violin with the string section on many songs, Corr set aside her Irish fiddling for this record.

"For me, it's very important to set up the music and not try to stick a square peg into a round hole. If it wasn't going to suit an Irish vibe, I wasn't going to throw that in there because I'd done it in the past, do you know what I mean? It's a different feeling. When people come to the show, though, I'm playing plenty of Irish music."

She'll also be playing select Corrs songs, so the set features a wide range of styles, a "progression," if you will.

"Because I am the connecting factor through them all, they feel like they're all my songs," Corr says. "They're all part of me."

Shamrock City, the 10th album from Solas, the Philadelphia-based Irish American band, came out last year, and it's one of their best. It's a song cycle about the immigrant experience, based loosely on the story of Seamus Egan's great-great-uncle, who worked in the mines in Butte, Mont. Egan, who plays banjo, mandolin, whistle, and guitar, formed Solas 20 years ago with fiddler Winifred Horan, and the band has often used traditional Irish forms to address contemporary social issues; they've done Irish-flavored covers of Bruce Springsteen, Josh Ritter, and others. Shamrock City features guests such as Mike "Slo-Mo" Brenner, the Carolina Chocolate Drops' Rhiannon Giddens, and Scottish folksinger Dick Gaughan, but the songs, with their insightful storytelling and exuberant playing, take center stage.

For those who want their Irish straight-up, Celtic Nights takes the long view of history. It mixes step-dancing and storytelling with songs ranging from old ballads, jigs, and reels to more contemporary works such as U2's "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." With six singers versed in musical theater and opera as well as folk and rock and seven expert dancers, Celtic Nights is part concert, part sing-along; part Riverdance, part history lesson. The stories and songs tell of longing, sometimes for an Irish homeland, sometimes to escape and emigrate. With classics such as "Danny Boy" and "It's a Long Way to Tipperary," this aptly timed production celebrates the cultural tradition of Ireland.

Mick Moloney

The acclaimed musician and folklorist comes to Philly's Irish Center, 6815 Emlen St., at 8 p.m. on Saturday with fiddler Athena Tergis, accordionist Billy McComiskey, and harpist Michelle Mulcahy. Tickets: $20 ($15 for Philadelphia Ceili Group members). Information: www.theirishcenter.com.

John Byrne

The Broken Shillelaghs

The South Jersey group will be busy, bringing a mix of traditional and contemporary Irish tunes to the Dubh Linn Square Pub, 167 Rt. 130, Bordentown, at 9 p.m.

on Friday, and McMichael's Pub and Grill, 157 S. Burlington St., Gloucester City, at 6 p.m. on Monday. They'll also be at some St. Patrick's Day parades over the weekend. Information: www.bsirish.com.

Blackthorn

Philly's Blackthorn is also on the St. Patrick's weekend circuit, appearing at Kildare's Irish Pub, 4417 Main St., Manayunk, at 8 p.m. Friday; the Event in the Tent II, Ridley Marina, 401 S. Swarthmore Ave., Ridley, at 4 p.m. Saturday, and the St. Paddy's Day Party at the Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Pike, Ardmore, at 7 p.m. Monday. Information: www.irishthing.com.