music

It's just after 10 p.m. on a Wednesday at the Half Time Rec in St. Paul, and Terry Walsh and his cohorts in Saint Dominic's Trio are living the lyrics of a Van Morrison song: "You gotta make up your mind about it/ You gotta make it through the world if you can."

After 20-some years of trying to "shove my own music down people's throats," Walsh, 43, said, he made up his mind a few years ago to start playing more songs that people really want to hear.

"And who doesn't want to hear Van Morrison?" Walsh asked rhetorically.

It's true that Van the Man is the rare artist who can win agreement from Blaine soccer moms, St. Paul truck drivers and -- aside from the incessant spins of "Brown Eyed Girl" -- south Minneapolis indie hipsters.

With that in mind, Walsh and his former Bowling Trophy bandmate Brian Swanson (who has since left town to be a booking agent) came up with the idea of the Belfast Cowboys, a Van Morrison tribute band with a horn section and all the bloatedness that the man protrudes today. The group, including Vic Volare as the horns leader, played its first show at the 400 Bar in 2001. Things went too well to be just a one-night stand.

Keeping nine to 10 guys in a band can be tricky, though. So Walsh keeps a rotating cast of players -- "We probably have three guys who can play each position," he said -- and he offers up a smaller version of the group, the Saint Dominic's Trio (actually a four-piece band most of the time).

The trio, in particular, has become a staple in Irish pubs around town. For Guinness and Murphy's drinkers hoping to hear something other than old Gaelic songs or Irish jigs, the songs of Ireland's second-most famous rock act of all time are like a breath of semi-fresh air.

"I think people enjoy that they're not your typical Irish pub music, only singing about wanting to kick the British out of Ireland," said Kieran Folliard, owner of the Liffey, the Local and Kieran's pubs.

Walsh, whose family (including writer brother Jim) is 100 percent Irish-blooded, likes the Irish ties but doesn't think they're essential to the group. When they're not covering Van, the group is more likely to play a "Bobby McDylan" or "Johnny O'Cash" song or one of Walsh's originals than anything truly Irish.

"Sometimes we're asked to sing 'Danny Boy,' and sometimes we'll do it," Walsh said, "but we usually regret it."

Van Morrison is usually enough of a crowd-pleaser, anyway.

"People usually say, 'Oh, I only know one or two Van Morrison songs,' but then they wind up knowing the first seven of 10 songs that we play," Walsh said.

That was pretty much my own experience at Half Time Rec: The guys reminded me how much of a fan I really am.

After "You Gotta Make It Through the World," they waltzed their way through the familiar gems "Tupelo Honey" and "On Down the Road" and on to memorable deeper-album cuts such as "These Dreams of You" and, best of all, "The Way Young Lovers Do." Walsh's re-creation of Morrison's unmistakable voice was sometimes terrific and sometimes spotty. But hey, so are Van's own attempts nowadays. And Terry certainly sings with heart.

"I really do feel passionate about this music," he said. "Maybe not as much as my own music, but at least I don't have to resort to 'Freebird' to play [songs] people know and love."

BELFAST COWBOYS

Friday: 7 p.m., Radisson Riverfront Hotel, 11 E. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul. $25. 651-292-1900.

Saturday: 9 p.m., with the Copperheads opening, Lee's Liquor Lounge, 101 Glenwood Av. N., Mpls. $6. 612-338-9491.