St. Patrick's Day to set the feet a-tapping

Mark Raney never knew anything else but his family of 12.

Growing up, he always thought everybody came from a family like his.

"It was an eye-opener when I was out of the cocoon and went off to medical school," he said. "I struggled being away from that, the safety of it. That was my social life. It's what you did. You had all these activities, and they were with your family, who happened to be your friends."

That would be the 10 Raney siblings, and mom and dad Barbara and Patrick.

The brothers and sisters and their families are still best friends, "whether it's music or hydro races or soccer games or Irish music, we do it as a big group."

Raney, a doctor from Sultan, formed the Irish folk band Rapparee 30 years ago, starting with friends he knew from church. They had such a good time doing a show at Doc Maynard's in Seattle's Pioneer Square that they went on to play at F.X. McRory's, where they've played on St. Patrick's Day since 1980, from opening to closing, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., on a stage in the whiskey bar.

They perform Irish revels and other folk tunes, and "they are fabulous," said Mary MacLean, operations manager. "They really get the crowd going. They transform you to an Irish pub. That's why we have them back every year."

The past four years, they've also been featured at the Everett Irish Cabaret, double-billed with a troupe of dancers from Ireland. Mark plays guitar and cittern, a lutelike stringed instrument, and sister Colleen sings and plays the bodhran, a drum.

And behind the shamrocks and green beer, the bonhomie of jigs and reels and dance-hall ballads, there's something else for the Raneys: a deep-seated pride in their Celtic roots.

"We probably came here [before the Revolutionary War] as indentured servants to Barbados and worked our way west, following the mines and the railroads, doing typical Irish work," Mark said. The oldest in the family, he knew seven of his eight great-grandparents. Their last surviving grandfather died a couple of years ago.

"He worked the railroads and the mines, and eventually he was a seafarer for the last 40 years of his career," says Mark. "He embroidered the truth and told people he was French or Welsh to keep his job. Anytime they needed to cut payroll, whether it was the railroad or the mines, they would go in and they would say 'What's your name?' If you had an Irish name, you were the first to be fired."

Through work, courage and sheer pluck, the Irish made it in America and helped to transform this country, according to Irish-American historian David McCourt, who is co-producing the Everett Irish Cabaret with the Everett Theatre.

What Raney's eight-piece band Rapparee brings to the Irish spirit in America includes "their almost encyclopedic knowledge of Irish and Gaelic and any other kind of folk music," McCourt says. "They're artists, and that's their contribution. That's their real gift. ...

"This group he puts together, they are lovely people. And they are funny people. And it's quite obvious that they are enjoying the hell out of themselves up there on that stage. And if they're having a good time, so are you."

The Raneys now have ties with the Bouldings, the hammered-dulcimer and harp virtuosos of Magical Strings. That Kitsap County family has recorded and toured since the 1980s and gained a big following. Sara Raney married Brenin Williams, the cello player in Magical Strings, and every year, the Bouldings and the Raneys do a yuletide concert series together — nine cities in four weekends.

On the Raney side, the family has 14 grandchildren, soon to be 15.

"For me, I think the three pillars of my life has been faith, family and heritage, and family is related to those other branches of myself," said Sara Raney. "Everyone's chosen to be here. Some of us see each other weekly, some on holidays, but we're all here. And it's a sign of the link that we have."

Julie Raney said the roots of Rapparee date back to when Mark, then in high school, was playing guitar in the living room. "Once we started bringing home our dancing music to practice with, he picked up on that right away," she said. "And he did some studying with some local Irish artists."

As children, the Raney girls all studied with noted teachers of Irish dance.

Sara and Julie founded the Tara Academy of Irish Dancing, and now sisters Brigid, Colleen, Erin and Mary are involved in the school as well as in other careers.

Mark is a doctor at Sky Valley Family Medicine, a clinic in Sultan that gets 13,000-14,000 patient visits a year. Mark's brother Bruce works in the freight industry; Scott is crew chief of the U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing hydroplane; and Matthew is a landscaper, musician and a soccer coach at Snohomish High School.

Mark's father, Patrick Raney, 72, teaches chemistry at O'Dea High School and during the season coaches soccer. Mother Barbara, 71, is a bookkeeper. Pat and Barbara were honorary grand marshals of Seattle's St. Patrick's Day Parade in 1999.

Mark, everybody's big brother, is the go-to guy of the Raney family. "If anything is wrong with anything in the world, we all get hold of Mark," said Julie. "He helps us get through it or solves the problem or tells us how to solve the problem."

The Raney family never strays far from its Celtic roots. Mark calls the Irish people "happy fighters" in the face of adversity.

"Our culture is full of stories of being kicked and pushed down and beat down, and we keep coming back," he said. "There's a joy in the Irish and the Celts that runs very deep. Our music and our dance is part of that."

"We especially like to give people something that's authentic," Mark added. "This is a day in Ireland like Christmas," he said of St. Patricks, "where your family gets up and goes to Mass together and back home for a big family meal, and then to the pub for a big get-together. Our music is the kind of music you'd hear sitting around a turf fire or at the pub."

Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com