MUSICIAN JJ King has had his hands full in the lead up to St Patrick's Day.
King - real name Joe McManus - has been rehearsing the traditional Irish music he'll perform alongside Bill Wiseman, Kent Daniel and Nick Russell from 3pm at the Grain Store's fully-booked event.
The venue has limited tables around lunchtime that can be booked online.
"There's a tiny island in the Atlantic with a particular history and a particular nature and we're going to celebrate that," said King, the Hunter's only full-time Irish musician.
"Ireland means a lot and we have exported some great people.
"It's about celebrating Ireland and being from there, which means music and drink and food."
King spent Tuesday helping Grain Store staff make 15 loaves of traditional soda bread, part of an Irish menu to be served alongside imported Irish craft beer and cider and locally brewed Irish style beer.
"I wouldn't be pretending to tell these chefs what they're doing," he said.
"But it's handy to have me there because I know when it's going wrong.
"It's simple to do, but there's a couple of things you want to get right, because it will collapse otherwise."
King started baking when he felt homesick. He hasn't visited the Emerald Isle since 2016.
"I'm starting to get the twitch now," he said. "There's certain lights on the dashboard that don't come on until I meet Irish people."
Roscommon-raised King started playing the harmonica and writing his own songs at about five.
He added the guitar at 12 and the tenor banjo about seven years ago. He's been playing professionally for 37 years.
"I've taken lessons off people down through the years at different times when I wanted to get onto a different level, but it comes down to doing it a million times, like anything," he said.
"Even though music is important, it's about telling a story to me. Instruments are neither here nor there, if you're not singing I'm not bothered, but if you're telling a story, I want to hear what it is."
King met his Australian wife while busking in Galway in 2001. He moved to the Hunter in 2003 and is a resident musician at the Grain Store, the Happy Wombat and Young Street Hotel,where his setlists span genres.
"People come in, have a beer and they let go of their troubles, they can emote, they can feel, they can desire or whatever and then they go away to their own lives or they can come back to me again if they need more of what I do," he said.
"If you're celebrating, I'm celebrating with you, but my testimony is 'I've seen sh--, things become okay, it's going to be okay'. That's the message in every note of every song."
The Northern Star; Lambton Park Hotel; Stockton Bowling Club and the Windsor Castle Hotel are also hosting events.
