Not everyone is Irish on Sunday afternoons at Jack Quinn’s. It only seems that way for a few blissful hours.

What happens in Jack Quinn’s, a downtown Colorado Springs pub, is extremely close to what happens in pubs in Dublin. For more than two decades, Irish music has graced those Sunday afternoons at Jack Quinn’s,

COVID-19 stopped the Irish show for five long months, but the music returned in August. It’s not the same, at least not yet. In good times, as many as 28 musicians gathered near the stage. This month, the number has been reduced to four or five musicians wearing masks.

“And maintaining separation and all that jazz,” Doug Huggins says with a laugh.

Huggins, 69, has played at Jack Quinn’s since the dawn of the Sunday afternoon sessions and serves as the guiding force for the music. The Irish music, before COVID-19, usually packed the pub on Sunday afternoons. Huggins knows why.

“Well, it’s the energy,” he says. “It’s hard to sit still. It’s rhythmic. It’s melodic. And it usually tells a story that will grab you and make you listen. It’s happy songs of drinking and sad songs of love and exile. … It’s got an energy and it makes you want to get up and dance even if you can’t.”

Remember, it’s especially fun to watch those who can’t dance.

When Huggins arrives each Sunday, he’s not sure which musicians will join him and he’s not sure what songs will be played. This gives the sessions a loose and jolly feel.

But there’s a bracing combination of precision and passion, too. Huggins explains that all musicians understand the musical vocabulary of Irish tunes. Musicians take turns as lead player, and if a musician is not comfortable enough with the tune to solo, she or he passes.

“It’s really kind of self-controlled,” Huggins says. “Nobody wants to get up there and embarrass themselves. People self-select.”

Camilla Bicknell, a fiddler, played on Sunday afternoons for 18 years. She was trained as a classical violinist but found surprise joy in Irish music.

“You get into this groove and you start playing with each other,” she says.

“That’s what makes it so fun. And then you just get hooked. It’s really a magical thing.”

Still, Bicknell is not yet comfortable enough to join Huggins and her friends indoors at Jack Quinn’s. Many other regulars share her respect for the danger of COVID-19. She plans to return to the Quinn’s stage after a COVID-19 vaccine is introduced. Bicknell still performs Irish music, but she takes care to play outdoors in fresh air.

“It’s a genre that you can play every week and learn stuff with other people,” she says. “You can’t play Scottish music with other people because nobody does it.”

So true. I’m Scottish on my father’s side, and there’s no place to hear music from the homeland.

But Irish music travels close enough. For the past 15 years, I’ve been a regular listener on Sunday afternoons at Jack Quinn’s, and plan to return  soon, while wearing a mask and practicing the art of social distancing, of course.

Niall Twomey, 44, lives in Colorado Springs, but he was raised in Ireland with the lyrical accent to prove it. He’s visited and performed at pubs across his native country. He often sings with the Sunday afternoon band that gathers at Jack Quinn’s.

“It has a very Irish feel to it,” Twomey says. “I think it has the atmosphere. You can get a pint of Guinness and eat good Irish food. The whole package is there for a few hours.”

It’s a family scene with moms and dads listening with their children. Usually, there’s friendly chatter at the tables, loud enough for a small audience but not loud enough to disturb the rest of the room.

Sometimes, though, a singer will tell a sad story of Irish exile and pain. An Irishman sitting in California wishing he were back home in the arms of his Irish sweetheart. A battered Irish soldier weeping over a friend’s grave in a foreign land.

The song transforms the room. Twomey has experienced this transformation many times.

“It just goes super quiet,” he says. “Just like back home.”

The Celtic Steps dancers perform during the St. Patrick’s Day celebration in 2017 at Jack Quinn’s Irish Pub and Restaurant in Colorado Springs.

CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, THE GAZETTE file

Fiddle player Camilla Bicknell reaches out to tap Annabelle Ashcraft with her bow during a St. Patrick’s Day performance. The Celtic music group, Rare Ould Times, played at Jack Quinn’s on St. Patrick’s Day on Thursday, March 17, 2016. (photo by Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette)

JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE

The Celtic music group, Rare Ould Times, played at Jack Quinn’s on St. Patrick’s Day in 2016.

JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE file