His strategy for St. Patrick's Day 2011 illustrates how much the big day has changed. Donnelly and five other pipers and drummers hired a car service to ferry them to various gigs--performances that start at 8 a.m. and stretch all day at pubs, clubs and hoolies.

He'll be piping "Wearing of the Green" until his lungs cry "No more," which Donnelly began to exclaim last week.

"I get call after call after call," he said. "We can't do them all."

That's the mantra of many an Irish band and musician in Greater Cleveland this St. Patrick's Day. Live music -- with an Irish lilt -- has become an essential part of the celebration at any self-respecting Irish pub or club. And that means the people who can pound the drum, play the fiddle or rock like a Celt are in ridiculously high demand.

Owners and managers of Irish bars -- arguably the most popular genre of tavern in Greater Cleveland -- say St. Patrick's Day, its eve and the denouement --  the survivor parties -- are now their busiest days of the year. But only if the energy is high because the music is live.

"Oh, yeah, it's gotta be a live show," said Jim Stamper, owner of Stamper's Grill Pub on Lorain Avenue in Fairview Park.

Last year, he tried to get by with a recession-friendly DJ and still regrets it.

"It just wasn't the same at all, Oh God," he moaned.

For Thursday, he rallied his longtime band, Brace Yourself Bridget, to return to the stage. With Stamper on drums, Bridget will follow the Irish Cottage Boys. Dancers from the Burke School of Irish Dance will perform Wednesday night.

That's a fairly typical playbill at the leading pubs, which have a finite pool of talent to hire from. The region supports about a dozen Irish bands, duos and trios that play regularly. Among those are four or five acts that everyone wants to hear: The New Barleycorn, The Boys from the County Hell, Marys Lane and the 87th Cleveland Pipe Band.

That makes for some frenzied schedules March 17. Consider The Boys from the County Hell. The eight-piece Celtic rock band starts the day at 9 a.m. a the House of Blues downtown. At noon, band members hustle up East Fourth Street to Flannery's Pub, to play all afternoon before headlining the Harp at night.

Marys Lane, a newer Celtic rock band with a young and growing fan base, will play two shows, seven hour of live music, at P.J. McIntyre's Irish Pub in Kamm's Corners.

"That's about all we want to take on," said band leader Michael Crawley, noting the band headlines the Friday survivors party at The Treehouse in Tremont. "We want to make sure we're still standing."

Observers of the Irish music scene are both enchanted and astonished by the growing demand. A better economy certainly plays a role, they say. Bars and their customers are spending more this year and, as Donnelly observed, "They're having fun at the pubs again."

Many also see the local trend as part of a larger flowering of Irish music, a rebirth that began when global bands like Gaelic Storm and The Saw Doctors rocked up traditional Irish music and captured a new generation.

And, well, it matters that St. Patrick's Day this year falls on a Thursday. Many a publican knows the faithful will be celebrating a long weekend and booked accordingly.

"God help us," said John O'Brien Jr., editor and publisher of the Irish American News. "St. Patrick's Day has become a four-day weekend."

Many in the Irish community, which is sensitive to its drinking image, worry about over-indulgence. But O'Brien said he views the live music trend as a wholesome addition.

"It's all in good fun. It's a good feeling," he said. "It's something to just sit back and watch."

That's what a few hundred people did last Friday, at Sully's Irish Pub in downtown Medina. The handsome pub was packed an hour before showtime. That was partly because of the Lenten fish fry, but mostly because of Marys Lane, the hottest new band on the Irish circuit.

The young musicians named their five-piece band for a lane of widows on Achill Island, in County Mayo, the homeland of Irish Cleveland. They also added a fiddle and bagpipes to drums and guitars and electrified traditional Irish ballads.

When the band struck the opening chords to "The Green and Red of Mayo," conversation stilled and all eyes cut to the stage.

A 20-song set ranged from Great Big Sea to Flogging Molly to original songs by the band's lead vocalist Patrick Mulloy. There were pauses for toasts to Mayo and Irish public service announcements -- "Don't forget St. Patrick's Day opens here at 7 a.m.!"

But the energy level rose steadily and artfully, soon reaching a St. Patrick's Day pitch. Youthful voices sang along to anthems. Older eyes misted to envision "The Green Fields of France."

For 30-year-old drummer Mark Whalen, the night felt like the prelude to the Super Bowl.

"On St. Patrick's Day, there's no build-up," Whalen said. "From the first song," and he snapped his fingers, "it's just a celebration, from start to finish."

His face aglow and beaded with sweat, he shared a secret.

"We're working hard," he said. "But it's not really working."