The band started out as an acoustic harmony duo consisting of Scott Doonican (vocals, acoustic guitar/banjo/mandolin/kazoo) and Danny Doonican (vocals, acoustic guitar), mainly covering quirky song choices by such disparate acts as
Sparks,
Queen,
Judas Priest and
Vera Lynn on folk instruments with
Everly Brothers-styled harmonies. The band's name and subsequent image was the idea of Scott's partner and long-standing co-lyricist Amanda White, inspired after they both saw a poster in Mojo's Records on Merchant's Arch in Temple Bar for the San Diego band The
Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, whilst on a weekend break to Dublin. Over several drinks in Sinnotts Bar on King Street South, they took Scott's original suggestion that they should take the tough sounding 'The Bastard Sons of' and add someone who ironically wasn't seen as a macho character. They continued to list different crooners or musicians renowned for covering other people's music in an attempt to find something ironically humorous. The shortlist included
Bert Weedon,
Matt Monro and
Perry Como, however the 'Bastard' was soon softened to 'Bar-Steward' under Amanda's suggestion that it would only result in the band getting limited bookings because of the harshness of the name. Eventually Amanda suggested and then settled on
Val Doonican and the band's uniform of knitted tank tops was born, a deliberate tribute to the Irish singer's loud jumpers as worn on his British TV show from the 1960s to the early 1990s. They played their first show at Thawleys Pub in Wombwell,
Barnsley on Saturday 17 June 2006. After their debut show, which was originally intended to be a one-off appearance, they decided to continue, and soon expanded to a three piece with the addition of Alan Doonican #1 on piano accordion, later self-releasing two albums of folky cover versions of classic rock songs (
For Those About To Rock, Gently) and 1980s Number Ones (
Back To The Day Job) on their independent
Moon-On-A-Stick Records label, on which they continue to release albums to this day. The album was also notable for featuring the first of the band's several collaborations with guitarist
Graham Oliver, founding member of heavy metal band
Saxon. Shortly after its release, Danny Doonican left the band, leaving Scott to complete the recording of 2011's
The Dark Side Of The Tarn largely on his own. and '
Ave It : Bold As Brass (2017). In December 2018, the band released two charity Christmas singles via iTunes. The first single was their final annual collaboration with
Maartin Allcock, who had died four months before, only weeks after performing with the band at
Fairport's Cropredy Convention. The track, a prog-rock/traditional folk crossover rendition of
Greg Lake's
I Believe In Father Christmas, entered the iTunes chart, peaking at Number 33, and gaining a Number 80 position on the UK Official Charts for both downloads and sales on 21 December 2018. The second single,
The Gasman Cometh, entered the iTunes chart reaching Number 55, and the iTunes comedy chart at Number 2. In the same week
The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican/2008–2018 reached Number 2 in the iTunes comedy chart. On 26 January 2019, spurred on by BBC Radio 6 ignoring an unprecedented barrage of fan requests for the song
How Deep Is Your Glove? on social media, during a feature on Stuart Maconie's show called 'Sunday Glove Songs', the band defiantly released the track as a charity single for
Prostate Cancer UK, and it entered the UK iTunes Comedy chart at Number 1. Their twelfth studio album, entitled
Place Of Spades was crowdfunded in early 2019. The Place Of Spades album was released and launched on Sunday 30 June 2019 at
Glastonbury Festival when the band played the Avalon Stage. A Glastonbury live album,
Avalon Calling was recorded during the show, and was given a limited edition CD release, which, on its announcement, sold out overnight, before being made available via digital download, a second press with different packaging and later a double pink vinyl release. The band hosted their own music and comedy festival at The Old School House Venue in Barnsley in October 2019.
Doonifest sold out over a year in advance, with a line-up including
Graham Oliver from Saxon, Hobo Jones & The Junkyard Dogs, The Sweetchunks Band and many other comedy and musical acts from the UK's festival circuit. It was the venue's fastest sell-out, with all tickets going within 56 seconds, before a single act was announced. The festival also saw, original founding member, Danny Doonican, returning for one final show, as the original duo of Scott and Danny opened the festival with a set composed of early Doonicans cover versions and songs from the band's first album. On 25 October 2019, the band played their 1000th show at the
Palace Theatre in Redditch. The show was a sell-out and was filmed and recorded for a DVD and CD live album. In January 2020, the band's twelfth studio album,
Place Of Spades was the winner of a 'Jezzie Award' from Radio Bicester's 'Tarka Blowpig Music Show' after coming in at Number 1 and receiving the accolade of 'Studio Album of the Year - 2019', in a chart that featured
The Who,
Stormzy,
Bruce Springsteen and
Willie Nelson. Later in the same month, it was announced that the band would be supporting
Levellers for their 2020 tour dates at Sheffield Leadmill, Holmfirth Picturedrome, Lancaster Town Hall and Nottingham Rock City. These shows were postponed until 2021 and 2022 due to a global pandemic of Coronavirus. The 2020-2021 Global Coronavirus Pandemic caused the band to have to postpone their post-March 2020 tour dates, and as a result, Scott Doonican and his partner Amanda White, performed a series of weekly online shows, streamed on YouTube, under the title ''Scott Doonican's BIG NEET IN''. The shows featured Scott performing live from home in his music room, interspersed with some previously recorded video footage of the full band, new music videos and collaborations between Scott and special guests, including
Kathryn Roberts,
Eliza Carthy, both Jeremy Cunningham and Simon Friend from the
Levellers,
3 Daft Monkeys and
Frank Turner amongst many others. The show also featured lots of regular puppet characters voiced and performed by Amanda. The show has continued beyond the pandemic with more sporadic episodes after 2021's Episode 66 'finale' which actually marked the band's return to live performances. During the pandemic lockdowns, Scott and Amanda converted their garage into a pub, which was named
The Pint & Puppet after their Saturday night exploits. A regular extension to their 2-3 hour livestream shows, would be an 'After-Show Party' in The Pint & Puppet, where Scott would play some covers of other artists, which would be broadcast via Facebook Live. Although the band were announced to be playing at
Bearded Theory,
Fairport's Cropredy Convention, Beautiful Days Festival, Camper Calling, Underneath The Stars Festival, Wickham Festival, Costa Del Folk, Watchet Festival and several others in 2020, due to the pandemic, the festivals were postponed to 2021 or 2022 or cancelled. Also during the coronavirus pandemic, Scott Doonican co-ordinated, produced, recorded and released a 10th Anniversary version of their ''Cpl. Kipper's Barnsley Trades Club Turn'' album, in October 2020. The album, re-recorded by Scott Doonican with additional contributions from Björn Doonicansson and Alan Doonican, and released in October 2020, also featured a host of special guests including
Eliza Carthy,
Dave Burland,
Kate Rusby,
Mike Harding,
Graham Oliver,
Hugh Whitaker,
Kathryn Roberts,
Ian McMillan, Barnsley blues-folk troubadour, Richard Kitson, and founder member Danny Doonican amongst others. The new version of the 'Barnsley Concept Album' was accompanied by a 120 page book written by Scott Doonican, entitled ''The Essential Listener's Guide To Cpl. Kipper's Barnsley Trades Club Turn'', which contained the lyrics to the songs, and told the stories behind them and of the album's recording process. Also during the lockdowns, Scott Doonican made a
guest appearance on a version of
Fairport Convention's
Meet On The Ledge, featuring the members of Fairport Convention,
Clannad,
Turin Brakes,
Ralph McTell,
Martyn Joseph and many more. The song was released as a charity single to raise money for people in the music industry affected by the pandemic. In late November 2021, the whole band commenced their first tour in two years due to the pandemic. The tour, which featured theatre-show dates in Salford, Ulpha, Banbury, Canterbury, Knutsford, Preston, York, Matlock Bath and Barnsley, also included three dates supporting the Levellers at Sheffield Leadmill, Morecambe Winter Gardens and Nottingham Rock City. In May 2022, the band released their fourteenth studio album,
Rugh & Ryf, after shelving it for two years due to coronavirus lock downs as a result of the global pandemic. Over the summer of 2022 the band played a series of notable UK music festivals including Barnsley folk singer Kate Rusby's Underneath The Stars Festival, Wickham Festival, Fairport Convention's Cropredy Festival, the Levellers' Beautiful Days Festival and Watchet Festival in Somerset on the same weekend bill as
Belinda Carlisle,
The Fratellis and
Level 42. Festival dates were announced for Underneath The Stars Festival, Bearded Theory, Beautiful Days, Ely Folk Festival, Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Lindisfarne Festival and a second Big Day Out festival, after the success of the 2022 event. Björn Doonicansson announced his departure in August 2023 before the Mk.III line-up of the band undertook their final winter tour together, ending in December 2023. On 10 February 2024, Scott and Alan Doonican unveiled the three new members of the band's Mk.IV line-up in front of a sold out capacity crowd at the Rescue Rooms in Nottingham. This signalled the beginning of a new flexible five piece line-up, featuring Scott Doonican, Alan Doonican #2, Mo-Jo Doonican, Dave Doonican and Jeremiah Rickenbacker Doonican III. The debut show was recorded for the live album
Doonicans In Concert. This line-up played the 2024
Glastonbury Festival at the Avalon Stage, on a bill that featured
Lulu (singer),
Frank Turner,
Skindred,
Haircut 100 and
Kate Nash. The show was recorded for the second disc of the double live LP
Doonicans In Rock. The band performed on the main stage bill at Bearded Theory Festival on 25 May 2025 supporting the
Manic Street Preachers on a weekend bill that included
Paul Heaton and
Iggy Pop and on the main stage at Wychwood Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse on 1 June 2025 supporting Doves and
The Zutons. The band's fifteenth studio album
EVOLVER was recorded in the first half of 2025, with a release date of 20 September, featuring fourteen new songs, including parodies of seven UK Number 1 chart hits by acts including The Beatles, Jason Donovan, Gary Numan and The Kinks. The band toured from September to November 2025, performing the whole album and other fan favourites. Every show on the tour was a sell out. The album was positively reviewed in RnR Magazine, with the reviewer saying that the band "continue to offer clever wordplay, sharp satire and plenty of Yorkshire wit... it's hard enough to do this stuff as a one-off; to repeat the feat over multiple albums is surely the work of twisted genius". During two seasonal specials of Scott Doonican's BIG NEET IN on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve 2025, it was announced that the band would be celebrating their 20th Birthday at Birdwell Venue in Barnsley on 20 June 2026, with a fourth BIG DAY OUT Festival, with The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican as headliners, and with support from nine other acts including
John Otway and
Kathryn Roberts &
Sean Lakeman. At the outset of 2026, Scott Doonican embarked on a short series of special One Man Show dates under the title of 'Magical History Tour', during which he recounted events from the band's twenty year history via storytelling and songs. Meanwhile, the band continued their EVOLVER Tour into a second leg between January and May. Scott Doonican also re-recorded the whole of the 2011 album
The Dark Side of the Tarn for its 15th Anniversary. The new version included rewritten songs, a cover of Arnold Layne by Pink Floyd and a new song donated and written by
Steve Knightley from
Show Of Hands. ==Influences==