Frontman/guitarist Keith Roberts and his group Young Dubliners have wanted to record an album of traditional Irish pub songs for some time. But the time was never right. Until now.

"We have sang a bunch of those songs during our live sets throughout our career," Roberts said by phone from the band's tour bus in "the middle of nowhere" last week. "We have had requests by our fans for years to put some of those songs on a CD. Well, the time came to do it when we were meeting with the important people of our somewhat new home, 429 Records. We told them about this idea, and they wanted the album right then and there.

"We still had some tour commitments that we needed to meet, and we told them we'd get them the album as soon as we could."

After last year's tour, the Young Dubs (as the group is affectionately called by fans) began working on what would become "With All Due Respect: The Irish Sessions." "We realized early on that we didn't have a lot of time to do the album. In fact, we only had 17 days to record, mix and master."

So the band — which also includes bassist Brendan Holmes, guitarist Bob Boulding, violinist Chas Waltz and drummer Dave Ingraham — made a list of old and contemporary Irish classics. "We had a lot of songs to choose from. It was so long that we toyed with the idea of saying the new album would be a 'Volume I' but decided that would be cheesy. But we did have enough songs to fill at least two more CDs.

"Anyway, we chose 20 songs to record. Out of those songs, we picked 13."

The recording went smoothly because the band treated it like a live album, said Roberts. "We were all in the same room playing together. We knew most of these songs because we learned their original arrangements way back. When we play them live, we 'Dublify' them. And that's what we were aiming for as well for the album. We give our own twist on them."

Traditional tunes, such as "Follow Me Up to Carlow," "Paddys Green Shamrock Shore" and "Rocky Road to Dublin," which are live favorites of the band and the fans, are some of the highlights of "With All Due Respect." The inclusion of a Young Dubliner original, "Ashley Falls," and a Roberts favorite, "Auld Triangle," are also included on the CD.

"'Auld Triangle' was written by Irish playwright Brendan Behan," said Roberts. "He was an interesting character. He was a boozer and spent some time in jail. And the song is from one of his plays about life in prison.

"Anyway, I sing this a cappella during our live set and thought it would be fun to have the band play it with me. The only problem is the fact that I sing it different every time I sing it. It all depends on my mood. And it took us a few takes to get it right."

If you go

What: Young Dubliners

Where: The Depot, 13 N. 400 West

When: Saturday, 8 p.m.

How much: $15

Phone: 467-8499 or 800-888-8499

Web: www.smithstix.com

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E-mail: scott@desnews.com