December 21, 2006
A Barra li'l Christmas. The Barra MacNeils get in the yuletide mood
By Dean Lisk, Halifax Daily News

If the Barra MacNeils are in town, chances are snow will follow.

"It would appear we bring Christmas wherever we go," said Stewart MacNeil, who is on his family's holiday tour of Canada.

Leaving balmy Cape Breton in late November, the family compact arrived in
Vancouver to find snowdrifts swirling round their shoes.

"Well, winter is here, for sure," said MacNeil, who performs two shows with the rest of his siblings - Sheamas, Kyle, Lucy, Boyd and Ryan - at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium tomorrow.

The tour, which ends in Glace Bay on Saturday, is in support of the Celtic family's new Christmas CD, simply titled The Christmas Album II. It was because of the popularity of their first CD that the family decided to release a second. The new disk features 15 tracks, ranging from Gaelic version of well-known carols and original material. There is a Bluenose version of Ave Maria, and a Stan Rogers number.

Summer on the Mira

The album was recorded at Kyle MacNeil's home on the Mira, and was finished at the Soundpark Studio in Sydney, during the dog days of summer.

"It was pretty hot," MacNeil said. "You have to keep your air conditioner going and the fridge running and full of Christmas goodies."

If any family could pull off Christmas in August, it's the MacNeils. Formed 20 years ago, the band has a long association with the yuletide season, going far beyond their 2000 CMT Christmas special and 2001 Cape Breton Christmas DVD.

In their early days, the family used to perform regularly around the holidays all over the island.

"This one family would take the bus to Sydney at 9 a.m. to get a table, and they would bring their boardgames and play games until the show started in the afternoon," said MacNeil.

"It is a time of year that keeps us busy, but it is also great to put you feet up when it is over."

Christmas at the family home, he said, saw a steady chain of visitors, merriment, and a little road hockey.

"It was always a time of year where people just stopped for a few minutes just to enjoy their family and friends," he said. "A lot of people saw how the show does get them into the mood.

"It is very much a sentimental Christmas, with people saying it reminds me of what it used to be like when they were growing up. At this time of year, the audiences seem to be more in a sentimental mood."

»