January 26, 2007
Musical mother lode: Six siblings strike melodic gold in Barra MacNeils
By James D. Watts JR., Tulsa World

When it comes to music, Mother MacNeil knows best.

“Our mother grew up in the center of Cape Breton Island, a town called Washabuck, and the only musical training she had was learning to play by ear,” said Stewart MacNeil, one of the six MacNeil offspring that comprise the band the Barra MacNeils.

“That’s also how most of the rest of us started playing,” he said. “But Mom wanted us to have the opportunity to learn how to read music and study in more depth.”

So the MacNeil children went through various lessons — piano, fiddle, accordion — and a few went on to study music at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada.

“We’ve all had some formal training along the way, ”MacNeil said, “but our focus was always on traditional music.”

The group has been at the forefront of Canada’s traditional music scene practically from its first paying gig, when most of the MacNeils were still in their teens.

The band started as a four-piece: Stewart on accordion, flutes and whistles; Sheumas on keyboards and fiddles; Kyle on guitar and mandolin; and sister Lucy playing Celtic harp and bodhran (a hand-held drum).

The band made its debut at the Vancouver Expo in 1986, and soon were named “Canada’s Celtic Ambassadors.”

Their albums frequently took home top prizes from the Juno Awards and the East Coast Music Awards, two of the country’s top music honors.

In 2005, the family’s two youngest members, Boyd and Ryan, joined their older siblings for a record titled “All at Once.”

“Ryan and Boyd had a band of their own, called Slaint Mhaith, that was taking a break,” MacNeil said. “We wanted to do a project with everyone, and this seemed the perfect time.”

The Barra MacNeils will come to Tulsa for the first time this weekend, as part of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust’s Celtic Music Series.

The band’s name plays off the fact that the Scottish clan of MacNeil traces its roots to Barra Island, off the western coast of Scotland.

“The band’s name was also our mother’s idea,” MacNeil said, laughing. “And everyone knows, you probably should do what your mother tells you to do.”

While the Barra MacNeils are steeped in the rich traditions of Cape Breton music, the group’s albums have always included a mix of songs old and new.

“We’ve done a pretty good job of establishing a sound that people can identify as the Barra MacNeils,” MacNeil said. “There’s always a strong emphasis on acoustic music, but we also like to take songs that really have no ‘traditional music’ identity and bring them into our sound.”

This includes such things as turning Lindsey Buckingham’s “Second Hand News” into a kind of Celtic two-step, or creating a version of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Darling, Be Home Soon” that is as haunting as any Celtic ballad.

“A lot of that’s due to Lucy,” MacNeil said. “She’s a real focus for our live shows. She has a unique voice and does a wonderful job with the ballads.”

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