NEWS

Steve Jobs

posted Wednesday, October 05, 2011

I was so sad to learn of his passing. More than anyone else, Steve Jobs brought together technology and the arts, brought a human purpose to the computer industry. For people like me, that would have been enough, but he was so much more, a genuine innovator, leader, businessman. People are saying he was a Leonardo for our time. I don't think that's far off the mark.

I wasn't always an Apple guy, and some of the stuff they put out wasn't for me - I still can't drive a first generation iPod, the one with the dial - but look at what he did with Apple. Twice. A brilliant man.

"It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough. It's technology married with the liberal arts, married with the humanities that yields the results that make our hearts sing."

Steven P Jobs 1955-2011

Ceol Aneas 2011

posted Tuesday, June 07, 2011

I had a great time down at Ceol Aneas in rainy Nelson. Thanks to Nigel, Jeanette, Andrew and Ruth for getting me down there and Frank and Brendyn for great sound at the concert. As for Alex, Kit, Anne-Marie, Siobhán, Sophie and Fiachra - thanks for playing lads. A pleasure. Big ups to all in the guitar class - you did great! The names of the tunes we were doing are now on the Ceol Aneas page on my site. I really enjoyed the classes and hope you did too. See you next time...

ANZAC

posted Monday, April 25, 2011

Thinking about those boys. We think our lives are hard. We have no idea.

Christchurch earthquake

posted Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Just to say my heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones, or been injured, in the Christchurch earthquake yesterday. Like everyone else in New Zealand, I guess my first thought was the friends I have there, and thank God it seems they're all OK. But also like everyone else in NZ, I feel for you all. Best wishes, Bob

Warm congratulations to Wires & Wood

posted Thursday, February 10, 2011

Well done to the chaps of Wires & Wood who won Best Folk Album at the 2011 Tuis. Micheal, Dave, Bryan, Alec, Gary, Lott - well done guys, you worked hard for this - very best wishes Bob

Me and Mary Ann shortlisted in NZ Music Awards

posted Monday, January 10, 2011

Bob McNeill's new album Me and Mary Ann has been shortlisted for Best Folk Album at the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards (the "Tuis"). The awards are New Zealand's equivalent of The Grammys. Congratulations to the other shortlisted acts who are:
Flip Grater "While I’m Awake I’m At War’"
Wires & Wood "Over The Moon"
Forbidden Joe "In Mourning For The Pride Of Petravore"

The Tui Award for Best Folk Album will be presented at the Auckland Folk Festival during the final concert on Sunday 30 January 2011. For full information about the Auckland Folk Festival visit www.aucklandfolkfestival.co.nz. Bob will be performing, along with the other finalists, at a special concert on the main stage at 6pm.

Read the full press release over at www.nzmusicawards.co.nz

NEW ZEALAND TOUR STARTS 25 Jan 2011

posted Thursday, December 30, 2010

Bob McNeill tours New Zealand in support of his new album "Me and Mary Ann", starting 25 January 2011 in Kaiwaka, Northland, and take in Mangawhai, Onewhero, Titirangi, Waiheke Island and Hahei in the Coromandel. North Island shows run to 11 February, finishing at Haumoana in Hawke's Bay. South Island shows start at Picton on March 3 and finish at Nelson on March 24, taking in Christchurch, Dunedin and Central Otago. Check the tour page for updates.

Booking is still open for for free dates in the upper North Island 25 January - 11 February, central and southern South Island 6-20 March, and the upper South Island 21-23 March. Contact: info@bobmcneill.net.

Carrie's African adventure... starts here

posted Monday, December 27, 2010

My friend Carrie is cycling from Cairo to East Cape on a bike which has a name of its own. It's all in aid of the Tour D'Afrique Foundation. You can find out more, follow her progress and make a donation over at Carrie's blog: captainslogafrica.blogspot.com

Bob on Santa Barbara Backbeat, with fiddle maker Jim Wimmer

posted Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Bob appeared recently on TV in Santa Barbara, California with old friend, violin maker Jim Wimmer. Check out the show at Vimeo.com

Thanks to these people....

posted Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Last week I had the pleasure of playing with Ronan Martin at Tigh an Eilean in Sheildaig, and want to say thanks to Frank for the great craic up there... and thanks also to everyone to came along to the hall in Poolewe, where Ronan and I joined the incomparable Sandy Brechin playing for an awful lot of dancing people. Cheers!

New album Me and Mary Ann available soon. It's finished, really

posted Thursday, July 01, 2010

I started this album in April 2009 when Rob Winch persuaded me the songs needed a new life. They were all over the place, he said, and they needed to be together. So we started. I didn't really know what I was doing, but Rob steered me through. People's lives are so full of stuff these days it seems you don't get to focus on anything for long enough at a time, and months later I thought it would never be finished. I had gigs all over the place and so much else to do... but in September the last of the stuff came through from Nashville. I happened to be gigging with Ronan Martin at the time; we were at the house in Breakish, on Skye. It was midnight and I was leaving in a week for the states. (A few weeks before, Ronan and I had listened to the songs prior to the Nasville recording, in the car driving through Arnisdale.) Christine came in while the stuff was downloading, so the three of us listened to what the Nashville boys had done with the songs. We loved it.

Bits of the album were made or recorded or worked on in so many places, they all run into one. I remember mixing Signs of trouble on the Amtrak heading north out of Los Angeles to go see Jim and Peggy in Santa Barbara; couple of days later, I finished Strong winds for autumn on a Greyhound bus going across the Oakland Bridge into San Francisco (that was a productive day - I wrote Jesusita that day, on that ten-hour bus ride, and when I got to James Goldman's apartment in SF, my recorder wasn't working and I ended up in some bar in the Mission. Next morning, bit groggy, I woke up thinking about the song and found I still remembered it).

The project is full of memories of great moments for me; not least of which was rediscovering some songs I had written quite a long time ago and liked more than I remembered - putting them back on felt real comfortable. There were others that we thought about, but these are the right ten songs - my favourites from my first few years as a writer. I met and recorded with a lot of interesting people; but the best moments were always when the takes came in. The Nashville stuff came in in two lots - those were good days. You should have seen my face when John Egenes sent up his pedal steel part from Dunedin. Beautiful. Then Mike and Siobhan Moroney sent up guitar and vocals for Southland man's lament. Oh yeah. Authentic. Davy Stuart's piano part for Strong Winds came in a few days later, and it's pure Davy. Kenny put down his fiddle part on Norway Yawl, and made it look so easy that next time, I think I'll do it myself... and then Mark Mazengarb came round and made me wish I could play guitar. And then there was a great day at the end of last year when Marie's vocals came in from Galway, six songs worth.

Out on the road in NZ in January and February I didn't get much done on the project, except two days in Whangerei in January and a day in Wanaka. I didn't forget about the project, but I forgot about the sound of it, so at the end of February it was like starting again, only some very talented people had already pointed the way.

Rob went through the songs with me in March 2010 in Wellington and we completely remixed some of them; Marie and I sat and listened to the whole thing in Galway in June to sort out the vocals, and just when I thought I'd run out of people who cared anymore, Jon Sanders and I had the final listen in Dingle. Julie suffered it too, but kept smiling.

Finally it was finished. So the story of this record is a bit like my life these days; it started in New Zealand, where it was written, and it traveled Scotland, Ireland, California, New Zealand again, Scotland again and Ireland again, and then... I sent it off from a post office in Glasgow at the end of June. In January, it goes on the road, back in New Zealand. I can't thank the people who worked on it enough, Seylan, Jeremiah, Marie, John, Dug, Wayne, Pat, Mark, Mike Moroney, Siobhan, Kenny, Mike Rojas, Davy, Dow and Dennis all played or sang a storm, Steve, William and Denis turned all the right knobs and really heard it, and Rob - well, like I say, he persuaded me to do it, and then made it happen. Kia ora, go raibh maith agaibh, tapadh leat, gracias. Thank you :)

BM, Glasgow, Scotland July 2010

A word about Mary Ann

posted Tuesday, June 29, 2010

She's a muse, not a real person. Though I've imagined talking to her, sometimes... going through the songs wth Rob, at the start of the project in April 2009, he pointed out she appears in several songs I've written over the years, not just the title song (which is the newest of the songs). She's almost come to life a couple of times - and Marie does a fair impression of her in Nazareth. But no, she's not real. Not that I know of, anyway.

Ireland 2010

posted Friday, June 25, 2010

Once again - Ireland is beautiful. I spent two weeks in the west, mainly in the gorgeous county of Kerry, and managed also to get up to Galway and my beloved Mayo for a couple of days. Thanks to everyone who helped organise shows and came along to watch and listen, in Dingle, Ballyferriter, Kinvara and Westmeath. Special thanks to the supremely talented Jon Sanders, and again to Marie Dolan of the amazing voice for playing at these shows. Thanks also to Eoin Duignan for hospitality and a chance to play again at the St James' Church in Dingle. A pleasure xx

:: Erne Parkin

posted Wednesday, August 12, 2009

I've heard the sad news that Erne passed away suddenly, not long after organising this year's Mugdock Festival. My heart goes out to his friends and family. A guy with huge energy who made things happen. Slan