Brian McNeill

McNeill learnt music on the violin before taking up other instruments including guitar, fiddle, viola, mandolin, bouzouki, cittern, concertina, and hurdy-gurdy, as well as singing. He played fiddle with Battlefield Band from its formation in 1969 until 1990.{{cite journal |last1=Weir |first1=Rob |title=On the Road Again: BRIAN MCNEILL & Scottish Wanderlust |journal=Sing Out! |date=Autumn 2010 – Winter 2011 |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=56–59 |issn=0037-5624 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite news |title=McNeill offers up the Scottish legends |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/203791424/?terms=Busker%2B%22Brian%2BMcNeill%22 |accessdate=1 May 2019 |work=Asheville Citizen-Times |date=14 July 2016 |location=Asheville, North Carolina |page=B2}}{{cite news |last1=Romanski |first1=Kara |title=Taking the road less traveled. Brian McNeill and his wife enjoy the scenic routes in life |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/256772847/?terms=Busker%2B%22Brian%2BMcNeill%22 |accessdate=1 May 2019 |work=Daily Record |date=15 October 2010 |location=Morristown, New Jersey |page=7 TGIF!}} In 1987, he won the UK National Songsearch competition for amateur and professional performers, having been runner-up in 1986.{{cite news |title=Sponsorship shortfall hits Songsearch |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001180/19870910/027/0004 |accessdate=5 May 2019 |work=The Stage |date=10 September 1987}}

From 1996 until January 2008, McNeill was head of the traditional music course at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow.{{cite news |last1=Scott |first1=Robert Dawson |title=Accordionist is new head of traditional music course |url=http://search.ebscohost.com.rp.nla.gov.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=anh&AN=7EH3948689791&site=ehost-live |accessdate=1 May 2019 |work=The Times |date=30 January 2008 |page=26 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

As a novelist he has published three books, The Busker (1989), To Answer the Peacock (1999), and In the Grass. He has also produced an acclaimed audio-visual show about Scottish emigration to America, The Back o' the North Wind.{{cite news |last1=Sawyers |first1=June |title=Allure of emigration. Brian McNeill's 'North Wind' profiles Scottish wanderlust |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/389495703/?terms=Busker%2B%22Brian%2BMcNeill%22 |accessdate=1 May 2019 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=5 December 1991 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=3, S5}}{{cite news |last1=Bird |first1=John |title=Americans may be in for quite a shock |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000726/19910223/233/0018 |accessdate=5 May 2019 |work=Newcastle Evening Chronicle |date=23 February 1991 |location=Newcastle, Northumberland, England |page=18}}

Apart from his visible contributions, McNeill is influential in Scotland and abroad as a producer. He has many production credits in the UK and North America including "Emigrant and Exile" for Eric Bogle with John Munro.The Great Scots Musicography {{ISBN|1-84183-041-0}}, 2002 Mercat Press, Edinburgh

McNeill's songs often feature lyrics based on Scottish historical themes, and he continually has celebrated the culture of his fellow Scots, including those who have emigrated to North America. His album The Back o' the North Wind features songs about industrialist Andrew Carnegie and the man who initiated the conservation movement in the United States, John Muir.

Brian McNeill won the inaugural Fatea Lifetime Achievement award in 2007{{Cite web|url=http://www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazineOld//awards2007.html|title=Website Powered by FATEA|website=Fatea-records.co.uk|accessdate=2020-07-05}} and was the producer of 2017's instrumental album of the year, "Matt Tighe", the eponymous debut album of the young English fiddler that Brian had inspired at one of his many Cambridge Folk Festival appearances.{{Cite web|url=http://www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazine/news/Wnners2017/|title=FATEA – Home|website=Fatea-records.co.uk|accessdate=2020-07-05}}

• The Busker, Macdonald, 1989, {{ISBN|0-356-17943-5}}
• To Answer The Peacock, Black Ace Books, 1999, {{ISBN|1-872988-32-6}}
• In the Grass, Author House, 2012, {{ISBN|9781467884594}}

• 1976 [#01] Farewell to Nova Scotia debut studio album (first released on Escalibur label as Scottish Folk)
• 1977 [#02] Battlefield Band studio album #02 (first released on Topic label)
• 1978 [#03] Wae's me for Prince Charlie studio album #03 (first released on Escalibur label)
• 1978 [#04] At the Front studio album #04 (first released on Topic label)
• 1979 [#05] Stand Easy studio album #05 (first released on Topic label ; reissued as Stand Easy/Preview in 1980)
• 1980 [#06] Home Is Where the Van Is studio album #06
• 1982 [#07] The Story So Far 1977-1980 compilation album #1 of the 3 first studios albums released on Topic label
• 1982 [#08] There's a Buzz studio album #07
• 1984 [#09] Anthem for the Common Man studio album #08
• 1986 [#10] Music in Trust Vol 1 Soundtrack album #01
• 1986 [#11] On the Rise studio album #09
• 1987 [#12] After Hours: Forward to Scotland's Past compilation album #2 of the five last previous albums
• 1987 [#13] Celtic Hotel studio album #10
• 1988 [#14] Music in Trust Vol 2 Soundtrack album #02
• 1989 [#15] Home Ground – Live From Scotland live album #1 (recorded live in Aberdeen, Scotland during the group's Scottish tour in Spring 1989)
• 1998 [#00] Live Celtic Folk Music (live recording of a concert at the 1980 Winterfolkfestival, held in Dordrecht, Netherlands; released only on a foreign label)

• 1978 Monksgate
• 1985 Unstrung Hero
• 1985 The Busker and the Devil's Only daughter
• 1991 The Back O' The North Wind (Greentrax Recordings)
• 1994 Horses for Courses (with Tom McDonagh)
• 1995 No Gods (Greentrax Recordings){{cite journal |last1=Carnahan |first1=Danny |title=Hail Caledonia: A Brief History of Scottish Song in America |journal=Acoustic Guitar |date=May 2018 |url=http://acousticguitar.com/hail-caledonia-a-brief-history-of-scottish-song-in-america/ |accessdate=5 May 2019}}
• 1995 Stage By Stage (with Iain MacKintosh)
• 1999 To Answer the Peacock (Greentrax Recordings)
• 2000 Live and Kicking (with Iain MacKintosh; includes "The King of Rome")
• 2009 The Baltic tae Byzantium (Greentrax Recordings)
• 2010 The Crew o' the Copenhagen (with Drones & Bellows)
• 2015 The Falkirk Music Pot (Greentrax Recordings) (featured as "Brian McNeill & Friends celebrate his home town's music") (22-track double album){{cite web |url=http://www.greentrax.com/music/product/the-falkirk-music-pot |title=The Falkirk Music Pot |date= March 2016 |website=Greentrax |accessdate= 5 March 2016}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.brianmcneill.co.uk/ Official website]
• [https://www.templerecords.co.uk/pages/brian-mcneill Brian McNeill profile] at Temple Records

{{Battlefield Band}}

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Category:1950 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century Scottish male singers

Category:Scottish male songwriters

Category:Scottish folk musicians

Category:Scottish fiddlers

Category:British male violinists

Category:Battlefield Band members

Category:21st-century Scottish violinists

Category:21st-century Scottish male singers

Category:British male songwriters