by Rod Christie

Hailing from Cape Breton, NS, The Barra MacNeils have been making music since they were children. The group of siblings were barely into their teens when they started playing professionally. The group released their self-titled debut independently in 1986, which they sold off the stage and locally in Cape Breton. The album received positive critical attention, but not large sales.
By 1989 a couple of The Barra MacNeils were almost old enough to drink; but more importantly were the other highlights that year that included the release of their second record, Rock In The Stream, and an appearance in CM’s September/October edition of Showcase.
Since that appearance, the MacNeils have gone on to record seven albums of both traditional and original material, made regular performance appearances on The Rita MacNeil variety show, opened for Celine Dion, and broadcast performances in both Canada and the US on PBS. Sales and acclaim have continued to improve for the MacNeils as they enter their 24th year of professional performance.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 13th, 2004 at 9:54 am and is filed under Showcase. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.