Brian McNeill (born 6 April 1950, Falkirk, Scotland) is a Scottish folk multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and musical director. He was a founding member of Battlefield Band which combined traditional Celtic melodies and new material.
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.[1][2][3] In 1987, he won the UK National Songsearch competition for amateur and professional performers, having been runner-up in 1986.[4]
As a novelist he has published three books, The Busker (1989),[2][3][6]To Answer the Peacock (1999),[2][3] and In the Grass.[2] He has also produced an acclaimed audio-visual show about Scottish emigration to America, The Back o' the North Wind.[2][6][7]
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.[8]
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.[6][2]
Brian McNeill won the inaugural Fatea Lifetime Achievement award in 2007[9] 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.[10]
^ abWeir, Rob (Autumn 2010 – Winter 2011). "On the Road Again: BRIAN MCNEILL & Scottish Wanderlust". Sing Out!. 54 (1): 56–59. ISSN0037-5624.[permanent dead link]
^Bird, John (23 February 1991). "Americans may be in for quite a shock". Newcastle Evening Chronicle. Newcastle, Northumberland, England. p. 18. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
^The Great Scots Musicography ISBN1-84183-041-0, 2002 Mercat Press, Edinburgh
