BLOGCRTICS.org
Music Review: Casey Neill — Brooklyn Bridge Written by Michael Jones
Published June 03, 2007
Casey Neill's voice, especially on his latest album, Brooklyn Bridge, sends
a clarion call up and down my spine whenever I listen to it; all at once it
is something both crystal clear and yet wonderfully weathered, and I've fallen
in love with it. When you couple it with Neill's knack for penning some of
the most wonderful blues/rock/folk/punk/whatever-genre lyrics that have ever
danced across my eardrums, I think I'll be on safe footing when I'm finished
gushing over it.
In the case of Brooklyn Bridge, specifically, Neill has managed to pour all
of the aches and pains earned in a life spent, into music that matters and
means something, only to pull free from the mold a damn good album made of
an intriguing mixture that blends Indie-Rock, Pop, Folk, Roots-Rock, and Pogue-esque
Irish melodies into spellbinding hooks, heartfelt lyrics, and stunning musicianship.
Granted, to paraphrase a famous lyric, he got to this point with more than
"a little help" from his friends; specifically in the form of members
of The Decemberists, both in the recording studio, and as his current backing
band while on tour — Ezra Holbrook and Jenny Conlee, especially.
Of course, it's impossible to try and put down in words what music sounds
like, especially what it may sound like to me, say, as opposed to my sister
who thinks anything and everything unrelated to My Chemical Romance or The
Used, is worthless, but I'll give it a try.
Imagine lying down near the ocean and hearing the whisper of waves as you
fall asleep, allowing your mind to settle in and turn the sounds into that
of lush and supple guitar licks that just dance across your consciousness.
Add to that the soft susurration of crickets in the background that gets turned
into sure and steady drum work, which blends in seamlessly with every other
sound and yet still manages to keep its own unique identity as it guides where
everything else is to follow.
Are you with me, so far?
Once you've finally pictured all of that and have imagined yourself nearly
asleep and hearing the soft dreaming sounds of natural musicianship, the soft
cries of birds on the horizon floating in on the breeze help you arrive at
Neill's wonderful voice, as it dances above everything on Brooklyn Bridge.
Hmm. Well, after that, all I can say is that I tried. Maybe it's the fact
that I'm a little stunned at how simple and wonderful this album is, that
the words to describe it are something just out of my reach. Brooklyn Bridge
is an album composed of all the usual things you'd expect in a album crafted
by a talented singer/songwriter. Y'know, maybe that's it. Maybe I've allowed
myself to grow so jaded by the lack of something along those lines, that I've
allowed my words to atrophry and fall lifeless to the ground.
All I'm left with is "It rocks!" or "It's cool!" or, even
worse, "Hey, it doesn't suck!"
Well, Neill's music deserves more than that. It deserves to be heard, and
it deserves a place on your radio-station's play list, in your album collection,
and in your heart. Don't just take my word for it, though. Click this link
and head on over to his myspace page where you'll be able to listen to a couple
of tracks from Brooklyn Bridge, as well as a couple from previous albums.
Until then, please forgive the rambling style of this review… and the
nap I probably created when I asked you to close your eyes and imagine yourself
by the beach. Then again, maybe you should thank me for the nap. Naps are
good, almost as good as this album, even.
Casey Neill Brooklyn Bridge (In Music We
Trust)
Neill's last effort was a striking minimalist (yet modern) folk album. He
sang songs about the down and out, and he painted pictures of the west and
south (though not exclusively). As the title of this album indicates, he's
gone in a slightly different direction.
The songs are still about the down and out, but the focus is more global.
There is a lot more electric guitar, but even more striking is the extended
instrumentation (not to mention background vocals).
Working with an expanded sound palette works well for Neill. He doesn't overreach
or try to make his songs more important. He just allows for a bit more shading
in the corners. It may soften the sound, but not his approach.
Memory Against Forgetting has become one of my favorite albums. My sons love
it, too. I'm thinking they're gonna like this one a lot, too. Neill is really
coming into his own, and that's most exciting to hear.
GREEN MAN REVIEW - live review of CD Release
Party by Camille Alexa
When I was offered the chance to see Casey Neill & the Norway Rats at
the beautiful Mission Theater Pub in Portland, Oregon, I jumped at the chance.
Seeing anything at the Mission is a fantastic experience, and Casey Neill's
music couldn't have been showcased in a more appropriate setting. The pub
offerings and the décor are to die for, and the elegance of the place
has an edgy undercurrent, perfect for the Celtic ballad-punk sounds of Neill's
new CD, Brooklyn Bridge.
Brooklyn Bridge (to be released on Portland-based indie label, In Music We
Trust Records) has been a long time coming. Production was delayed by the
death of the CD's producer, legendary Scottish fiddle player Johnny Cunningham.
Cunningham's untimely passing in 2003 devastated Neill and so many others
in the music scene and around the world. At the Brooklyn Bridge release party
that grief came to life on stage -- along with joy, love, anger, and hard-edged
exuberance -- in the gravelly, Celto-punk voice and strummings of Casey Neill.
Especially when viewed as a whole, the entire evening's performance has an
extremely satisfying arc. The opening act, Bonfire Madigan -- a self-described
"avant-pop, chamber-rock experiment" -- packs a lot of wallop for
such a tiny package. Her performance is passionate, political, and almost
too personal. Her intensity of emotion sets the tone for the rest of the night,
and her classical virtuosity and unexpected use of her instrument (cello)
gives credibility to her activist lyrics.
By the time Casey Neill & the Norway Rats take to the stage with "Brooklyn
Bridge", the crowd is primed. The proper numbers of pints have been drunk
for true musical appreciation (have I mentioned the lovingly hand-crafted
beers on tap at the Mission? Oh yes! Any number of excellent brews; Terminator
Stout, Hammerhead, Ruby, Edgefield Wheat, Black Rabbit Porter, Sunflower IPA...
but I digress), and the band looks great. A stylish, good-looking bunch they
are, and they launch straight into the performance. So much talent on this
stage! Nobody lags behind, though the music wends its way through traditional-sounding
Celtic reels, past American twang-rock with a country edge, delves into romantic
ballad territory and finally, toward the end of the evening, settles firmly
into fabulously-delivered Celto-punk. This energetic crescendo is reached
in the last quarter of the evening. The audience has thickened, surged forward,
and as in the glory days of punk-rock, people press around the edges of what
at times looks suspiciously like a mosh pit.
The crowd's frenzy is compelling. I hover on the periphery trying to take
it all in, but the center of the dance floor is as a magnet. Here is music
so genuine, delivered with such talent and confidence, its lure is undeniable.
In the crowd, hair is tossed, arms are raised, and by the time Neill is belting
out "Hooray for the riff-raff!" ("Riffraff", from Memory
Against Forgetting), fists are pumping the air in celebratory audience participation.
This is what genuine live performance should be; something which pulls you
in and grips your blood and invites you to be a part of something larger.
This is folk-music, but also country and punk and opera and jazz and the hardest
of rock-n-roll. This is what we look for when we see a band live. This is
what Casey Neill delivers.
Ethos and Energy Casey Neill's new CD paints
a folk-punk portrait of the Big Apple By GENE ARMSTRONG
At the risk of pigeonholing himself, singer-songwriter Casey Neill
admits that, when it comes to musical categories and defining his
sound, he's most comfortable with the phrase "folk punk." That makes
sense, too, since real folk music has a shared rebellious spirit with
punk rock, and real punk rock perennially has been a forum for
expressing the concerns of the common folk.
Neill, 35, grew up listening to Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Rickie Lee
Jones records from his mother's and father's collections, and although
he went through his own hair-metal phase in the 1980s, he says his
ears and eyes finally opened to the possibilities of music when he
heard acts that combined punk, alternative rock, traditional folk and
Americana.
"Aside from those singer-songwriter types, my greatest love has been
people who combined a folk ethos and a punk energy, such as Hüsker Dü,
the Replacements, the Pogues and Uncle Tupelo," Neill said last week
on the phone from his home in Portland, Ore.
Others have described Neill's sound with some variation on "dark
alt-folk" or "modern roots rock with country, punk and Celtic styles."
Last week, Neill was preparing to embark on a modest concert tour to
promote his brilliant forthcoming CD, Brooklyn Bridge. That three-week
jaunt brings him to Tucson for a gig Saturday night at downtown's
Solar Culture Gallery.
Neill said he has played in Tucson several times in past years, mostly
at venues managed by artist Steven Eye, such as Solar Culture and the
former Downtown Performance Center.
Although Neill has returned to Portland after several years of living
and playing in and around the Big Apple, Brooklyn Bridge is in large
part a poetic folk-punk portrait of the huddled masses that comprise
the diverse human tapestry that is New York City.
The album's second song, a collision of Celtic and rowdy
Springsteen-style rock titled "We Are the City," is among its defining
high points. Its energy and edge seem to represent the richness of
community in New York.
Addressing lyrics such as "The beautiful and the broken ... I'm
drinking down on 11th and A with all my favorite wastrels," Neill
explained: "I think I was living there and getting that whole feeling
of a world-in-a-city thing. You hear five languages or more a day on
the subways. That aspect of it is really different from most other
American cities.
"The other thing that happened to inspire that song was I took a
summer-school course on Walt Whitman, and he wrote page after page
about the people and landmarks of the city, making it a living,
breathing entity."
Elsewhere on the CD, Neill evokes traditional Celtic music, R.E.M.'s
jangly fusion of country-folk and modern rock, admitted Neill idols
such as Nick Cave, New Model Army and Fugazi, and what seems like the
breadth of folk Americana, from Pete Seeger to Steve Earle.
Although Neill's own Celtic roots reach back to Scotland more than to
Ireland, the epic literature and songwriting styles of immigrants from
the British isles has greatly affected his sensibilities.
"There's that traditional immigrant experience, for people of the
second or third generations to have come here. So much of our music
today is steeped in it. Definitely, that music has spoken to me. Songs
like 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' and stuff--I was instantly
drawn to that type of melody and storytelling style."
However, Neill first decided he wanted to create music of his own when
became enraptured at 10 years old with Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n'
Roll" on the radio. "The funny thing is that Eric 'Roscoe' Ambel plays
guitar on that track," he said.
Funny because Ambel is one of many guest artists who cameo on Brooklyn
Bridge. Among the other participants are singer-songwriters Erin
McKeown and John Wesley Harding, as well as Jenny Conlee and Chris
Funk of the chamber-pop band The Decemberists. (Conlee and Funk both
play in the Neill-fronted Pogues tribute band KMRIA.)
Neill's current touring band is a small combo named the Norway Rats.
It's a trio with drummer Adam East and bassist Jeff Lister, Neill
said.
Slated for a May 8 release on the Portland-based independent label In
Music We Trust Records, Brooklyn Bridge is Neill's sixth release
overall and was some five years in the making, he confessed.
Neill released his 1995 debut album, Riffraff, himself. It landed him
a deal with the folk label Appleseed Recordings, which released Casey
Neill in 1998. That was followed by 1999's Skree, which was produced
by the late, legendary Scottish fiddler Johnny Cunningham.
Neill formed a fast friendship with Cunningham, who played in such
groups as Nightnoise and Silly Wizard and produced acts as varied as
Solas and the Dropkick Murphys. They kept in touch as Neill
"ping-ponged" back and forth between New York and Portland.
Following Neill's 2001 live album Portland West, Cunningham convinced
Neill to dive into his record collection and incorporate his love of
electric music into his repertoire of theretofore acoustic music.
Recording commenced on the tracks that would become Brooklyn Bridge.
Cunningham passed away unexpectedly at 46 in December 2003. Part of
the recordings had been completed, but Neill took his time editing and
re-recording some of the tracks in a manner similar to how he imagined
Cunningham would have.
In the meantime, Neill saw the release in 2005 of the stopgap album
Memory Against Forgetting, a collection of demos, live cuts, asides
and tracks from the now-out-of-print Riffraff. That CD served to keep
Neill on the minds of folk and indie rock fans around the country.
To complete the album, Neill created a loving tribute to Cunningham,
the elegiac Tom Waits-influenced ballad "King Neptune."
No matter which song he's singing, Neill's warm, gruff and friendly
growl is a constant. He said Cunningham instructed him to not let his
voice become too pretty on some of the songs from Brooklyn Bridge. "He
told me to party until dawn before the recording sessions, so I'd
sound like hell, like Mark Lanegan."
OREGONIAN reviews 'BROOKLYN BRIDGE'
A novel approach
Friday, May 11, 2007
DON CAMPBELL
Like great film, great music is a good story well told. Casey Neill
has spun a good one with "Brooklyn Bridge." The Portlander exposes a
tender nerve with 12 songs that play out like a novel, shoving the
listener into everything from seedy New York wharf-rat tableaus to
loving tributes to fallen brothers and old lovers.
Neill marries the heartstring intimacy of folk music to the raw power
of punk, with electric results: Imagine Pete Seeger grabbing a downed
power line. These are intensely personal songs rendered with barely
contained vulnerability and woe, wicked observation and soul-scrubbing
catharsis. Neill's voice is grit and urgency, not unlike Tom Waits or
the young Bruce Springsteen.
Six years in the making, the genesis of "Brooklyn Bridge" came about
from Neill's friendship with Scottish fiddler and producer Johnny
Cunningham, who helped shape early tracks. He also convinced Neill to
relocate to New York to perform the mix of folk and punk with him in
2002. They took up residency and laid down the beginnings of this
record. Sadly, Cunningham passed away in 2003. Neill recorded
additional tracks, including the sweetly haunting "King Neptune," a
piano-and-accordion ode to his friend.
Neill forged an unforgettable sound with help from the heavyweights
with whom he travels, including members of Portland's folk and
alt-country elite (the Decemberists' Jenny Conlee, Ezra Holbrook,
Lewie Longmire, Little Sue ).
Good storytellers chronicle the age. Count Neill among our best.
WILLAMETTE WEEK Joy In Mudville May 9th,
2007 by Jeff Rosenberg It's a long road from Portland to Brooklyn. But, for
local songwriter Casey Neill, the path to Brooklyn Bridge—his new album—was
far longer than geography would imply. It's been eight years, in fact, since
Neill last released a collection of all-new material. And that nearly decadelong
journey stretches from Portland to Manhattan and back again, passing through
several groups and labels along the way, and one unexpected, harrowing turn:
the sudden death of Neill's musical mentor (and the album's co-producer),
celebrated Scottish fiddler Johnny Cunningham.
But Cunningham didn't depart without giving Neill a valedictory pep talk on
the value of the songs now on Brooklyn Bridge (out yesterday). At their favorite
East Village bar, two nights before his fatal heart attack in December 2003,
Cunningham told Neill "how he really wanted this music to be heard,"
Neill recalls. "One of those 'you can make it, kid!' conversations."
Those words helped Neill revive the project sooner than he otherwise might
have following the death of his friend and collaborator.
And it was largely Cunningham's enthusiasm for Neill's music that had drawn
the gruff-voiced singer back to his native Northeast in late 2002. Neill had
spent a decade in Olympia and five years in Portland—during which he
developed a nascent nationwide folkie following, both alone and with the Casey
Neill Trio. Cunningham produced the trio's lone studio album, 1999's Skree,
but after a follow-up live disc, the group disbanded. Afterward, Cunningham
expressed a wish, Neill explains, "to take a bunch of my new songs from
zero to finished without any agendas." None, perhaps, save one: In the
spirit of Neill's loud musical heroes from Springsteen to New Model Army,
Cunningham said, "Let's amp this up all the way." When Cunningham
offered not only to produce the album but to play in a new band, Neill found
himself with "no relationship, no plants, no cats" and no reason
not to move to New York.
The Casey Neill Band, as it was, quickly grew into a high-volume monster demanding
its own live album. Meanwhile, radical publishers AK Press and Indigo Girl
Amy Ray's Daemon Records approached Neill about issuing a compilation of his
political songs. Some new material emerged, allowing him to push Brooklyn
Bridge further away. When Neill finally returned to Portland in 2005, he assembled
yet another group, which he christened the Norway Rats after Manhattan's endemic
rodents.
But Neill says the album didn't feel complete—and he didn't feel fully
back in Portland—until the St. Patrick's Day '06 launch of KMRIA, the
Pogues tribute band he formed with a couple of friends who also happened to
be Decemberists (Chris Funk and Jenny Conlee), among other Portland players.
The collective backs Neill on one of Brooklyn Bridge's standout tracks, "The
Holy Land." It's an immigrants' tale that, though steeped in Lower East
Side mythology, truly brought the album—and this well-traveled troubadour—back
home.
THE OLYMPIAN Songwriter Casey Neill easily
crosses genres Thematic thread is fierce on Casey Neill's latest album 'Brooklyn
Bridge' by Molly Gilmore
Although his album "Brooklyn Bridge" was produced by legendary Scottish
fiddler Johnny Cunningham, Casey Neill doesn't consider his music to be Celtic.
"I have a huge love of punk rock and a huge love of traditional folk
music," said Neill of Portland, who'll perform tonight at the Eagles
Hall in Olympia. "Where those two things collide is where most of my
favorite music is."
On "Brooklyn Bridge," Neill plays with a wide array of guest artists,
including John Wesley Harding and The Decemberists' Jennie Conlee and Chris
Funk, both of whom play in KMRIA, Neill's Pogues tribute band. Conlee will
play with Neill tonight.
As for genre, Neill crosses it all the time. He's made heavily Celtic albums,
and iTunes classifies different Neill albums as folk, country and pop.
"In most styles of music that people listen to, barring like Indian classical
or symphonic, there's a Western song format, " he said. "Really,
any song could be arranged into any of those genres - folk music, rock music.
"New country music today kind of sounds like '80s pop ballads, but it's
very lit tle like what many people actually think of as country music,"
he added.
Neill got into Celtic music while attending The Evergreen State College, from
which he graduated in 1995. He lived in Olympia from 1989 to 1994.
"An Irish band called Altan came through," he recalls. "The
music was a ferocious as any punk or metal band I'd ever seen, and then they
would have these heart-wrenching ballads. I was totally moved."
He studied Irish music at Evergreen and got involved in Celtic music.
"Some of the world's most prominent Scottish and Irish musicians have
lived in the Northwest, probably because the weather is so similar,"
he said. "I met those people.
"I was still writing and playing in underground music circles,"
he added, "but it started to work its way into everything I did."
Neill will be familiar to some in South Sound from his time here. "I
started working under my own name playing at Evergreen and around town, and
I released a cassette in '93 or '94, something like that. It was the alt-rock
salad days.
"I've been playing in town once a year at least ever since," he
said.
On "Brooklyn Bridge," Neill's music spans the country.
He moved from Portland t o New York City, where Cunningham lived, while working
on the album.
"The first three songs anyway are all about life in New York, and I guess
that's kind of a theme through the whole thing," he said. "A lot
of people who've written about the record have commented on it.
"It's funny because a lot of it was written in Portland, and musicians
from Portland worked on it. To me, it has a real grounding in the Northwest
music community.
"The last song is called 'Colville Blues,' and it's kind of a lonesome
love song set in Colville, Wash.," he added. "I really like songs
to have a sense of place. I like to set a scene so you know kind of where
something is occurring."
The record has more of a thematic thread then Neill's earlier work. "The
previous albums had pretty much been me and whatever band I had. We would
have the arrangements set and go in and make the album.
"This was a project Johnny and I built from the ground up," he said.
"Each song was without a previous arrangement, and we would see where
it would take us."
"Brooklyn Bridge" also was a long-term project. Cunningham died
in 2003.
"We were about 80 percent done and then he passed away," Neill said.
"And ever since then, I've been tinkering with it. He was a dear friend
of mine, and it was emotionally charged, and I couldn't let go of it."
PORTLAND TRIBUNE All-star album comes with
a bit of a brogue By Barbara Mitchell May 11, 2007
Casey Neill fronts local Pogues cover band, KMRIA, and that Celtic sensibility
pervades — but never hijacks — his excellent new album, "Brooklyn
Bridge."
Recorded on both coasts with an all-star cast that includes guest vocalists
John Wesley Harding and Erin McKeown and Decemberists Chris Funk and Jenny
Conlee, "Brooklyn Bridge" offers up boozy rave-ups like "Storyline"
and tender ballads such as "Once Upon a When" and "Watch for
Me" with equal dexterity.
Neill may have a knack for gathering the right supporting cast (his band for
tonight's performance includes Conlee and Funk, as well as drummer Ezra Holbrook,
guitarist Lewi Longmire and vocalist Little Sue, among others), but he wouldn't
be able to assemble that kind of crack ensemble if he weren't such a remarkably
gifted storyteller with such an expressive voice.
From start to finish, "Brooklyn Bridge" is a compelling and varied
offering from one of Portland's finest singer-songwriters, and an album that
should appeal to a variety of tastes.
SANTA CRUZ GOOD TIMES May 2007 With a voice that epitomizes tired sincerity, singer songwriter Casey Neill is at once reflective raconteur, effortlessly soliciting your empathy, and that crazy guy at the end of the bar who is the first to splash beer on himself as he raises his beer and voice to the strains of a rowdy Irish drinking song. Neill's style, a rare blend of Celtic folk rock that switches seamlessly between pub-worthy romps decrying political injustices and "tear in your beer" tunes railing against complicated love, has long since earned the "next big artist" blessing of Steve Earle, Amy Ray, and Pete Seeger. But the Portland, Oregon based musician didn't really earn his edge until he relocated to Manhattan to try his hand at the definitive big city hard life. Counting himself among the "beautiful and the broken" in his new folk-rock anthem "We Are the City". Neill's impressions of the Big Apple are clear - just follow the insistent refrain "Gotham, Gomorrah".
THECHICKENFISHSPEAKS.com Casey Neill - Brooklyn Bridge - CD (In Music We Trust) This release brings together the elements of folk, alt-country and a bit of celtic from a musician I'm embarrassed to say I never heard about. Casey Neill's writing and vocal style himself brought to mind thoughts of Warren Zevon and Neil Young in his prime. Featuring members of The Decemberists and John Wesley Harding you can start to get the whole picture of the unique sound of this release. Brooklyn Bridge has a raw, stripped down sound that is honest and revealing.
Casey Neill Integrates Folk-Punk in Brooklyn Bridge
Posted on Friday 20 April 2007
While most artists can be clumped into one accustomed genre, there
are always those few who stay clear of the classification process.
Casey Neill's newest album, Brooklyn Bridge, sounded like an ambitious
sampling to me at first. The first song on the album, the self-titled
"Brooklyn Bridge", was a flowingly electric country ballad that
reminded me slightly of R.E.M.'s post-Monster career, showcasing an
accessible though lighthearted nature. At that point, skimming the
track-listing and seeing song names like "Colville Blues" and
"Chainlink Fence", I expected the diversity of Brooklyn Bridge not to
differ much from the opening track. That thought process indeed proved
me wrong, as I ignored the fact that Casey Neill is a songwriter who
looks down on repetition, a songwriter that always surprises his
listeners with ingenuity, aggression, and liveliness. When the second
song, "We Are The City", came on, I found myself with my eyebrows
raised with surprise and delight. "We Are The City" does not even
sound like it was written by the same artist who wrote "Brooklyn
Bridge", but that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, no one
holds the desire to listen to the same replication of an opening track
twelve times. This belligerent song works off of a continuous guitar
riff and a distinctive organ (complementary of The Decemberists'
Jennie Conlee), showcasing Neill's grasp of assiduous folk-punk.
It's slightly humorous that I was reminded of The Decemberists when I
heard "The Holy Land" for the first time. Clearly sounding as if it
derives from an era of swashbuckling pirates and misty pubs on a sea
port, it features both The Decemberists' Jennie Conlee and guitarist
Chris Funk (of the famed Colbert Report shred-off). I suppose it is no
coincidence, as both The Decemberists and Neill spent a large portion
of their lives in Oregon. You can almost smell the seashore on Neill's
raspy whiskey-soaked voice as it interlaces itself over Conlee's
accordion, Funk's banjo, and Neill's own assortment of guitars. The
commencing three songs provide as archetypes for the rest of Brooklyn
Bridge, fusing together a mixture of country, folk, punk, and fetching
Americana. Neill's genuine small-town feel comes through in the
enthusiastic "Chainlink Fence", with Neill proudly preceding the
bursting chorus' hook with a naturally realistic line, "We cracked a can of Milwaukee, took free throws from the line, smiled as the
neighborhood girls walked by and didn't pay us any mind." Tracks like
"Chainlink Fence" and "Throw Me To The Dogs" are strong models for
Neill's resourceful hooks, while lighter songs in the form of
"Beautiful Night" and "King Neptune" show Neill's emotional durability
and dare I say it, more passionate side. Accordingly, that
"passionate" tag applies to more than just his music, as he is a
notable environmentalist who sports an interest in old-fashioned
protest music. His interest in environmentalism and fondness for punk
and folk have earned him more than a few comparisons to influential
British folk artist Billy Bragg.
Neill currently resides in New York City, continuing to work with the
all-star cast of artists that encompasses Brooklyn Bridge. Much of the
album was also composed of Neill's past projects, including the Casey
Neill Trio that contained multi-instrumentalist Zak Borden and fiddler
Anthea Lawrence. Neill's first release came in 1995 with Riffraff, a
folk-punk album consisting of twelve songs that embodied a strong
political core. One of his songs, "Old Father Hudson-Sailing Down
Dirty Stream", was a Pete Seeger cover that appeared on the Grammy
nominated tribute compilation, Where Have All the Flowers Gone.
Appearing on the same album among the likes of Bruce Springsteen,
Donovan, Billy Bragg, and Jackson Browne, it was quite the first
experience for the young and aspiring Casey Neill. Shortly after the
glowing contribution, he was signed by Appleseed Records and released
his self-titled album in 1998. In 1999, he formed the the Casey Neill
Trio with Borden and Lawrence, releasing the critically acclaimed
Skree that same year. After releasing two live albums, Memory Against
Forgetting was released in 2005. Brooklyn Bridge was re-released this
year and should garner a good amount of attention, generally based on
Neill's consistency for quality songwriting. Brooklyn Bridge was
dedicated to late Scottish fiddler Johnny Cunningham, additionally an
influential producer who played a vital role in Neill's career as a
mentor, friend, and collaborator. In addition to producing Skree, he
supplied his fiddling to the elusive "Storyline", one of his last
musical works before his death in 2003, respectably. Despite a few
blatant missteps, Brooklyn Bridge is an enjoyable listen that explores
several of Neill's honed genres.
OREGONIAN RATS PACK 'EM IN AT EDGEFIELD
Monday, February 12, 2007 by Lee Williams
It seemed like a secret Friday night find.
An all-star accumulation of Portland's indie-rock, folk, country and even
Irish traveling music playing a show in the hidden, ivy-covered Blackberry
Hall, tucked up a slight hill behind Edgefield Manor in Troutdale.
Turns out, it wasn't much of a secret.
Loyal fans of the folk singer-songwriter Casey Neill-led collective, the Norway
Rats, tracked the band down, and curious sonic explorers -- drawn by the early
hour, the price (free) and the line-up (the Norway Rats include Little Sue
and founding Decemberists' drummer Ezra Holbrook) -- filled the spot. Blackberry
Hall was standing-room-only and all-ages, with the youngest leading the night's
dancing.
Sophia Goslin, 2, pulled her mom, Troutdale resident Alise Goslin, to the
floor for the first rollicking jig of the Norway Rats' set, which comprised
mostly original, rocking and heartening story-songs that spanned centuries
in theme -- from Civil War tales to contemporary street life -- and lasted
nearly three hours.
Friday's show, the second stop on the band's current Great Northwest Music
Tour, finds the Rats magically blending musical artistry and fearless social
commentary into fiery, amped and quite family-friendly entertainment. (Even
with a set-list that includes the song "The Holy Land," an uplifting
ode to a particular New York City avenue, that, at the turn-of-the-first century,
included a brothel and a community of folks who wagered on rat fights.)
Neill's Springsteen-like vocals (often artfully aided by Little Sue's country
croon and Irish-whistle player Hanz Araki' s poignant notes) scour and sooth
some hard points in history: "Paddy's Lament" relays the tragic
fate of a new Irish immigrant conscripted into service for his adopted country;
and "Sisters of the Road," tells a modern story of Portland's street
kids, while giving a mindful nod to the community of folks who help them out.
The Norway Rats moved surprisingly effortlessly from melancholy ballads to
movement-inspiring modern rock such as "We Are The City," packed
with Holbrook's mighty beats.
Tough and tender, this is a band that will likely keep pulling in more fans,
now that the secret is out. Truth be told: You just can't hide honest music.
Irish music is tied to the drink like no other. It roots down your spine and pushes you towards the bar. Golden ales splash over glasses, down throats, onto shirts, and warm the cold floor. Dance in it. Smell it. See it shine. Peer at the stage through glazed eyes and suddenly those sentimental stories have happened to you. Indeed, boozehelps make Irish music work. So maybe if you cut Casey Neill open, he'll bleed Guinness as the Brooklyn transplant certainly observes that musical heritage. And while there are hints of more American folk and punk in Neill's glass, make no mistake, 'tis some floor stompin', bleeding heart, Shane MacGowan-esque, traditional pub shit.
SPLENDID reviews 'Memory Against Forgetting'
by Marco Rivera
Memory Against Forgetting opens with its emblematic title track, which borrows
its central motif from the "You don't know your past, you don't know
your future" truism, that invincible and sometimes self/importantly annoying
motto of the socially aware. A moving paean to the rebirth of activism during
that unforgettable week in Seattle back in late 1999, it's a fitting introduction
to Neill's strong, politically charged and, alas, criminally neglected body
of work, equally reliant on the powers of punk, folk, Americana and Celtic
music. Reclaiming tradition and social consciousness as weapons of resistance
and tools for significant societal change, Neill appeals to our desire for
collective experience, spinning touching and uplifting stories of hope, dignity
and progressive politics. He shows his commitment to community values with
a sympathetic look at the unsung underdog heroes and martyrs of everyday life:
street buskers, homeless people, the unemployed, human rights advocates, friends
lost to religious fanaticism. Be it through raucous rockers (the excellent
"Disorder"), fragile acoustic ballads ("Codfisher"), ragged
country, passionate bursts of punk fury or soulful touches of Irish folk,
Neill's narrative talent and concern for real people's struggles stand out.
The haunting timbres provided by fiddle players Johnny Cunningham and Sligo
master Kevin Burke evoke an epic feel that fits perfectly with the implicit
grandiosity of this emotional material, delivered with a raspy, affectionate
voice that recalls Life's Rich Pageant-era Michael Stipe. Interestingly, as
Memory Against Forgetting revisits songs culled from Casey Neill's ten-year
trajectory as a recording artist, more contemporary flavors have been added
to the traditional folksy, guitar-based approach: the title track gains a
dirty programmed beat, while "Sisters Of The Road" acquires a subtle
synth accent. The album's thirteen tracks, drawn from live shows, obscure
compilations and out-of-print material, also illustrate how Neill's art benefited
from his going electric following 1999's Skree. However, some of the songs
remain undoctored -- pictures of a past that's better left as-is, scattered
in a gallery of lively, jumbled reminiscences. The results are so evocative,
you'll be tempted to steep further in these memories, the better to share
Casey Neill's particular blend of personal and historical experience.
Casey Neill Memory Against Forgetting (AK
Press-Daemon)
Casey Neill combines traditional roots music themes and sounds and merges
them almost seamlessly with the power of modern technology. The recording
simply pops out of the speakers--I haven't heard production this fine on a
roots album in ages.
And that spectacular sound pales in comparison to the grace and strength of
Neill's writing. He's adept in all sorts of styles, from bluegrass to reels
to folk to ballads, and he infuses his songs with a depth of lyrical detail
that is rarely found. The richness of each song is almost overwhelming.
Then we get to the amazing sound. While this sort of music does sound pretty
good when presented unadorned, this album is proof that an outstanding producer
can punch up the material without overdoing the job. The sound on this album
is truly alive; these songs throb with life.
One of the finest albums I've ever heard. Period. Every part is spot on, and
Neill proves himself one of the best songwriters around. A must not only for
the roots fan, but for the fan of great music in general. Neill has been doing
this for more than 10 years...I've got to get my hands on that back catalog.
This album is truly sublime.
UTNE READER reviews "Memory Against
Forgetting" by Keith Goetzman
"... soul-searing songs about smoke jumpers, jesus freaks,
codfishermen, molybdenum miners, and more. He takes the
guy-with-a-guitar approach to a higher level and pulls you up with
him."
PUNK PLANET This right here is a slice of pure Americana, folk in its truest sense. This compilation of Casey Neill's past 10 years seems old and wise, a collection of stories of the lives of everyday people. Neill's a masterful songwriter, and this compilation highlights his talent.
BORDER RADIO COLUMN by Kurt Reighley On a related note, one of the highlights on Memory Against Forgetting, by upstart folkie Casey Neill, is a live version of the traditional "Paddy's Lament," taped at the Pickathon a couple years back. It's just one of 13 previously unreleased gems featured on this new collection from the politically charged, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, who sounds a bit like David Gray... if the latter had bigger cojones. But don't just take our word for it; Neill plays the Conor Byrne on Friday, May 27.