Casey Neill is an American musician. He leads Portland, Oregon-based band Casey Neill & The Norway Rats, singing with a raspy vocal quality and playing electric and acoustic guitars. Neill's style, folk-punk, mixes influences from punk, Celtic and folk music, and has been compared to R.E.M. [1] and The Pogues. [2] The Norway Rats include Jenny Conlee of The Decemberists on keyboards and accordion, among other established Portland musicians Adam East, Little Sue, Hanz Araki and Ezra Holbrook of Dr Theopolis.

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History

After graduating from The Evergreen State College with an ethnomusicology education, Neill developed as an artist in the underground music community of the Pacific Northwest, releasing his first album, Rifraff , in 1995. Two songs from that album, Rifraff and Dancing on The Ruins of Multinational Corporations , became the defacto soundtracks for many Earth First! and other logging protests during the 1990’s, a time of growing tension between environmentalists and the logging communities of the Pacific Northwest. ^[3] Dancing on the Ruins of Multinational Corporations is still sung by protest communities around the world. ^[4]

Highly regarded Scottish musician and producer Johnny Cunningham, one of Neill’s early supporters, produced his albums Skree and Brooklyn Bridge . Cunningham plays fiddle on these albums plus Live on 11th Street , the last live recording of him before his untimely passing in 2003. Besides including some of his current bandmates and Johnny Cunningham, Brooklyn Bridge features cameos from Chris Funk of the Decemberists, John Wesley Harding, Erin McKeown and Phil Cunningham, Johnny’s brother. ^[5]

Neill has been included on numerous compilations. One tribute release, Where Have All the Flowers Gone: the Songs of Pete Seeger (Appleseed Recordings), won Top Independent Release of 1998 from the American Association of Independent Music. The compilation includes Neill alongside tracks from Bruce Springsteen and Billy Bragg, two artists to whom Neill has been compared ^[6].

Discography

• Brooklyn Bridge - In Music We Trust Records - 2007
• Memory Against Forgetting - Daemon Records - 2005
• Live on 11th Street - self-release - 2004
• Raleigh & Spencer 7” - Broadside Records - 2003
• Portland West - Appleseed Recordings - 2001
• Skree - Appleseed Recordings - 1999
• Casey Neill Appleseed Recordings - 1998
• Riff Raff - Mock Turtle Music - 1996

Compilations (Exclusive Tracks):

• KBOO Pickathon 2003 Live - on "Lucy Campbell and the Jolly Tinker" (reels) with Kevin Burke and "Chinquapin" by Casey Neill with Little Sue
• Hold Me Up To The Light: A Tribute to Peter Wilde (2003) - on "Carnival" by Peter Wilde with Little Sue
• KBOO Pickathon 2001 Live - on "Kitty" by Casey Neill Trio
• Where Have All the Flowers Gone: the Songs of Pete Seeger (1999) - on "Old Father Hudson/My Dirty Stream" by Casey Neill

References

1. ''Memory Against Forgetting Review''
2. ''Casey Neill's new CD paints a folk-punk portrait of the Big Apple''
3. ''Rousing Sendoff for Bari at Memorial Party''
4. ''Big Wedding vs. Big Oil - Shell Petrol Station Blockaded in Activist Wedding''
5. ''Brooklyn Bridge Review''
6. ''Casey Neill on All Music Guide''