December 29, 2006

Ceili Rain mixes party music with a Catholic message

Ned Andrew Solomon, Tennessee Register

Nashville-based Ceili (pronounced Kaylee) Rain took the recent Unity Awards by storm, earning Best Group of the Year.

The band, led by songwriter Bob Halligan Jr. blends pop-rock music with an Irish flavor, while promoting a Catholic/Christian message. As Halligan states on the group’s website, “The mission of this group is to bring faith-based music to people of all faiths and no faith, to encourage people to talk to and listen to God, and to mix rock ’n’ roll and Celtic flavors in a way that is exciting, danceable, joyous and musically solid.”

To support that mission, the band has produced five albums and toured extensively through the United States, and internationally to Canada, Belgium, Italy and Ireland. Besides lead singer and songwriter Halligan, the group includes Buddy Connoly on button accordion, Raymond Arias on lead guitar and vocals, Tyler Duncan on tin whistles and uilleann pipes, Matt Mason on bass and vocals, and Bill Bleistine on drums.

So why the name Ceili Rain? “It has drawn more mispronunciations than my darkest nightmares could have suggested!” said Halligan. “But the combo of the Gaelic meaning – an all-ages, live music party – with the Latin – heavenly – and the rain, make it a downpour of heavenly partiness.”

That party attitude is certainly in evidence on the band’s latest release, “Whatever Makes You Dance.” Their brand of mixing music with religion has certainly grown in popularity, but Ceili Rain’s use of Catholic themes is often overshadowed by the more encompassing Christian market.

“We make prayerful party music,” said Halligan. “It is more Catholic than Protestant in that it focuses on the commandment to ‘love one another as you love Me.’ Protestants are often very uncomfortable with this aspect of our music.”

Part of the problem is the paucity of specifically Catholic radio markets or venues for live performances, making for a rougher road for those artists who align themselves with the Catholic faith.

“There pretty much is no Catholic road,” said Halligan. “It’s a dirt path, but we’re under construction!”

Despite the more difficult path, Ceili Rain has been able to gain a large audience and accolades from critics. The band has won Group of the Year two years in a row, and video/DVD of the year for its song, “Hallways of Always,” at this year’s Seventh Annual Unity Awards in Davenport, Iowa. The event is organized by the United Catholic Music and Video Association to give recognition to Catholic artists.

“The ones who love it appreciate the fact that we’re unafraid to say what we feel,” said Halligan, “and I suspect they dig the influences of our mainstream music background.”

In fact, before taking his religious musical journey, Halligan created a significant mainstream legacy as a songwriter, penning more than 140 songs for rock, country and pop artists including Cher, Michael Bolton, KISS, Judas Priest and Kathy Mattea.

At a certain point, Halligan found more of a home in Christian music. “My dear friend Rick Cua was a Christian artist,” explained Halligan. “I started writing with him and for him at the beginning of his 10-album career, and stayed with it straight through. That experience taught me so much and allowed me to develop my own slant. Along the way others encouraged me to incorporate it into the artist thing.”

After growing up and attending Catholic schools in Syracuse, N.Y., Halligan went on to earn a bachelor’s of art degree from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. After 14 years in New York City and eight in Nashville, he returned to central New York State, where he lives with his wife of 30 years, Linda, and his teenage son Liam.

Although Halligan spends the majority of his time traveling between his New York home and the band’s Nashville home base, he has set his sights on international concerns. Ceili Rain has begun incorporating fund-raising into its touring, promoting the organization Mercy Corps, which has provided $1 billion in assistance to people in 82 nations in the areas of emergency relief services and sustainable economic development.

With headquarters in North America, Europe and Asia, the agency’s global programs employ 3,200 staff and reach nearly 10 million people.

“I love their wonderful work around the world,” said Halligan. “Dan O’Neill is an amazing fellow who inspires me to never give up believing that the world can be healed.”

Until the fund-raising kicks into high gear, Ceili Rain will continue to spread its fun and thoughtful message to one concertgoer and CD buyer at a time. They have a varied audience, “aged three to 93,” according to the band’s website, but there is a bottom line that they hope all folks will get from their music: “Keener awareness of their sacred gift of uniqueness from God, of their fellow people in need,” said Halligan. “And of the joyous opportunities we all get everyday to make God proud.”

Photo by Theresa Laurence

Bob Halligan, Jr., right, leads the Nashville-based band Ceili Rain in a performance at World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002. The band, who makes “prayerful party music,” was recently honored as group of the year by the United Catholic Music and Video Association.