Cape Breton band gets ECMA Lifetime Achievement Award on 40th anniversary

Boyd MacNeil (left) and Kyle MacNeil (right) at Boyd's house in Sydney, N.S. (CTV/Ryan MacDonald)

They have been playing together as a band of brothers, and sister, since 1986.

“We went out to Expo 86 and that’s when it all began,” said Kyle MacNeil, a founding member of the Cape Breton Celtic music group, The Barra MacNeils.

This year marks the Barra MacNeils’ 40th anniversary as a family band.

Their talent has been matched over the years by their down-to-earth image and pride in their home Island and home community of Sydney Mines, N.S.

Boyd MacNeil was just five years old when the Barra MacNeils officially became a band.

“It was just normal to me because everyone was playing music around me,” MacNeil said of growing up in such a musical household.

Even back then, the youngest MacNeil said he knew he was destined to one day join his siblings Kyle, Shaemus, Stewart, Lucy and Ryan touring the country and the world.

Now, the Barra MacNeils will be honoured with a lifetime achievement award at this year’s East Coast Music Awards at their home in Cape Breton in May.

“(It’s nice) to get a little respect for 40 years, and people actually do respect it because they know how hard it is or be involved in this industry,” Boyd MacNeil said.

From the rise and fall of compact discs to the COVID-19 pandemic, the group has witnessed a lot of changes over the years.

“Analog was still in and the digital change, but once they got into downloading and CDs went out the window things got tough,” Kyle MacNeil said. “Record companies went out the window as you know but we managed to survive all the changes.”

Along the way the band has shared the stage with some big names.

“From Celine Dion, Kenny Rogers, we did an opener for Jim Messina in New York,” Kyle recalled.

The group is still going strong and say as long as they are healthy, the show will go on.

After playing the ECMA Awards show in Sydney on May 21, they hit the road for 40th anniversary concerts across the Maritimes before taking their act to the West Coast.

“Thanks to everybody for the 40 years,” said Kyle. “All the fans, our parents, all the managers we’ve had over the years.”

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