JOHN NEVILLE

John Neville from Cork, was a founder member and the elder statesman of North Cregg when they were founded in 1996. As a respected traditional guitar accompanist and singer, his formative influences had been the Bothy Band and Paul Brady and he was a central figure in Cork music circles. The North Cregg story has its origins in Cork city's thriving informal traditional session scene. Established Cork combination, The Four Star Trio had a regular Tuesday night session in the Gables Bar on Douglas Street and they asked singer/guitarist John Neville to substitute when members of the trio were absent.

Soon, John was asked to start a regular session night of his own, a weekly Thursday night engagement still going strong.

"I asked Christy Leahy to join me, play a few tunes and provide melody lines and runs behind my singing" John explains. "He was a natural and it seemed to work really well from the start". Neville's song repertoire at that time featured "Roseville Fair," (which he had learned from a recording of Chris Wood & Andy Cutting and which, in due course, would provide the inspiration for the title of North Cregg's first album) as well as the work of Nic Jones, Paul Brady, Martin Carthy and Steve Tilston. His guitar style was also much inspired by Carthy, Jones and Brady. Neville's own songwriting skills were yet to emerge.

John Neville began to emerge as an accomplished songwriter in his own right. "Back in '82, I had written a song called "Pressgang Paddy" and we were including it in our sets. The lads encouraged, no pushed me into song writing, which was just as well. I wouldn't have done anything without that extra push." The group's debut album was released early. "And They Danced All Night" features four of Neville's compositions, including the poignant and extraordinarily powerful "The Wobbling Man" inspired by John's late father's alcoholism and remarkable for its searing honesty. "It was risky to write it, risky to record it at all and risky to put it first on the album," he says. "But the response has been amazing and wonderful for my own confidence as a writer."

John Neville really got into his stride as a songwriter and the North Cregg contagion has spread northward from Cork, at the extreme southern tip of Ireland, to Northern Ireland. John toured Germany frequently with North Cregg, something they really relished because of the mix of theatre, club and pub concerts. They headlined the Saturday night Festival Club at the Cork Folk Festival and during John’s time performing with North Cregg they were turning up on an increasing list of Festivals all over Ireland.

Touring opportunities were limited however when John performed with North Cregg, as some of the members had full-time jobs but they made short tours of Scotland and England. "We seem to get a happy response wherever we play," John Neville remarks. "We're well rehearsed and confident on stage so we can relax and really enjoy ourselves. The North Cregg sound has reached a stage where it can develop organically and naturally and the sense of fun is a constant throughout their concerts. The fun is also captured on "And They Danced All Night," produced by Niall Vallely and Frank Torpey of Nomos and released on Peter Pandula's Magnetic Records.

At a concert in Lurgan Co. Armagh, John Neville was surprised and moved to find members of the audience singing along with "The Wobbling Man." A remark made to him later by one of the singers succinctly sums up the secret of North Cregg's success. "You all seem to be having such a great time up there that you make us want to enjoy ourselves as well."

Family and work committments forced John Neville to leave the band in 2001 and he played his final North Cregg concert on the same stage where it all began 5 years earlier - The Cork Folk Festival. John continues to play music and write songs in his home town of Cork.

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