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CORMAC NEESON releases single ‘Broken Wing’, taken from his solo debut album ‘White Feather’.
Broken Wing is the first single from Cormac Neeson’s Northern Ireland Music Prize nominated album, White Feather, which is slated for re-issue through Social Family Records in Q2, 2020.
In addition to the singles and album being re-released around the globe, the re-issue will also include some never before released bonus tracks, and more, for those in the UK and Ireland who already have access to the brilliant record. Opened up to the rest of the world today, Broken Wing can now be streamed everywhere and is also available to radio for airplay.
Co-written by Neeson with Tennessee legend, Blue Miller, the track was recorded in Nashville and mixed in Belfast. It features an emotional arrangement that combines the best of both of those rich and diverse cultures, including beautifully crafted Nashville pedal steel by John Heinrich (who has performed with artists such as Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, and Tammy Wynette) to a magical blend of choral backing vocals from some of the finest Northern Irish singers, hand-picked by Neeson. The production and sound of the finished recording conveys the vulnerability that such a delicate subject matter demands.
Commenting on the track, Neeson says, “I’ve never written a song like Broken Wing before. Even though I’ve heard it hundreds of times now, I still get emotional every time I sing it back because of just how relevant the lyric is to my life and my family’s life. It’s my hope that maybe when people hear this song they can relate to the message.”
In Northern Ireland, Cormac Neeson is an ambassador for Mencap, a learning disability charity, who have fully supported Broken Wing and the album, White Feather. The new partnership stemmed from an instant connection with the lyrics of Broken Wing.
In 2014, his son Dabhóg was born three months prematurely and with Down’s Syndrome. The impact of that life changing experience had such a lasting and profound effect that Neeson sought solace in penning an autobiographical and emotional account of his inner thoughts and what it’s like to bring up a child with disability.
Dabhóg attended the Mencap Children’s Centre in Belfast when he was two years old, the Centre a unique specialist learning environment for children with a learning disability, autism and developmental delay, which is run in partnership with the Belfast Health Trust. The charity also provides programmes and family support services to help parents and carers of young children with a learning disability.
Neeson hopes that the song and his family’s story will help raise awareness of learning disability. In support of the single, he also made a short mini documentary about the making of Broken Wing, which is he himself gets the extra chromosome 21 that forms the genetic ID of Down’s Syndrome, tattooed on his shoulder. Watch the documentary on YouTube here.
ABOUT CORMAC NEESON
Cormac Neeson, the lead singer of Northern Irish rock band The Answer, blazed the road to rock ‘n’ roll glory for the better part of a decade, touring the world, sharing stage supports with the likes of AC/DC and The Rolling Stones, achieving both fan and peer respect as not only an outstanding vocalist but consummate performer. Yet, recessed deep within his creative subconscious lay a creative music and Celtic narrative that constantly gnawed for release from the straight jacket of rock ‘n’ roll.
It is well documented that the last The Answer record Solas (2016), arrived unexpectedly, borne from moments of solitude, darkness and desperation. This was in part inspired by Neeson’s journey from the edge of personal trauma as he overcame his first-born son Dabhóg’s premature, life threatening and complicated birth. Following Solas, Neeson decided it was finally time to reach for something different.
Following three intensive song writing trips to the USA over a period of 15 months, the album was recorded in 2018 in Nashville at the legendary Studio 19, now the Sound Kitchen. Cormac immersed himself in the rich musical history of both the studio and the city, channelling a re-energised creativity working with some of the finest Nashville musicians including Steve Grossman on drums (Gibson Miller band, India Arie), Doug Kahan on bass (Cody Johnson) and John Heinrich on Pedal Steel (Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, and Tammy Wynette).
Following the album tracking, he returned to complete dubbing and mixing in Belfast where he brought in some of Northern Ireland’s finest musicians to help with final arrangements. The result is a powerful blend of two diverse and rich musical cultures, a Celtic Nashville concoction connected by Neeson’s unique vocal tones and song writing prowess, performing songs co-written with leading USA and Nashville country songwriters including 2016 Tennessee songwriter of the year Corey Lee Barker; Steve O Brien, Blue Miller, Chase Akers, Blake Densmore and Allen McKendree Palmer who between them have sold in excess of 30 million songs.
In White Feather, Cormac Neeson has shed a skin, revealing something about himself that defies all previous perception. In the acclaimed words of Dylan, he has decided that everyone should see what he knows about himself.
More information available here.
