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''NOTE: This article relates to the Irish-Canadian Traditional Celtic folk singer-songwriter, Eileen McGann, NOT the American Republican commentator, wife of [[Dick Morris]], co-author of "[[Catastrophe]]," also named Eileen McGann. Please do not vandalize this article with diatribe intended for or directed at the American, nor include any edits referring to her. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON!''
''NOTE: This article relates to the Irish-Canadian Traditional Celtic folk singer-songwriter, Eileen McGann, NOT the American Republican commentator, wife of [[Dick Morris]], co-author of "[[Catastrophe]]," also named Eileen McGann. Please do not vandalize this article with diatribe intended for or directed at the American, nor include any edits referring to her. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON!''


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== External Links ==
== External Links ==

Revision as of 08:07, 12 July 2013

  • Comment: add references in discography section (chat) techatology 12:13, 10 July 2013 (UTC)

NOTE: This article relates to the Irish-Canadian Traditional Celtic folk singer-songwriter, Eileen McGann, NOT the American Republican commentator, wife of Dick Morris, co-author of "Catastrophe," also named Eileen McGann. Please do not vandalize this article with diatribe intended for or directed at the American, nor include any edits referring to her. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON!

Eileen McGann
File:Photo - Eileen McGann & David K in concert - emdk.jpg (... to be uploaded, awaiting copyright licensing confirmation.)
Background information
Birth nameEileen McGann
BornOntario, Canada
OriginVancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
GenresCeltic, Traditional, Contemporary, Singer-songwriter
Occupation(s)Musician, singer, songwriter, producer, artist
Instrument(s)Voice, guitar
Years active1984–present
LabelsDragonwing Music
Websiteeileenmcgann.com

Eileen McGann is a Juno Award-nominated Irish-Canadian singer, songwriter and traditional Celtic musician. With seven critically-acclaimed solo CDs, she has established a career touring across North America and Great Britain that has spanned almost 30 years. She is also an accomplished landscape painter, specializing in tree portraits and scenes of the Canadian wilderness, coast and mountains.

Biography

Eileen McGann was born in Ontario, Canada to Irish parents (father, Frank, was born in Dublin; mother, Elizabeth, was born in Wales to Irish parents) and was the third of four children. The family gradually moved to Alberta, with Eileen the last to join them in 1990, moving to Calgary. In 1999, she moved to rural Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where she is now based.

Musical Career

Her musical career began in her teens, mainly singing Irish and Scottish traditional music, and she was a member of the Fiddler’s Green Folk Club in Toronto where she performed on a regular basis. She began playing major Canadian folk festivals in 1984 and shortly thereafter began touring across Canada and the US. Her professional career began while she was still attending university--where she ultimately earned four degrees (BA, BEd and two MA’s) in various subjects, including history, philosophy, theatre and medieval studies.

Her vibrant interpretations of the haunting songs of the Celtic tradition made her name quickly on the Canadian folk music scene. With the release of her first album, Elements (1986), which included seven of her own songs, McGann began to be redefined as a singer-songwriter, even though she continued to sing Celtic traditional music. This album garnered attention in Great Britain as well as North America; she played her first British festival, the Glasgow MayFest in 1987 and has continued to have a thriving touring career there ever since.

Her second album, Turn It Around (1991), was hailed as one of the top albums of the year by the Boston Globe[1], (as well as by many other reviewers), and took her touring career to a new level which continued throughout the 90’s.

Her 1995 release, Journeys, continued her practice of including a number of her own compositions along with interpretations of lesser-known traditional Celtic songs. Responding to the requests of traditional music fans, her 1997 CD, Heritage, was entirely traditional Celtic and British material and was distributed by Borealis Records in Canada and by Greentrax in Scotland.

In 2001, McGann released Beyond The Storm, which received a 2002 Juno Award nomination in the category of Best Roots or Traditional Album - Solo.[2]

In 2004 McGann released a compilation CD entitled Light, which included three new songs as well as a themed selection of songs from previous albums. The CD is described as “songs of hope, healing and the spiritual journey”[3] , and was brought about at the request of an Alberta-based healer’s collective which had been using McGann’s songs in their work as inspiration for their clients.

Her seventh solo CD, Pocketful of Rhymes, was released late in 2010, and comprises an eclectic collection of original and traditional songs. This album garnered McGann a 2011 Canadian Folk Music Awards (CFMA) nomination as “Traditional Singer of the Year”.[4]

Some of her best-known songs include "Too Stupid for Democracy," a ripping take on various political systems; "Requiem (for the Giants)," a lament for the loss of old-growth forests; "Turn It Around," a portrait of homelessness, and other songs on environmental, political and social themes, as well as uplifting songs on wilderness and canoeing. Many of her songs have been recorded by other artists (including Roy Bailey, Anne Hills and others) and included on compilation CDs in Britain, the US and Canada.

All of McGann’s CDs have been released on her own independent Dragonwing Music record label, which she began in 1986. Aside from her first album, McGann has been producer of her own CDs, with sideman and partner David K co-producing and engineering the most recent four releases.

In addition to performing at folk clubs, halls and festivals, McGann also teaches at a variety of music camps, and does individual workshops in songwriting, vocal styles, and traditional song.

Songbook

In October 2011, BerLen Music of Ontario released The Eileen McGann Songbook, a comprehensive book of 50 of her written and recorded songs, as part of the “Essential Canadian Songwriter Series.” The book also includes extensive interview material and dozens of McGann’s landscape sketches.

Landscape Painter and Artist

Eileen McGann is also an acclaimed painter of colourful, semi-representational landscapes and treescapes, mostly of Western Canada. Working in acrylics, watercolour and pastel, she focuses on interpreting the spirit of the scene using bold colours and expressive design elements. One ongoing series involves portraits of individual trees or of distinctive groupings of trees, interacting with the negative space of air and land behind in a colourful “stained glass” style. Her art is featured in a book entitled Green Art: Trees, Leaves, and Roots, by E. Ashley Rooney and Margery Goldberg, to be published in February, 2014, by Schiffer Publishing in the US.[5] McGann’s art web site is her main, ongoing exhibit space, but she also exhibits regularly in gallery shows on Vancouver Island.

In addition to her painting, McGann's artistic endeavours include drawing Celtic knotwork. She teaches classes, tutorials, and workshops in visual art, including how to draw Celtic knotwork designs freehand at music and arts festivals.

Discography

Studio Albums

  • POCKETFUL OF RHYMES - DRGN 118 -2010
  • LIGHT - DRGN 117 -2004
  • BEYOND THE STORM - DRGN 116 - 2001
  • HERITAGE - DRGN 005 -1997
  • JOURNEYS - DRGN 113 -1995
  • TURN IT AROUND - DRGN 112 -1991
  • ELEMENTS - DRGN 111 - 1987

Other

With "Trilogy" (Eileen McGann, Cathy Miller and David K):

  • TWO THOUSAND YEARS OF CHRISTMAS - DRGN 114 - 1996

Publications

(http://www.amazon.com/Green-Art-Trees-Leaves-Roots/dp/0764345486/)

References

  1. ^ Boston Globe (December 19, 1991). "Top 10 Records of 1991". Boston Globe. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  2. ^ Juno Awards, (junoawards.ca). "Juno Awards Database Search: Eileen McGann (Artist)". Beyond the Storm - 2002 Nominee: Best Roots & Traditional Album: Solo. Dragonwing Music. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  3. ^ McGann, Eileen. "Light (CD) (2004)--Liner Notes". Dragonwing Music (E. McGann). Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  4. ^ Canadian Folk Music Awards, (folkmusic.ca). "Canadian Folk Music Awards -- Results 2011: Traditional Singer of the Year Nominees". Traditional Singer of the Year Nominee- Eileen McGann: Pocketful of Rhymes. Dragonwing Music. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  5. ^ Rooney (with Margery Goldberg), E. Ashley. "Green Art: Trees, Leaves, and Roots". Schiffer Publishing. Retrieved July 7, 2013.


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