Ceili Rain

Ceili Rain came together in 1995 under the leadership of longtime songwriter Bob Halligan, Jr. A native of Syracuse, N.Y., he had been mulling over the notion of merging Celtic instrumentation with a pop-rock framework ever since 1989, spurred on by his wife Linda to pursue the concept. Earlier in his career he supplied material to metal acts including Judas Priest and Blue Öyster Cult, yet he grew uneasy about the link to acts viewed unfavorably; he also collaborated with Michael Bolton and placed songs with an array of performers such as Cher, Kathy Mattea, and Joan Jett. In 1991 he released a solo album that failed to register on the charts. By 1995 Halligan had relocated from New York to Nashville, where the creative climate felt better aligned with his goals. Eager to fuse the Celtic sounds he had come to admire with his established rock songwriting approach, he assembled Ceili Rain—whose name loosely means “heavenly party” in Gaelic. The group refined its sound through live performances before securing a deal with the independent imprint Punch Records. Its 1997 release wove together inspirational spiritual themes, Celtic-rock textures, and sturdy pop-rock craftsmanship, earning favorable notices from numerous outlets including Billboard.