MISSION STATEMENT:

"WE SEEK TO LIVE OUR LIVES AND MAKE OUR MUSIC IN SUCH A WAY AS TO LEAD
OURSELVES AND OTHERS CLOSER TO GOD." - Bob Halligan Jr. And Ceili Rain

Ceili Rain: "Ceili, is a Gaelic word meaning 'a party with live music and dancing.' Latin word, 'Coeli,' that means Heaven. Rain symbolizes that all of this good stuff comes down to us from the Heavens above."

Bob Halligan Jr. - Lead vocals, Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards

Members of Ceili Rain - Who contributed to this CD.
Buddy Connolly - Button Accordion
Raymond Arias - Electric Guitar, Backing Vocals
Bill Bleistine - Drums
Matt Mason- Bass

With Tyler Duncan - Tin Whistle, Uileann Pipes, Bodhrán, Alto Sax
Eamonn O'Rourke - Violin, Mandolin

Additional Musicians:
Joe Hand - Bass, Acoustic guitar
Mike Rojas - Hammond B-3 organ
Cathy Chalmers - Percussion
Background Vocals: Jason Eskridge, Melinda Doolittle, Bob "Buff" Harmon

"NO YOU - NO ME" VIDEO

"WHATEVER MAKES YOU DANCE " VIDEO

Their Band's name gives the listener a big hint on what their music is like. Taken from their website, their name is defined: "Ceili, is a Gaelic word meaning 'a party with live music and dancing,' kind of like an Irish square dance.There's also a Latin word, 'Coeli', that means Heaven. Rain symbolizes that all of this good stuff comes down to us from the Heavens above."

Their unique musical style is a combination of traditional hard-driving rock drum / guitar back up and solos with traditional Celtic- inspired melodies, rhythms, drums, syncopated music, sounds, all made by Celtic instruments such as button accordion, tin whistle, fiddle, and bagpipes. Ceili Rain makes music that is, as their song writer, Bob Halligan puts it, "Celtic music for a pop/rock palate."

Very much like "a seven-headed musical joy-monster" an accurate description affectionately coined by Kathy Mattea, Ceili Rain gives high energy, enthusiastic performances of their uniquely composed Christian music, that people can relate to on several levels of enjoyment and understanding. Like their other CD's, NO YOU - NO ME offers personal slices of life, seen through Bob Haligan's life experiences, his dependence on the Lord, as a source of his strength, guidance, love, and inspiration, and his love for Jesus Christ. They are beautifully written, with both meaningful lyrics and a nice variety of catchy music, ranging from Celtic style rock/ dance music to stirring ballads and songs of personal faith which makes this CD very interesting to listen to and enjoy.

Through his songs, Bob Halligan "speaks to the listener's heart, mind, and soul," says Phil Smith, music director at WJTL Lancaster, PA. "He is a wordsmith and tells parables of faith rarely found in today's songwriters."

Ceili Rain's first TV appearance, with the band, Among Thorns was on November 1st, 2002 on TBN. "Cross Driven Records recording artists Celt/pop/rock band Ceili Rain and Worship Extreme recording artists Among Thorns will now be seen on TBN1s new Youth Network premiering on Friday, November 1."

More About Bob Halligan Jr. And Ceili Rain

Over his long career in music, Bob Halligan Jr. has sold 30 million records worldwide.

In the 1980's and 1990's Bob wrote songs for both secular and Christian music artists, having one foot in each musical world. By 1984, Bob became known as the heavy metal song doctor for secular musicians such as KISS, Joan Jett, Blue Oyster Cult ( "Beat'em Up" *"Make Rock Not War") and Judas Priest ("Take these Chains" *Heads are Going to Roll), writing 27 songs for groups in one year. Bob Halligan Jr.'s songs helped artists earn 9 or 10 gold / platinum records. Christian artists such as Rebecca St. James, Bob Carlisle and others made good use of his Christian-themed songs to promote their musical ministries as well.

However, Bob Halligan Jr. was still searching for his own sound in the late 1980's, and went through a learning process, exploring music with other writers, making a good living at the same time writing songs for Cher and others. From 1986-1990, he enjoyed many vocal recording sessions on various projects with artists such as Billy Joel and Michael Bolton.

It was his wife, Linda who suggested to him that he should try mixing pop rock with Celtic music. After trying it, he loved it and the path to being frontman for Ceili Rain had begun, though some bumps in his road were ahead of him beforehand. In 1990, His own album of songs, WINDOW IN THE WALL was ahead of its time, and didn't do well, which was discouraging, painful and depressing, but not a roadblock. It is tough to succeed in the arts, and it takes strong faith and determination to go forward, which is just what Bob Halligan Jr. did, by getting back up on the horse so to speak and worked on this idea some more about combining pop-rock with a Celtic sound. Thankfully, he persevered!!

In 1995, Bob Halligan Jr. made the hard choice to leave secular mainstream music behind, and jumped with both feet into composing and performing "prayerful and though-provoking pop-rock," mixing in a strong dose of Celtic musical flavor, creating a delightful creative sound, manifesting itself in his new band, Ceili Rain. Bob Halligan and Ceili Rain got noticed with their debut album, Say Kay-lee, launching their long successful career, which had its joys and struggles as any endeavor has, such as having a lot of turnovers in band members. However, Bob Halligan Jr. has found a satisfaction one feels in serving the Lord through his or her talents and gifts.

Bob Halligan Jr. explains in his web-site Bio, "56 band members into it, I still love the mission of this group as I see it, which is to bring faith-based music to people of all faiths (and no faith); to encourage people to talk to (and more important LISTEN to) God whether or not they feel the slightest inclination to do so; to mix rock’n’roll and Celtic flavors in a way that is exciting, danceable, joyous and musically solid."

Besides Kay-lee CD, Bob Halligan Jr. and Ceili Rain's other albums are "We're makin' a Party Live," "No You No Me," "Erasers Or Pencils," "Change In Your Pocket," and "Ceili Rain Anthology." They earned 5 Unity Awards from these successful efforts.

10/23 06 Unity Awards - Bob Halligan Jr accepted the awards for MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR for "Hallways of Always" (from the Change In Your Pocket CD) and for GROUP OF THE YEAR…2 years in a row!

This brings their total of Unity Awards to 7!

Interview Section

Bob Halligan Jr. graciously agreed to answer some interview questions for ChristianMusic.com.
1. Early life and growing up years.. Where did you grow up?

Bob Halligan Jr. - "SYRACUSE, NY."
Family life? Bob Halligan Jr. - "ADOPTED, ONLY CHILD, WONDERFUL PARENTS WHO LED ME TO BELIEVE THAT ANYTHING WAS POSSIBLE."

2. What talents or attitudes / character qualities were you encouraged to develop?

Bob Halligan Jr. - PERSEVERANCE!! GENEROSITY CAME LATER through MY WIFE’S TUTELAGE.

3. Did you grow up in a Christian home and /or have a Christian church family, or did you find the Lord later?

Bob Halligan Jr. - "GREW UP IN CATHOLIC CHURCH, WHERE I REMAIN."

4. What was your early musical experience? When did you start playing the guitar/ writing songs? First performances?

Bob Halligan Jr. - "HAVE PLAYED PIANO FOR 46 YEARS, GUITAR FOR 40. PLAYED GUITAR AT FOLK MASSES IN LATE 60s."

5. Spiritual Influences: What has helped you grow spiritually? As you grew up? In your adult years?

Bob shares, "MY MOM & DAD, NY-JEWISH MANAGER BARRY BERGMAN, MY WIFE, ALL THE GREAT FOLKS I’VE MET IN EVERY KIND OF CHURCH AND CHURCH-WORLD."

6. How did the Lord prepare you for your life of service through music?

Bob Halligan Jr. - "I’VE HAD SUCCESS IN MAINSTREAM MUSIC WORLD; MY SONGS HAVE SOLD 30 MILLION UNITS. GAVE ME A NAME AND A HEADSTART."

7. How were you led by the Lord to use your musical gifts to write and sing songs? (A question of interest from our younger readers, and one that is fascinating to me as well)

Bob explains, "WAS A GOD THING, A FEW KEY PEOPLE PUSHED ME, WROTE LOTS OF SONGS FOR/WITH CHRISTIAN ARTIST AND DEAR FRIEND, RICK CUA."

8. Any life-molding experiences you would like to share with us, which were pleasant or were difficult, but molded your thinking, music, Christian walk, outlook on life etc.

Bob gave this reflective answer, "REJECTION HAS TAUGHT ME WHO MY REAL FRIEND IS."

9. Any personal testimony you would like to share to encourage others, what the Lord has done for you?

Bob shares, "IF YOU GO WITH GOD, ALL WILL BE AS IT SHOULD BE. NEVER STRAY, NEVER SHY AWAY FROM THE TRUTH, NEVER LIE TO PEOPLE."

10. ChristianMusic.com asked Bob Halligan Jr. more about his music....
Are the songs based on what has been learned spiritually, or life experience or leadings of the Holy Spirit? OR How were you inspired to create your music?

Bob Halligan Jr.- " I DO WHAT GOD ASKS ME TO DO- IT’S A SIMPLE AND VERY EXCITING PROCESS."

11. Musical Influences: What Artists (secular and Christian) influenced you growing up or now which have influenced your singing style, performance skills and / or composing?

Bob shares, "BEATLES, STONES, RANDY NEWMAN, STEVIE WONDER, SPRINGSTEEN, JONI MITCHELL, JOHN HIATT, STEVE EARLE, RICH MULLINS, BRUCE HORNSBY, COUSIN DICK FROM BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS."

12. Bob Halligan Jr. composes from both the piano and guitar. Like many artists, He has his own method of putting songs together. ChristianMusic.com found out when we asked him, Do the lyrics come first?

Bob Halligan Jr. - "USUALLY A TITLE, THEN I WRITE THE CHORUS MUSIC, THEN WRITE MUSIC FOR A VERSE AND FILL IN THE BLANKS."

13. ChristianMusic.com asked Bob Halligan Jr. about the fascinating melody found in DIE TRYING - "What key or tonal scale did you use to create this captivating melody? Or was it composed in a minor key with accidentals added?

Bob explained in detail about his creative process, "GREAT QUESTION! WAS MEANT TO CONJURE A MIDDLE-EASTERN FLAVOR.. I MERELY SANG INTO A TAPE RECORDER AND FOUND THE CHORDS FOR IT AFTERWARD. I LIKE TO LET MY MELODIC TREASURE-HUNTING GO FREE, NO EDITING OR JUDGING AS IT HAPPENS, PICK UP THE PIECES AFTER THE INITIAL PUKEAGE. DIFFERENT MODES AT PLAY AT DIFFERENT TIMES, BUT A LOT OF MIXING AND BENDING OF RULES ALONG THE PATH. CERTAINLY AEOLIAN AT TIMES, BUT ALSO TO MAJOR APPROACH IN CHORUS."

14. Any Composing from jamming together with a Co-writer or Musicians?

Bob states, "USED TO DO LOTS OF THAT, MUCH LESS NOW...

15. Are Responsibilities divided?… (Someone contributes to the lyrics, someone else creates the composition).

Bob Halligan Jr. - "MOSTLY ME."

16. Lyrics: Any comments on the themes of the songs?

Bob Halligan Jr. - "LOOKING AFTER FELLOW MAN, DOING THE RIGHT THING, BEING OPEN TO GOD’S REAL TRUTH RATHER THAN EARTHLY SPIN."

17. Any favorites, and why?

Bob Halligan Jr. - "ALL OF EM!! CAUSE GOD GAVE THEM TO ME AND I LOVE BEING THE PENCIL IN HIS HAND!!!"

18. Any stories on what led you to compose the lyrics?

Bob Halligan Jr. - "MY LIFE FOLLOWING GOD. THINGS THAT MADE ME LAUGH OR TICKED ME OFF!! “KNEELING” IS A RESPONSE TO PEOPLE SPINNING THE TRUTH TO THEIR OWN PURPOSES INSTEAD OF JUST ASKING GOD WHAT’S THE RIGHT THING FOR EVERYBODY."

Julie Carr - for ChristianMusic.com

Ceili Rain Review 1 * Ceili Rain Review 2 * Ceili Rain Review 3

"NO YOU - NO ME" VIDEO * "WHATEVER MAKES YOU DANCE " VIDEO