About

Bob McNeill is one of New Zealand's best known folk artists.  His songs have been covered by artists in NZ, Australia, the UK and USA.  New Zealand Musician magazine compared his songwriting to Bruce Springsteen and Mark Knopfler; the Dominion Post likened him to Jackson Brown, James Taylor, Luka Bloom and Dougie Ma­cLean.  His latest album, released in June 2024, is Lost Stars, an extended release on CD and download featuring new recordings and rarities.  He tours the album in July 2024 with his band Even the Lost. 

McNeill made most of his mistakes in other people's bands before releasing a series of solo albums in the 2000s, two of which won Best Folk Album at the New Zealand Music Awards ("the Tuis").  His collaboration with Orcadian fiddler Kenny Ritch, Ben the Hoose, resulted in the album The Little Cascade, which also won a Tui.  In 2010 he released the retrospective Me and Mary Ann, and moved on to non-music projects.  People thought he'd died.

After an extended sabbatical he returned to music in 2016 and began to record a backlog of rediscovered songs, mostly written before Me and Mary Ann but never worked up.  Many of the songs were written during extended stays in California and were influenced by the Spanish-tinged American music he fell in love with in Santa Barbara.  With Emily Roughton and Rob Henderson, he formed Project Feijoa and released the songs as The California Tapes in 2019.  Rob and Bob teamed up again with Em Griffiths to form folk rock group Even the Lost in 2023.  They tour the North Island in southern winter 2024. 

Lost Stars began as a collection of songs written on the road while touring New England, Nova Scotia and Oregon. McNeill's songs tell unusual stories in unfamiliar landscapes, set in his signature blend of folk and rock influences. The album includes bonus tracks that never made the album, alternate versions and new versions of some of his best known songs.

Half Light, his duo with flute virtuoso Rennie Pearson, released the debut EP Air in October 2023.  Half Light completed their second tour of Australia in June 2024, playing shows across Victoria, New South Wales and ACT.