Author: Barry Shears

Nova Scotia Pipers Part 2 and Rory MacNeil, Piper to MacNeil of Barra

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A story collected in Cape Breton by Archibald MacKenzie and published in his ‘History of Christmas Island Parish‘ offers some additional information on the skill, strength and endurance of the little-known piper, Rory MacNeil. This story, collected in an area settled by people from Barra in the first few decades of the 19th century, describes one instance where the bagpipe was played by Rory to sound a distress call:  ‘The…

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Nova Scotia Pipers and a New Book ‘Legacy: A Collection of Photographs and Music’

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In the opening decades of the 19th century Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island were the new home of several of the family or hereditary pipers mentioned in Angus MacKay’s ‘A Collection of Ancient Piobaireachd’ (1838). It is widely accepted that the notes about these families were written by James Logan. All too often the family sketches in MacKay’s book end with the simple phrase ‘went to America’ leading many…

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The Sailor’s Lament, a new Tune Commemorating the Loss of 200 US Sailors in WW2

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This week saw the anniversary of a shipping disaster which cost the lives of more than 200 US sailors. The tragic story of the USS Truxtun and USS Pollux has inspired a piobaireachd from Barry Shears, the well known piper of Cape Breton. It was commissioned by the Shasta Piping Society for their upcoming collection of modern piobaireachd….. The story of the USS Truxtun and USS Pollux is tragic one, and most likely not well known to…

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