White Feather is the second single from Cormac Neeson’s Northern Ireland Music Prize nominated album of the same name, which is slated for re-issue through Social Family Records in Q2, 2020.
White Feather, co-written by Neeson with Charles Pevahouse and Blake Densmore, is a personal and very special song to Neeson.
“My wife was three weeks pregnant and rushed into hospital with pains in her stomach. We were told soon after we got to A and E that we’d probably lost the baby and Louise needed surgery immediately,” says Neeson. “A few hours later, the surgeon emerged smiling and told me that firstly my wife was fine and secondly there was a chance the baby survived as well. But three weeks was too soon to find a heartbeat so we had to come back in a fortnight.”
A very long two weeks ensued and the night before Cormac and his wife were to go back to the hospital he went for what he describes as “a long and angry walk” in the hills near where he lived.
He explains, “I was kinda screaming at the sky and whoever else might be listening up there that it wasn’t fair that we might lose our first baby and that if it was gonna be okay I could really do with a sign to let me know it was gonna be alright. At that moment I caught a splash of white out of the corner of my eye and a full twenty yards up into the trees. So I went up to see if it was what I thought it was. Sure enough there was a small white feather resting gently on the ground.
“I’ve been brought up amidst many weird and wonderful Irish Catholic traditions and superstitions but one that’s always stuck with me is the notion that White Feathers represent new life. So I took it as the sign I was looking for. The next morning a nurse found a mustard seed sized heartbeat on the scan. It was the biggest heart I’ve ever seen.”
In addition to the singles and album being re-released around the globe, the re-issue of the White Feather album will also include some never before released bonus tracks, and more, for those in the UK and Ireland who already have access to the brilliant record. Opened up to the rest of the world so far, Broken Wing and White Feather can now be streamed everywhere and are both also available to radio for airplay.
Cormac Neeson, the lead singer of Northern Irish rock band The Answer, blazed the road to rock ‘n’ roll glory for the better part of a decade, touring the world, sharing stage supports with the likes of AC/DC and The Rolling Stones, achieving both fan and peer respect as not only an outstanding vocalist but consummate performer. Yet, recessed deep within his creative subconscious lay a creative music and Celtic narrative that constantly gnawed for release from the straight jacket of rock ‘n’ roll.
