“I tend to stop in Malta to recharge my batteries,” Martin McNeil tells me when I ask what brings him back to Malta every so often. “I consider the island as my European base.”

The truth is he has been, give or take the odd month or three, based here for some four years, so there certainly is something about the island that appeals to him.

Soon after relocating here from his native UK, he managed to establish himself in the Maltese music scene rather quickly, and mingled with enough musicians to put together a band, The Dissidents, with whom he also recorded an album.

“I suppose working with Jimmy Bartolo and Alex Alden did bring me closer to the music scene here,” he says, although it must also be said that there aren’t a lot of artists playing the music he does.

However, he soon found out that there were a lot more people who were and are into it than he’d imagined. “I probably did well because what I’m doing is a little bit different to the rest.”

Released two years ago, the self-titled album went down very well with his acquired local fan base and a good number of foreign critics.

It also attracted a modest, yet increasing, international audience who came across his music by way of Reverbnation, in whose Americana artist charts he is currently ranked at Number 9.

“The feedback we were getting encouraged me to go on the road and play some gigs abroad,” he continues. “Furthermore, that album featured US singer Alison Lewis, so it was only natural to fly over to Detroit and play some gigs with her and promote the album there too.”

In hindsight, McNeil says doing the group thing was ambitious and perhaps risky, but it worked out fine and the people liked it.

That US jaunt was followed by a brief stopover in Malta and, once the batteries were recharged, it was off to Europe.

“After Malta, I played shows in Scandinavia, Spain, the UK…all over the place really.”

Along the way, he hooked up with Swedish singer Hanna Wernersson to record a new number called Save a Little Prayer (which he has since re-recorded for the new album), and also wrote some more songs while on the road.

“I was busy gigging, so I hadn’t really thought too much about another album,” he recalls. “But then we were approached by someone in New York to make a second record.”

As one might expect, this was an opportunity to be grabbed with both hands, which is what McNeil did, also because America is where he feels his future lies.

“My musical heart is firmly set on being in the US because that’s where my market and my audience are.”

Needless to say, during yet another Malta stopover, McNeil started making plans for the next album, the first of which was to call producer Mark McRae.

“When the offer to make the record came in, I asked Mark if he wanted to be part of it.”

Apart from producing the first album (and Alden’s debut CD), McRae and McNeil have also been friends for over 25 years.

“We go back a long way, so we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses pretty well.”

Before heading off to the US, the two spent six weeks in London, writing new material they could take with them to New York. The first round of recording sessions however, didn’t go as well as they’d hoped for.

“We had to make a decision, realising we’d have to record some new songs… maybe re-record some other stuff... to drag this phoenix up out of the ashes, because at that point we thought we were in Trainwreckville.”

My musical heart is firmly set on being in the US because that’s where my market and my audience are

Luckily, they had already done some sessions with Brad Pemberton, Joey Graboff and Malcolm Burn. For the uninitiated, all three happen to be heavyweights in the world of Americana and beyond.

Pemberton and Graboff are both members of Ryan Adams’ Cardinals, while Burn is a musician and producer whose track record includes work for Bob Dylan, Daniel Lanois, Chris Whitley, Lisa Germano, Giant Sand and Patti Smith.

“Through a mutual friend, we also got to know Jerry Marotta, and he was a dear friend to us when we really needed one, I tell you.”

Marotta, a drummer whose career has, among many others, included work with Peter Gabriel, Hall & Oates, Indigo Girls, Ani DiFranco, Suzanne Vega and Elvis Costello, invited them to his house and studio in the legendary town of Woodstock. He even let them use his equipment. McNeil says that initially they hadn’t thought of having him play on the record.

“It was more this empathetic artist-to-artist connection, but then he heard what we were doing. Mark and I suddenly realised we’d better write something pretty quick and rocking.”

Picking up some ideas they had toyed with previously, they push­ed themselves to turn them into something that does justice to Marott’s talent on the drums.

“We knew we had to do more than just country,” McNeil confides. “Sure, Jerry can play coun­try, he can play anything. But we wanted to do something more honest to the era he’s known for, and at the same time take what we were doing to the next level.”

By then, they had the 90 per cent they were aiming for, so it was time to head back home; Berlin for McRae, where he is putting the final touches and overdubs to the album, and Malta for McNeil, where he is currently planning the next step.

“If all goes according to plan, the new album should be ready by April, but we’ll still need to go back to the US to mix it,” McNeil says. “We’ve already got some offers to perform in Austin, Nashville, Los Angeles and some other cities, so we’re quite excited about it all.”

Given its credentials, the new album is certainly something to look forward to.

“No worries,” he says, in his characteristic calm tone. “We’ll hook up again once it’s finished. There’s loads more to talk about.”

www.reverbnation.com/martinmcneil