Stumbling Upon a Star: Nolan Neal

It’s not every day that you meet a singer/songwriter who is actually from Nashville, Tennessee…..especially one as unique as Nolan Neal. This prolific artist is perhaps best described by a fan, who saw him sitting on a waist-high brick wall one September evening in 2001 on Nashville’s famous 2nd Avenue, strumming his guitar and belting out a song. “He was beginning to draw a crowd, so we took a seat next to him. I remember thinking how he reminded me of John Lennon, with a voice better than Creed's lead singer. We sat and listened to him play his guitar and sing for about two hours. His music is like a soul trip, his voice is the kind that gets under your skin. He can play a guitar like no one I've heard in real life and his music and voice are full of emotion. Before we left he gave me his autograph...which I received on a Bible handout someone had dropped in his guitar case, and I now keep in a safe place.”

With a father who was a professional drummer and a mother who sang for a living, Neal was naturally drawn to music at an early age, singing in church as a little boy. As a teenager, Nolan played his original songs in coffee shops and pizza joints, and at eighteen landed his first big gig opening for Eddie Money in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, playing for 10,000 people. In between shows, Nashville’s 2nd Avenue was his stage, playing music for tourists and anyone who would listen. As luck would have it, a music producer heard Neal one day and made some phone calls. As a result, Neal found himself in Los Angeles signed to Hollywood Records in 2000. But in spite of his best intentions and dreams of super stardom, budgets were soon cut and hopes of a successful record dashed. For the next several years Neal traveled across the United States performing and writing with band members from Tonic, Cold, Saliva and ShineDown. A fateful introduction by one of these musicians to Evan Lamberg, VP of EMI New York, led to a publishing deal in the fall of 2006. When Lamberg sent Neal’s music to the head of Virgin Records, Jason Flom, Neal was signed on the spot without so much as an audition, and found himself in the company of artists like Kid Rock, Matchbox 20, Jewel and Hootie And The Blowfish. After his record was made, however, label politics and fate forced Neal once again out of a deal and back onto his Nashville stage, 2nd Avenue.

It was after another fateful introduction in 2009 that Neal came to meet Nashville songwriter and producer, Dave Gibson, President and Chief Creative Officer of Savannah Music Group, Inc. Gibson, who has five number one Billboard-charting songs to his credit, along with an ACM Award with the Gibson/Miller Band, spotted Neal’s talent in an instant. “Maybe once in a blue moon does an artist/writer come along like him. He’s one of the most talented people I’ve met in the music industry in thirty years,” says Gibson.

Apparently many people agree. The same fan who saw Neal perform that September evening in 2001 on 2nd Avenue sums things up perfectly. “We went about our merry way, and we talked about him all night, in awe of the raw talent we had just witnessed. This guy's hot, he's talented, and he will be huge one of these days. He's also a very nice guy…. you should keep an eye open for him. At least give him a listen, for me...you guys would do it for me wouldn't ya?”