If there is anything more country than a Georgia boy it would have to be a Louisiana girl. If there is anything more fun than opening for Luke Bryan it would be getting advice from him. And, if there is anything more neat than watching Duck Dynasty it would be writing a song for the family that ended up on a Christmas album. Well, today I am absolutely joyed to introduce to you a young lady who is in fact a Louisiana girl that has received some pretty neat advice from Luke Bryan and has had a song cut on the Robertson family's Christmas album.
I would like y'all to meet Chancie Neal.
Chancie Neal is a singer/songwriter living in Nashville. She has opened for Luke Bryan on his annual "Farm Tour" for five years now. I've been fortunate enough to see her perform for the past three years and she is definitely one of my favorite up and coming female country artists. She is sort of a hidden gem in the country world but I know for a fact about 15,000 people who were impressed with her performance Thursday night in Auburn, Alabama. She was gracious enough to talk to me for a few minutes at the show and I'm so excited for y'all to discover her.
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-Tell us a little background information about yourself if you will.
"My name is Chancie Neal. I'm 19 so I'm the baby of the tour. I'm from Calhoun, Louisiana which is right up the road from West Monroe (aka Duck Dynasty land)."
-Do you write your own songs?
"I do. Writing is definitely a passion of mine. I love doing it a little every day."
-Which aspect of music do you enjoy more--songwriting or performing?
"Performing. There is just nothing like being on stage. They kind of go hand in hand with me, though. I get the benefit of singing the songs I write on stage. Performing is just a league of its own.
-Who is your musical inspiration?
"Definitely Luke (Bryan) through and through. As far as female artists go, I've always loved Shania Twain, The Dixie Chicks and Lee Ann Womack. I could listen to Lee Ann for days. I love her."
-What is your favorite song that is on the radio currently?
"The Maroon 5 record is amazing. And the Ariana Grande album is good, too. I performed an Ariana Grande song tonight. Her album is just incredible. I like to listen to an album from front to end to just try to get the story they are trying to tell."
-If you could write with any artist, who would it be and why?
"Lee Ann Womack. Definitely."
-What is your definition of country music?
"Jeff Stevens told me something one time and it's always stuck with me. He said 'Country music, regardless of what genre it sounds like, if it is on country radio, then it's country music.' I do think that country music is more real than most genres."
-What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
"Luke actually told me something a few weeks ago. He said 'being an artist is very hard and you have to be on stage and you have to love it so much to be able to do it every night.' That has really helped me. Even today, I was thinking I really do love being on stage."
-Where can new fans of your music find more of your music?
"I'm on Spotify. I put a lot of new songs on Sound Cloud and Reverb Nation. I'll switch out the ones I post every now and then. I have CD's at my shows and on Itunes, too."
-If you were going on a cross country road trip, what is one album that you could listen to the whole way?
"I love listening to vinyl records. I know you can't listen to vinyl records in the car but I love old country. I'm from Louisiana so it's an 8 hour drive to Nashville and I've just listened to a bunch of stuff that was released even before I was born. It changes but one The Wreckers album is good. I learned to play a lot of those songs on the guitar."
-What's in store for 2015?
"I'm ready for 2015. I've been writing every for a few years so I have a lot of songs. Hopefully, of course, still out on the road and singing at shows. We may do an EP. Maybe play little bars and places like that. I've been spoiled with Farm Tour but I love performing at any level."
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I know how extremely busy and hectic Thursday night was so a sincere THANK YOU to Chancie for taking some time to talk with me. And another special thank you to Jacoby Knott for arranging everything.
Make sure y'all start following Chancie on her social media sites and listen to some of her tunes. I feel confident you'll be wanting an album ASAP like I do!
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