“Drawing on the influence of giants like The Grateful Dead, The Beatles, and Fleetwood Mac.” – Underground Music Collective
NASHVILLE (August 1, 2022) – Halley Neal announces the release of her folk album, Beautiful & Blue, on September 30. Neal made the record while grieving the loss of her grandmother to dementia. Dedicated to her Gram, on “Beautiful & Blue” Neal discovers the joyful parts within sorrow.
Neal says, “I know she would be so excited about this album because I am so excited about it. And she’d come to my shows, hear me sing the songs, and be so happy to watch how my music has grown.”
Neal chose to call the album “Beautiful & Blue” because the songs are all bits of stories that came naturally and are also things that she needed to say. She says, “I put in an effort to line each sad and painful lyric/song with a bit of joy and hopefulness, even down to the last track, which is about my grandmother’s battle with dementia.” The record details positive, loving, inspired moments in Neal’s life and also anxious, painful, sad, and reflective ones. She continues, “On this album, I chose to allow space for positivity even when telling stories that brought me pain. That’s an idea that I wanted to tell through each story on the album, and exactly what I believe ‘Beautiful & Blue’ means.”
Sonically, “Beautiful & Blue” is beautifully cohesive and extraordinarily Neal. It creates the perfect intersection of her stories through the lyrics, along with her personal growth and positivity through the production of the tunes. Neal recorded the album at The Planetarium and at Sweeris Studios with Keith Harris. The Planetarium’s Thomas Dulin (Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, Ben Rector) engineered all of the tracks.
Beautiful & Blue Track Listing
- Somebody Else’s Daughter
- A Reason to Try
- When I Get Off of This Mountain
- From the Kitchen
- Feel Something
- All We Can Ever Do
- The Night Before I Moved to Nashville
- Love is Different feat. Jesse Terry and Rj Cowdery
- She Lives in Me
About Halley Neal
Halley Neal is a folk-pop singer and songwriter based in Nashville, TN. Graduating from Berklee College of Music in 2019, Halley was chosen from the graduates to perform a song at Berklee’s Commencement Concert at Agganis Arena. The concert honored the 2019 Berklee honorary doctorates, Missy Elliot, Justin Timberlake, and Alex Lacamoire, who all attended the show. In her final semester at Berklee, Neal collaborated with artist Plot Twist and her former band Rose & Kennedy to write and release a single called “Lover,” which shortly after gained notable traction on Tik Tok. Since its release in July 2019, the song has gained over 27 million streams and has seen global acclaim with covers and Tik Toks of the song posted by people worldwide. In 2020, Neal became an official Guild Guitars artist and performed a set of original music at the 2021 NAMM Show with Guild. She is also one of the first artists to participate in Guild’s “Factory Sessions” YouTube series, where she performed an original set of songs live in the Guild Guitars factory.
Tour Dates
Aug 12 – Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Songwriters Showcase – Lyons, CO
Aug 13 – Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Wildflower Pavilion Stage – Lyons, CO
Sept 8 – Private House Concert – Palm Harbor, FL
Sept 9 – Coastal Lifestyle House Concert – Dunedin, FL
Sept 11 – Coconut Cabana House Concert – St. James City, FL
Sept 20 – Music My Mother Would Not Like – Virtual Show
Sept 30 – The Buttonwood Tree – Middletown, CT (album release show)
Oct 1 – Acousticool House Concert – Bristol, CT
Oct 2 – The Big E | E Stage – Springfield, MA
Oct 8 – Wolf Howl House Concert – St. Petersburg, FL
Oct 9 – Concerts at Our Home House Concert – Largo, FL
Oct 28 – Big View House Concerts – Westcliffe, CO
Oct 30 – Pat’s Place House Concert – Hot Springs, SD
