Friday, August 28, 2020

Nolan Neal

 



Like millions of other people I have been watching "AGT"- "America's Got Talent" for the last few months. (Has it really been that long?) One of my favorite performers was Nolan Neal, a country music performer from Nashville, Tennessee.  He got booted this week and a lot of people (mostly women I think) were sad about that. We cast our votes to try to "save" him but it wasn't enough. He took the loss with grace and immediately went to social media to thank his supporters.

The next day I went to the internet and started looking him up and listening to his other music. He had said on AGT that he had an album out. He had a recording contract at one point but addictions took their toll and he lost his chance at the big time. He's starting over.  Another thread that resounded with the audience was that he had lost his father to suicide, which in turn fueled his downward spiral.

So over on YouTube I found his album "The Wire" and I quickly went through the playlist that Jackie Smith put together.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChSjI3A6PFex47Pgf3BAb4A

This featured his music from his album "The Wire" These were uploaded five years ago.





There are several good songs on here besides these two and I considered myself "hooked" so I went looking for more. The big hit he had on AGT was "Send me a Butterfly"



It wasn't until after this that I realized he'd also been on "The Voice" a few years ago and song some covers including "Tiny Dancer" that people really seemed to like. I didn't have tv back in those years so I missed it. Here's the video clip though maybe.



So he's been on "The Voice", he's had a recording contract, he's by his own admission been around the block a few times. He's more organized than I thought he was. I kept diving into my Google searches and learning more. On AGT he talked about "it was my dad and me growing up.." and I thought his mom wasn't in the picture. Wrong. He's very close to his mom. She's still around. He wrote a song and dedicated it to her. He's also married and has two kids, AND he's a grandpa. A little on the young side to be a grandpa but you know... that's life. I'm not here to judge. What struck me though was that on AGT he painted a picture in my mind as being solitary and single. That's not the case at all. He's a happily married man with a good family life and a cute dog. I guess writing music about heartbreak and depression is what pays the bills though so that's what he sings about.

Another thing I learned after poking around is that he signed with producer Desmond Child in January 2020. This AGT thing is just part of a carefully planned agenda. He's got a website of course and he's all over social media. His website sells his music and also merchandise. You can buy cds, face masks, t-shirts, and more...

Shoppers go here-  https://nolannealmusic.com/collections/all


For his full website go here-  https://nolannealmusic.com/


Oh and his last name is really Seals. Nolan Neal Seals.  Not that it matters but it helps connect the dots if you are reading some of the interviews and stuff.


I know he doesn't need any help from me to get the word out about his gift in music but if you happen to like country music then look him up. If you really want to help him out then buy something from his website. I'm still working on that last bit myself.

Good luck Nolan wherever this adventure takes you next!

Does anyone blog anymore?

  I haven't posted here in more than a year. While my mother was dying I switched to posting more on my other blog- https://waitingfortheothershoetofall.blogspot.com/  because I was trying to keep everything about her stuff in one place.

The View from Lake Wyola doesn't change much and I haven't been posting from photos from there in a long time. I have posted a few occasionally on Facebook or Twitter but I haven't kept up with them in a blog in a long, long time.

So I've spent a few minutes today tweaking the layout a tiny bit here and there just because.