The Adobe Flash Player is required to watch videos on this page

suzanne mcneil

On October 24, Candescent Records is proud to release Willow, Suzanne McNeil’s second full-length album. Produced by McNeil and her band (Boston’s most notorious roots rock musicians)

Quick Links
About the Artist
Music
Achievements
Press Coverage
Stage Specs
Return to suzanne mcneil's profile

At-a-Glance
One-Sheet

Hometown	quincy, MA
Genres	Contemporary/Soft Rock, Singer/Songwriter (Female)
Band Members	Tim Mahoney- Guitars and vocals; Jason Nute- Drums; ... » more
Achievements	» more
Upcoming Shows	None

Contact Information:	Manager Laura Mullen laura@suzannemcneil.com (617)471-1804
# Years Experience Performing Live:	12
Market Draw:	south of boston : 31-50
Venue History:	Life is Good Patriot Place - Foxboro, MA Paddy Barrys' - Quincy, MA Granite Links Country Club - Quincy, MA Odyssey Dinner Boat Cruise - Boston, MA Beachfire - Hull, MA The Fox and Hound - Quincy, MA Blue Point Bistro - Weymouth, MA The Green Dragon - Fanueill Hall- Boston, MA
Opener Experience:	Chris Phillips; TIm Mahoney; Mark Purcell; Tony Puccia
Similar Artists:	Meg Huthinson; Lori McKenna; Lucinda Williams; Kathleen Edwards; Sheryl Crowe; Grace Potter; Fleetwood Mac
Discography:	Willow LP—2010; Lipstick and Laugh's EP—2010; Bliss LP—2005

Expand All Expand All

Expand

About the Artist

Suzanne McNeil is a soulful singer with a jazzy folk-rock edge in her songwriting. She has been likened to the pop and rock roots of Sheryl Crow. Think if, Sheryl Crowe and Peggy Lee had a love child! Her warm on-stage charisma has made her a favorite...

Expand

Music

Expand

Achievements

March 2009 Acoustic

Reached 50th in Best of Pop chart in 2013. In the top 100 for 11 weeks.

Reached 32nd in Best of Country chart in 2011. In the top 100 for 12 weeks.

Expand

Press Coverage

Tim Emswiler by The Noise- Boston
One listen to “Down the Highway” will have you cryin’ in your beer and wishing you could have been there to beat the piss out of the dude that broke her heart.”

Jay N Miller by Patriot Ledger-South Boston
“…A versatility that is unmatched, as jazz, country and pop are all within her range…McNeil’s debut album, ‘Bliss,’ on her own Candescent label, is a startlingly vivid taste of how she melds disparate influences into compelling folk-rock and pop.” “She’s funky and upbeat as she exudes more than a hint of country underpinnings in her songwriting.”

Heather Corcoran by Go Girls
In her debut release, Suzanne McNeil unleashes a refreshing collection of songs full of personal journeys, experiences and love. Her natural songwriting talent shines bright in “Bliss”. It’s relaxing, smooth and 100% pure enjoyment! The catchy tunes with have you singing along in no time!

The Boston Globe by Boston.com- Lost in Boston
“Local singer-songwriter Suzanne McNeil perfectly capture the love-and-frustration relationship Bostonians have with their city.” - The Boston Globe

BEST ALBUMS by Great music you won't see on the charts.
“Willow” by Suzanne McNeil (Candescent) It’s always a trap to cite a friend’s work, because there is always that assumption that the fix was in, but in truth we’re probably overly hard on friends’ music, and frequently expect too much. Quincy’s McNeil, who usually gigs about seven nights a week in the area, has nonetheless delivered a startlingly potent collection of songs. There’s an emotional arc to the album, and an overriding air of endurance and perseverance – a more personalized take on the Holmes Brothers’ theme, if you will. The rebirth inherent in “Spring” is immediately affecting, and the pathos in “Bend” is stunningly powerful. “Cut ‘Em Loose” has to be one of the year’s best twang-rockers, and “Lost in Boston,” this Canadian import’s ode to Beantown, never fails to stir the juices. Fronting a five-or-six-piece rock band, led by Braintree’s Tim Mahoney, McNeil reaches heights her local solo and duo gigs only hint at.

The Boston Globe-Nate Dow Dec 31st, 2010 by B+
Quincy singer-songwriter McNeil’s second CD is a pleasant surprise. Her smart pop comes with more twang this time, lending it an Americana flavor that should broaden her appeal. A Massachusetts native raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, McNeil shows a wide range of influences that can be heard in her 11 originals, some co-written with her trio partners from Lipstick and Laughs. Reminiscent of Kathleen Edwards, McNeil’s poignant stories are sung in a strong and affecting voice, with enough hooks to catch the ear. She shows deep affection for Boston, even for its crazy traffic in “Lost in Boston,” a song any local will relate to. Download: “Bend.”

Local bands rock Quincy's Club 58, and the price i by The Patriot Ledger
We have written previously about the quality of Suzanne McNeil's new album, "Willow," but hearing the Quincy songwriter fronting her quintet is truly a revelation. Performing solo, or in her usual duo with protean Braintree guitarist Tim Mahoney, McNeil is a superb musical craftsman navigating a wide variety of covers. But when given the chance to do her own material with her own band, McNeil reaches a level of passion and emotional resonance that elevates her work to the rarified territory of singer-songwriters like Rosanne Cash and Kim Richie. McNeil's 50-minute set had several highlights, from the soft-to-rocking dynamic tour de force of "Spring," with Mahoney provided espeically scintillating guitar lines, to the brisk two-step of "All About You" where Mahoney's stellar guitar solo channeled his inner Marty Stuart. But it was McNeil's rendition of "Bend," from its dramatic tom-toms-only start from drummer Jason Nute, to the singer's pulse-pounding vocal catharsis with its stunning sustains, that really raised goosebumps. McNeil's mastery of subtle nuances is usually her strongest point vocally, and to hear her cut loose with such unbridled passion, while maintaining such perfect tone, is frankly breathtaking. Elsewhere, McNeil's "Cut 'Em Loose" was the hardest rocking tune, a kissoff song that'd make Lucinda Williams proud. And "Mr. Non-Committal," from her 2005 debut album, came across as a Tom Petty-like rocker, with a few tasty dollops of Janis Joplinesque wails at the end. Hearing McNeil do a set of her own music with a full band, you wish she could do that every night. But in the meantime, until the rest of the music world wakes up to this huge talent among us, Quincy fans can hear her doing mostly covers at tiny places like Paddy Barry's, where she and Mahoney will be gigging Saturday night.

McNeil isn’t ‘Lost in Boston’ these days by Willow Release
Suzanne McNeil is probably the only songwriter to ever compose a lively little pop tune lamenting how much she misses being stuck in Boston traffic. That song, “Lost in Boston,” is already turning up on the local airwaves, and McNeil will be celebrating the release of her latest album, “Willow,” with a free show from 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Dante’s at Firefly’s in Quincy. McNeil, born in New England and raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, has had a varied existence even by musicians’ standards. Brought up in a culture where traditional music reigns, she gravitated early to folk and rock. McNeil worked for several years as a singer on cruise ships, mastering pop hits and standards. That experience made her a versatile performer, if a bit rootless in her personal life. McNeil settled in the Boston area in 2001, and soon founded a music program for kids, introducing preschoolers to the joys of hearing, singing and playing music. Her main job during her first years in Boston was as singer with the house band on The Odyssey, the dinner-cruise ship. Before long her school in Milton had hundreds of kids enrolled, she left the Odyssey and kept her own performance career alive with a string of gigs in South Shore clubs. Quincy’s Gerry Hanley had his youngest daughter in McNeil’s program, and became an early supporter, booking her at his old club, The Holy Ground. In 2005 McNeil released “Bliss,” an album of mostly originals in a buoyant folk-rock mode, along with some well-chosen covers, like Bill Withers’ classic “Use Me.” But in 2006, McNeil took a 180-degree turn, getting married, selling her music school, and moving to suburban Philadelphia with her husband. Not knowing anyone in Pennsylvania, her performance career languished, as she devoted most of her time to supporting her husband’s busy touring schedule. The marriage ended after about a year, and McNeil retreated to her parents home in Nova Scotia. It was there, secluded in her parents’ basement because she was too disheartened to even go out and see people, that McNeil began writing what would become “Willow.” The first song was a wacky little number where she looked back at all the automotive misadventures, and confounding things she’d encountered living in Beantown. To her own surprise, McNeil realized she even missed getting lost in Big Dig detours – the line “totaled my car in Southie” is a real-life result of just such an incident. McNeil’s humor is often self-deprecating, and her details about life in this area are spot-on. “I was wondering where to start over, and I began realizing how much I loved Boston,” McNeil said from her Quincy home. “I was born here, and even if my family moved back to Cape Breton when I was 9, this feels more like home. I just feel very fortunate to be back in this area, because I feel the Boston area gave me my music career. I still play cover gigs, and I have more work than I can handle.” McNeil’s web site (www.suzannemcneil.com) is asking fans to vote for which new tune should be her first single. So far, “Lost in Boston” is far ahead, which might be a problem, since no one outside Route 128 is likely to understand lines like “the Pru is all aglow...” or “a one-way street that Beacon meets.” The album includes some truly affecting, even heartwarming songs, and her studio band, led by Braintree guitarist Tim Mahoney, gives it all a lively country/folk-rock feel that should entice Americana fans to her music. Throughout, McNeil’s gorgeous vocal tones and subtle control of her alto gives it an intimate aura. McNeil co-wrote most of the songs, with a variety of songwriters, including some she’s met in Nashville. “My first album ‘Bliss’ was literally the first nine songs I’d ever written,” McNeil said. “When you start out, each song you write seems so precious you never want to change a thing. But I went to Nashville to shop it around, and began learning from the writers down there. What I learned mainly was: rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.” The CD opens with “Spring Has Come,” a lovely acoustic song about rebirth and starting anew. The album’s title comes from “Bend,” a potent vignette that frames a relationship in the metaphor of needing to bend and not break. “I just loved that image of a willow tree, which is why it’s on the album cover,” McNeil said. “Like an oak tree will split in the high wind, but a willow won’t. It’s not meant to be very specific, just a reminder we can all be a little less rigid and stuck in our ways.” “Cut ’Em Loose” is the album’s hardest rocking tune, a cathartic workout that has slowly building tension in the verses resolved with a breakout chorus. It sure sounds like someone ditching a scoundrel of a lover. “Well, I meant it as getting rid of any negativity in your life,” McNeil said. More optimistic subjects are found in the buoyant “People are People,” the thoughtful “There You Are,” and the jaunty love song “It’s All About You.” McNeil is also one-third of the Lipstick & Laughs trio, which includes Iowa songwriter Jill Miller and Nashville’s Diona DeVincenzo. McNeil met those two at workshops held by the Nashville Songwriting Association, and returns to Music City every few months for songwriting sessions. The trio has done a couple of tours through the Midwest over the past year, rotating their solo songs and backing each other up. McNeil composed the title song, a light-hearted theme about how when times get tough, nothing eases a woman’s problems like getting together with her galpals. There’s an EP of songs from Lipstick & Laughs, and McNeil’s lead vocal on the title cut is among her best ever. In the meantime, McNeil continues her educational side, as a program director for Real Kids in Burlington, introducing children from newborns to 5 years old, and their parents to music. “We don’t give babies enough credit,” she noted, “they learn music just like a spoken language, and can begin appreciating it very early.”

Expand