Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lucas Neil. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lucas , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Being an independent artist in today’s economic climate is often contingent upon being at the receiving end of grace, generosity, and relentless support.
My career has been no different.
Great role models and supporters of myself and my music group have been Will Evans, the Wolff Sisters, and Kat Wright, all widely respected and influential as musicians in New England and so kind to grant myself and my band opportunities to learn and grow.
Will Evans and his family have even given me a place to call home!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am intent on creating an environment of loving and healing energies for every audience I encounter. My musical style, an acoustic blend of Americana and indie-folk, has a palpable sense of spiritual symbolism, storytelling, and gratitude for life.

I love combining tastes of the great singer/songwriters of years past like James Taylor and Bob Dylan with the new-age musicality of acts like Gregory Alan Isakov, Blind Pilot, and Buck Meek.

Above all, most important to the creation and experience of my music, is an intimate relationship with our natural world, meaning the elements and creatures in our environment as well as our own psyche, bodies, and souls.

Simply put my motive is to help heal and connect my listeners to themselves and each-other. This pursuit brings my heart endless joy and enthusiasm.

My musical beginning came from being a beneficiary of so many great musical theater programs in upstate New York where I was born and raised. As an adolescent and young adult I moved around a lot, living in turn in Connecticut, Massachusetts, on Block Island, Rhode Island, and finally being a vagabond living in a camper in coastal Rhode Island, while touring throughout the Northeast and pursuing a musical career full-time.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The world seems to need a little bit more love and I seem to have a little bit more to give, that’s all I know.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have found myself a musical endeavor that can love, heal and connect, it is both the greatest challenge and greatest gift I have been granted in this life. I only wish to give myself completely to this adventure in the hope I can grant at least one more human the salvation music and art has granted me.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

The music industry is dramatically different now from when my father was a touring musician in the late 1980’s. Essentially, it doesn’t exist anymore. Where once you could earn notoriety from playing consistently and authentically whenever and wherever you could, and have a hope of being seen by someone with the power to grant you larger opportunities, now the artist finding apparatus exists solely on social media. This presents lots of challenges.
If I post a 7 minute video on Instagram of myself and my band performing a song we love, the average watch time will likely be 15 to 20 seconds.
There are numerous ways to learn about audience grabbing, building content schedules, and using the algorithm to get attention online. It can be rather soul crushing and distracting, however, and it can pull you away from what you feel your purpose is; the art itself.
My advice is simple, make content, post it, run ads, do all those things that seem right on paper, but when it comes to the actual product you’re presenting, make something you love.
Viral or not, you’ll feel better when you lay your head to rest.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lucasneilmusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamlucasneil/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lucasneilmusicfacebook/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCHoEK1utyKH5puImL_GzRw

Image Credits

Chelsea Mandes

Seve Burgos

Aisha McAdams