Matthew McNeal
After years of relentless touring in support of the 2015 debut Compadre and 2018’s follow-up Good Luck, McNeal and longtime collaborator Andre Black returned with their third studio offering Good Grief - released to critical acclaim in 2020. The album was recorded and produced by McNeal, Black, and frequent collaborator Ted Young (Kurt Vile, The Rolling Stones) - released via the band’s own label Matte Black Sound Company.
McNeal’s fourth studio album Along For The Ride was released as a series of 45s throughout 2021, which was followed up by 2022’s Live in Hickory Hills ‘15-’19 - a live compilation album featuring the band’s performances at Chicago’s DIY staple DZ Records.
Following the sudden passing of yet another father figure, McNeal released his most personal work to date - 2023’s Love Was EP - and began bringing a larger band out on the road.
Acting as a pillar within both the independent touring scene across the states as well as the local/regional scene through his work with Matte Black Sound Company, McNeal stands firmly on the fact that resilience, hustle, and dedication to your craft elevates art and connects people in a meaningful way.
The band’s most recent releases - Dropped The Ball and Out of Time - have been released in early 2025 ahead of the band’s fifth studio LP.
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Photo: Dustin McLaughlin // Twelve Midnight
RELEASES FROM MATTHEW McNEAL
“All of McNeal’s releases are stylistically expansive, crisscrossing nimbly between the lean grooves of “Texas Heat,” the swirling psychedelia of “Rumorosa,” and the angular, almost post-punk guitar work of “Sweetheart” plus spots in between. The glue between them is McNeal and (longtime-collaborator and bandmate Andre) Black’s combined musical sensibilities, with an emphasis on emotive songwriting. It’s real, it’s honest, it’s always coming straight from the heart. ”
Bio
Upon the release of band’s 2015 debut studio album Compadre, both Matthew McNeal and constant collaborator Andre Black have toured the country ten times over, attracting fans by word of mouth and playing over 100 tour dates each year.
After going out into the Texas Hill Country to record 2018’s sophomore effort Good Luck at Israel Nash’s Plum Creek Sound studio, the indie-folk rocker hit his stride, pushing the band forward by looking to the past. McNeal and Black started their own record label Matte Black Sound Company, which now acts as a pillar for the independent music scene in Fort Worth, Texas and beyond. The album gained traction across the US and Europe, with songs ‘Rumorosa’ and ‘Run’ hitting radio waves across the country while McNeal constantly toured, playing shows with indie hitmakers like Durand Jones and the Indications, Charley Crockett, Rayland Baxter, and Dylan LeBlanc.
After a tumultuous year of sudden deaths, a house fire, a wedding, and identity theft, McNeal followed up with Good Grief, a long-playing soundtrack of love and loss, arriving within the first month of 2020’s quarantine. The album shone light on McNeal’s genre-bending style as well as his focus on high-fidelity, forward-reaching production. Despite a year of canceled tour dates, the band caught the attention of Rolling Stone Magazine, American Songwriter, and NPR-affiliate stations thanks to the album’s lead single ‘All For Nothing’ - a song that rang more and more true as the year progressed.
As a year of unknowns ravaged the industry, Matthew and Matte Black Sound found ways to pivot, creating with a heightened sense of intention and a shift in perspective. McNeal and Black built out their own studio and tapped collaborator, engineer/producer, and friend Ted Young (Kurt Vile, The Rolling Stones, Taking Back Sunday) to make music with more ferocity and frequency than ever. The band’s fourth album Along For The Ride arrived in December of 2021, and was quickly followed by the bands first live album Live in Hickory Hills (‘15-’19) in 2022.
McNeal returned in 2023 with Love Was - an EP written in the wake of his step-father’s passing. The release shined a light on the evolution of the band’s sound, showing a clear through-line of Matthew McNeal’s voice and songwriting all while breaking barriers of traditional genre expectations.
