This last fall my daughter and I visited Jeremy and Kaci Neely at their Nashville home. Kaci and Jeremy are the husband-and-wife duo NEELY, they are world traveling and touring independent singer/songwriters. I met Jeremy and Kaci about 10 years ago on social media and we became instant friends. We have compared our lives in many ways over the years. We have talked about the workouts we were using, recipes for clean living and things like marriage and raising kids. They “road-schooled” their children and that gave them the opportunity to travel for their careers. The last couple of years brought on many changes to the lifestyle that they had been pursuing in their musical careers. They have used the current events to restructure their lives. A friend helped them set up a recording studio in their home and they have been able to record their acoustic projects and the vocals for their current songs. Little did I know that our visit would be immediately followed by their daughter’s surprise engagement.
A few months later, after the wedding, Jeremy shared with me that he had written a song titled Fairytale Kind of Love about their daughter and son in law that was “completely Aubrey and Josh’s story… with the hook of it being ‘it’s a Walmart, first kiss fairytale kind of love'”. Jeremy and Kaci released a version singing together but at the reception, Josh secretly had recorded a version of it with him singing it for Aubrey. The Neely's have now moved out of Nashville and the backdrop of their new house is breathtaking and is a perfect place where he will continue songwriting and producing music. Jeremy said they have missed traveling but more so the people, the fans, and friends they have met along the way. This current way of life is definitely allowing them to spend more time with their family and friends. Jeremy said to me, "no one is a greater influence on children than the parents." I applaud that. When I even try to picture the busyness of a touring family and trying to remain organized, deliberate, and remain a positive influence in such a whirlwind style at times, it wears me out.
We chatted about what music life in Nashville is like, writing music, current music trends, social media, music style, personal style, and self-confidence. Jeremy said he had learned early on to remain true to his voice and not to try to copy the sound of different artists in an attempt to follow their successes. "It can be so unnatural, and it can put added stress on your vocal cords and throat." He reminisced about a time when the current artists were so raspy that he would try to copy that sound and couldn’t keep his throat moist enough and it would wear out his sound fairly quickly. A producer gave Jeremy a useful piece of advice - to not continue that falsity if he wanted to be successful in the music industry. The music industry doesn’t want copycats, uniqueness is what is needed to stand out and be heard. That in itself is such a great piece of advice to share.
Thank you, Jeremy, I really appreciate your friendship and time chatting with me.
much love, Rose
Jeremy Neely is currently collaborating his talent with other songwriters, and you can hear the latest project with Aaron Carter on This Town, released on 3/10. https://youtu.be/g-TnJWZQv9Q
The Neely’s are also working on releasing acoustic versions of some worship songs they have written and recorded. With the latest release on March 25th of God You Loved
click the buttons below to view their social media pages, song links and videos
one of my personal favorite songs
