In Lael Neale’s country-tinged songs, the sweet memories of her Virginia hometown are never far away. But living in Los Angeles has given Neale and her music an edge; she describes her just-released debut, I’ll be Your Man, as “lyric-based folk tunes with a dark undertow.” Neale speaks to Myspace about how she discovered Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan on her 13th birthday, the story behind the first song she ever wrote and what she’s up to this summer.

Hometown: Orange, Virginia

Homebase:  Los Angeles, California

How did you discover music, and how did you know you wanted to be a singer-songwriter?

I never really had to discover music because I was immersed from before I was born. My parents were going to Grateful Dead shows while pregnant with me. They always had music playing throughout my childhood and we attended bluegrass festivals and played records in the evenings.

So there wasn’t really an epiphany, like, ‘I’m going to make music for a living.’

I did experience a shift on my 13th birthday when my uncle gave me 13 crisp dollar bills and two albums; Joni Mitchell’s Blue and Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde.  They each had post-it notes on them listing key tracks and guiding me to listen more deeply.  This was the first time I truly studied songs and what magic made them. I had always loved singing, but I became obsessive about learning these songs on guitar and moving from listener to creator.  

What was the first song you ever wrote? 

“I Can’t Love,” which was an apology to a boy whose affections I didn’t reciprocate. I felt guilty about it and basically wrote an entire poem slandering myself. Stuff like this: “I’m a pond of algae scum, if you wade in too deep, you’re stuck in mud. I’m the pit of a peach, elementary in speech, I don’t practice what I preach, my soul has a hole, my heart is numb.”  Funny to listen to now. The self-esteem of a teen!

You mentioned Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan as musical heroes … who else inspires you?

Along with Joni and Dylan, I loved Neil Young for his high and lonesome prairie voice and the amount of emotion he could evoke with such simplicity.

I don’t devour music like I used to, so lately, I’m inspired by poets and writers;  Rumi’s transcendence, Anne Sexton’s darkness, ee cummings’ romance, Michael Ondaatje’s imagination and Joan Didion’s cool voice.

Why is your album called I'll be Your Man?

It comes from a song on the album called “I’ll Be Your Man in the Morning”. I like saying it - I’ll be your man. It’s sweet, but strong.  There is probably some frightening Freudian explanation for it.

How did you end up in Los Angeles after growing up in Virginia?

I had moved to San Francisco after falling in love and when that relationship disintegrated, the city felt even foggier and more isolating.  I got a house-sitting gig in Los Angeles and never looked back.

Did living in both Virginia and Los Angeles influence your songwriting style?

Growing up, my dad, a farmer, emphasized the importance of waking up early and having self-discipline. I had a lot of time and space in Virginia for hours of practice and listening.  In the city now, it’s either full immersion in the noise and crowds or retreat into the isolation of my basement room.  I interact with people a lot more than ever before and glean new stories and voices and impressions and yearnings and styles and so on. This feeds whatever well I pull water from.

Your songwriting is described as confessional ... do you agree with that?  

It is confessional in the sense of confessional poetry which is defined as focused on individual experiences of the psyche and personal history while exploring death, relationships, mental states. But it is not simply throwing emotions onto the page in a self-indulgent deluge, there is a dedication to craftsmanship and whittling words into concentrated shots of feeling. It intends to make personal pain or joy relatable to the broader human experience.  

How do you write songs? What's your process?

I write every morning, just stream-of-consciousness nonsense, and then read to collect images, lines and thoughts that strike me. I parse through these when I sit down with a guitar later in the day. When writing a song, the words always follow the tone or melody that I come up with on the instrument.

What else are you up to this summer?

My record just came out July 10 so I’ll be playing more shows around Los Angeles and beyond. Aside from that, saving up money to someday have a horse.