NASHVILLE — Before moving to Nashville, Tennessee in 2003, Crediton native Zach Neil was just a boy with a guitar and a love of music.

Just months after graduating from South Huron District High School, Neil packed up his guitar, moved to Nashville to pursue a career as a country music singer and has been performing and writing music there ever since.

He has released a CD, performs on average five times a week and works with the likes of hit songwriters Aaron Barker and Clint Daniels.

“I've really gotten to do much more than I ever dreamed of doing when I moved here. I've gotten to write with songwriters who were heroes of mine,” he says.

Nashville has branded itself as Music City, but Neil says the city has developed him as an artist in more ways than one.

“It's a great music town, but above all it's a songwriting town,” he says.

He adds that a sense of camaraderie and support within the songwriting community has helped him succeed in Nashville's tough, competitive market.
“Most songwriters, when they moved to town, they had people who had to help them learn the craft so they are more than happy to support newer and younger people like me coming in,” says Neil.

With so much pressure in the music industry to sound like other famed artists, Neil says a challenge singer-songwriters face is remaining true to oneself as a writer and performer.

However, he adds that his experience in Nashville has helped him find out who he is as a musician.

“If you're not true to yourself people see through that. If you're not believable when you go out to perform, you're probably not going to have a whole lot of success because it's not real and it's not authentic. It's something that's contrived,” Neil says.
Although Nashville has taught him a lot about creating his own voice, Neil has not forgotten his hometown influences.

Growing up in a musical home, his parents Jim and Anne Neil encouraged him, like his brothers and sisters, to take piano lessons. He took guitar lessons at the Exeter Music Centre and recalls playing the trombone in South Huron District High School's concert and jazz bands.

While he returns to Crediton periodically for a break from the music scene, Neil says it is only a matter of time before he returns to the area with his band to play some local shows.

“It's just a matter of trying to get everything lined up to make it happen,” he says.
In the meantime the singer says he will be returning to the recording studio in February.

He hopes it will lead to a record deal that will further propel his career.
“In five years from now [I'd like] having people know who I am and really have an identity on a national level.”

Neil says he will be staying in Nashville continuing to build his fan base for the foreseeable future.

“A friend of mine from London told me the one thing about the music business is that you must be present to win,” says Neil, implying that a key component to the success of any aspiring country star is staying in Music City.

“I think I'll be here for a while.”