Richard Neal works as a producer, recording engineer, studio/performing musician, songwriter, recording artist, and teacher.
A shortlist of recording credits includes the Discovery Channel (Penn & Teller), TruTV (Almost Genius), The History Channel (Pawn Stars), and a DVD release of the PBS series "Roadtrip Nation". He produced Chris Berardo and the Desberardos CD "Ignoring All the Warning Signs" which reached #4 on a Sirius/XM radio Americana chart.
As a songwriter Richard has had a dozen or more of his compositions recorded by other artists or appeared in the stage acts of various singers. He released a new collection of recordings early in 2016 titled "A Step Up". It consists of 10 of his original compositions produced in a collaboration with Rex Fowler of Aztec Two-Step. He conducts songwriting workshops on the festival circuit (Podunk Bluegrass, CT Folk, Black Bear Americana), has studied songwriting at the Berklee College of Music and was selected to be a featured artist at the Berklee songwriter showcase "Berklee in the Round".
In performance he has appeared on stage as a member of or an accompanist for such disparate acts as Orchestra New England, soprano Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, and the Nutopians. His band won the 2010 Podunk Bluegrass Festival band competition and has performed at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Gray Fox, Podunk, Joe Val, Strawberry Park and Long Island bluegrass festivals among others. As a staff musician on Newtown, CT's Flagpole Radio Cafe Richard has appeared onstage as an accompanist for the likes of Peter Yarrow, Livingston Taylor, Tom Chapin, Jonathan Edwards, Vanese Thomas, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Guy Davis, to name but a few. He is also honored to have been a member of bands led by young bluegrass virtuosi Korey Brodsky and G Rockwell (who also covered Richard's song "Something About a Train" on his CD "Spark").
You can hear his playing in the soundtracks of a number of indie films, including "Pizza: A Love Story", "A Dog Named Gucci", "The Living", among others. Richard also plays guitar in pit bands, most frequently for the Theater Arts Department at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT.
Richard has also acted as Master of Ceremonies for a variety of concert events, including the Clearwater Festival, most recently over the weekend of June 16/17, 2018.
For more than 19 years he was one of the hosts of the popular "Bluegrass & Beer" series which took place monthly at the recently defunct Acoustic in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, CT.