Interview: Eliza Neals Forges Blues-Rock Outing on 'Black Crow Moan'

The blues-rock movement has taken some serious steps in recent years, and among the artists riding that wave is Eliza Neals. Black Crow Moan is her latest and finds the Detroit native flexing her skills as a singer, songwriter, and producer.

Gaining heavy play on Sirius/X.M.'s Bluesville, the Blues Report and elsewhere shows Neals has won the respect of programmer's, and that's hard-earned. "I think as I go," she says, "I learn and get better. You start out, and you think that's like the best thing you ever did, and you keep going, and thank God, it gets better. If it was getting worse," she adds with a laugh, "I'd be ready to throw in the towel."

Neals' pen has brought forth a series of songs that fit into the standard blues expectation. "Don't Judge the Blues" kicks off the album, guitar offset by Neals' sensual growl. Joe Louis Walker appears on the title track and "The Devil Don't Love You," while Neals' ballad "Never Stray" has sensual interplay between her piano and the axe of Derek St. Holmes. The grinding "Why You Ooglin' Me" and "Take Your Pants Off" are at times leading, and yet shows Neals doesn't take herself too seriously.

"I hear it in my head the way I want it to come out," she says. "I think this album is as closest to the way I hear it in my head."

Neals talked about producing Black Crow Moan. "You've got to make sure all the performances are great," Neals says, "my vocals tie the song together and the way it's mixed. When I'm writing tunes, it's like a cycle, they all have to match, the emotion of each song has to go in a circle. 'Run Sugar Run' was like a ballad on the piano, and that turned into a rocker. 'Ball and Chain' is one of my biggest rockers onstage, so it's just getting the best performances and asking the idols of my growing up years to come and play with me, and they said yes," she adds with a laugh. "You really can't go wrong when you have great players."

Neals' pointing out she is a producer has shown old habits about women in the business die hard. "They don't even say I produce," she says. "Half the time I give my records to people they're like, 'Well, you need a real producer.' Well, if I can get my own stuff on Bluesville, what better things are you gonna do for me? Why should I give you twenty grand, when I can do it myself, keep it for myself on my own label?

'It's so demeaning," Neals continues. "I don't say anything, but yeah, if Don Was told me he'd produce me, of course. But in the meantime, I don't have a hundred grand to pay for (that). I've studied with Barrett Strong, I've watched him in the studio for ten years, I think I've learned something. I've been on Bluesville--you're not. It's a joke. If you actually are getting on the radio with your music, why is it not the right way?"

One of three sisters who were all involved in music, Eliza followed her elder sibling Valerie, who was classically trained on piano. "My dad used to play banjo and harmonica," she explained, "songs he learned in the Navy, he was just having fun, but we took it to heart."

The Motor City's musical history proved an inspiring ground. Along with Motown was the underground rock movement that produced Iggy Pop, Ted Nugent, and Bob Seger. "Motown was already in L.A.," Neals says, "but then there's so many people like Eminem, Madonna, Kid Rock, MC5, Alice Cooper, Mitch Ryder, Suzi Quatro, it's just so diverse."

With singing and music already ingrained in her, Neals attended Wayne State University to study opera and left with a Bachelor's degree in music. Strong, the architect of standards including "I Heard it Through the Grapevine," "Papa Was A Rolling Stone," and others became Neals' mentor. "I met him when I worked in a health food store," Neals recalls, "(an) icon in Motown, so I learned the Motown school, the classical field, and I sang five nights a week in every rock, jazz, and blues club in Detroit since I've been seventeen, eighteen years old."

Neals also viewed the changing landscape of the blues, a genre she crossed over to only recently. "It's been five years," she says that she became more known as a blues-rocker, "I didn't really pursue that vein. Regular radio doesn't play a blues-rock thing anymore; they used to do that in the 70s and 80s, and that's you're classic rock now."

With the coronavirus pandemic, Neals' planned European tour has been pushed back to early 2021. Meanwhile, she's taken to the internet and performed for Facebook's "Can't Stop the Blues" group, while doing her own live shows as well.

Black Crow Moan remains a digital-only release at this time, due to COVID-19, but pre-orders for the album are available. As for her place in the blues world, Neals says, "It's just like a lifelong thing of music and breaking into the blues five years ago, I feel accepted here. I'm just gonna keep on writing the music I love and hoping it connects with the people. People tell me all the time they got through the day listening (to me)...when I sing, that's my therapy."

For those who have never seen Neals live, she says to be prepared. "They're gonna get live music like they've never seen it since the late 60's, early 70's," she promises. "I've been called possessed onstage; I don't think I'm possessed, but when I hear music, I just let it all out. You're gonna see a lot of sweat, you're going to see the band going nuts, not something rehearsed like everything's in place. Anything could happen, we play from our hearts and our souls, it's not something you stand there in a pretty dress, it's not anything like that it's wild and it's from the heart."

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