Andrew Neil
Andrew Neil Maternick, born 9 August 1988 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, was a recruited High School Athlete. He attended the US Military Academy prep School (USMAPS) where he earned his appointment to West Point as a member of the class of 2012. He began having issues and was diagnosed with adult ADHD. He resigned in December 2008, his Plebe Year. He returned home and decided to enlist in the USMC. Prior to reporting to Paris Island, he had a car accident & sustained a traumatic head injury.
Andrew's struggle with serious mental health issues intensified after the car accident. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and suffered numerous psychotic episodes. Living as a recluse in his parent’s basement, Andrew began to write songs out of nowhere after the head injury, first on the keyboard. In the spring of 2010, he picked up a guitar for the first time and wrote his first guitar song on the top string the next day called "Fire is Born". He declared himself as an artist and never looked back. During the 2010-2013 period, Andrew had numerous psychotic episodes, was in and out of hospitals, had numerous different doctors who diagnosed his issues differently and prescribed numerous types of medications. He would seem to get better then relapse back into a bad state of mind with suicidal thoughts and psychosis. During this time, music became his solace, and quite frankly saved his life.
In July 2013 Andrew had a very bad psychotic episode and stabbed his younger brother through the arm. Although the wound did not cause his brother any permanent damage, Andrew was tossed in the Central Virginia Regional Jail and put in an isolation cell for 7 months before being found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was committed to the Virginia State Hospital system where he remained as a patient for over three years. While hospitalized he was eventually allowed access to a guitar and a small battery powered recorder. He wrote and recorded scores of songs. Upon discharge from the Hospital in 2017, he wanted to share his music and story with others, so he decided to release an album called “Code Purple”, featuring 11 of these songs, just as they were recorded in his hospital room.
In 2018, Andrew met music producer Andy Waldeck. Under Andy Waldeck's direction, Andrew recorded and released his first studio Album “Merry Go Round”. This album saw some air play on college radio stations across the country. The MGR album reached #59 on the unweighted College Radio Charts and #134 on the weighted College Radio Charts. The album remained on the College Radio Charts from November 2018 through mid-January 2019. Andy Waldeck would go on to produce and engineer the next two Studio Albums, "Freak" in 2019 and "Sunny Side" in 2021.
In June 2019, while recording his second studio album “Freak”, Andrew was diagnosed with a very aggressive Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Cancer. Despite the very intensive and fatiguing Chemotherapy Treatments, Andrew somehow found the energy to finish recording the album, which was released in October 2019. Andrew was declared in remission in November 2019. Andrew Neil’s Album “Freak” was officially submitted for "Grammy Consideration" in the Alternative Music Album category for the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. The album was not nominated.
In June 2021, Andrew released his 4th album “Sunny Side”, a grunge folk masterpiece whose percussive acoustic alternative rhythms and lyrical simplicity echo a Daniel Johnston-like vibe. Kathy McCarty noted Austin singer-songwriter and founding member and co-leader of the influential 1980-90’s band, Glass Eye, penned this for the liner notes, “Andrew Neil’s Sunny Side is a revelation. The outpouring of melody and counterpoint is deeply affecting, seeming to come directly from a heart so genuine that it is almost too pure for this world. His simple lyrics can seem almost too plain; but then you find them reverberating in your mind for days afterward. This songwriter will find his audience, as Daniel Johnston did.”
Andrew’s newest album “Alien” is his sixth full length album. All the tracks were written by Andrew and recorded live in our home studio at Hawksnest in Gordonsville, Virginia. Andy Waldeck was the producer and lead mix engineer. The amazing album cover art for “Alien” was done by rising Bostonian artist Daniel Benayun.
Andrew Neil is considered an "Outsider music artist” in the spirit of Daniel Johnston. Penning over 400 songs since surviving a major car accident in 2009, Andrew is becoming an independent outsider musical force. He is different compared to many of the self-taught songwriters in that, he taught himself how to play the keyboard and guitar by writing songs and used music to channel his intimate emotions. He has never played a cover song and to this day doesn’t know even the basic chord shapes. He makes up his own. Neil’s unique, almost grunge-like guitar style is a bit reminiscent of Nirvana’s unplugged concert in New York in November 1994.
On 17 March 2023, Andrew Neil and his newly formed band will be opened for the Raelyn Nelson Band (Willie Nelson’s Granddaughter) at the Glen Campbell Museum, Rhinestone stage in Nashville, TN. This was his debut performance with his band. We plan on releasing two albums in 2023-2024. One will be much like Sunny Side and Alien, featuring Andrew and his nylon strong guitar. The second album will be an Alt-Country Album which will be called "In the Country” with Andrew Neil and Friends". This should be out on the Spring of 2023. A book titled “Kind of Hurt” is also being written about Andrew's battle with mental illness and cancer and how music played a significant role in his life. The publication date of this book is TBD.
As Andrew always says: "Music makes a difference in this jello world"
