Bio

A missing link between indie-rock and classic country western, Atlanta-based Neighbor Lady is comprised of Emily Braden, Jack Blauvelt, Merideth Hanscom, and Andrew McFarland. Led by the siren voice of front-woman and songwriter Emily Braden, Neighbor Lady began as a solo project. She began writing music by herself and for herself; lyrically, the songs chronicle events in her personal life and her emotions surrounding those events.

Having grown up on a farm in pastoral Rome, Georgia, she moved to Athens, Georgia after high school, met guitarist Jack Blauvelt and formed Neighbor Lady, a small band centered on supporting Emily’s songwriting. As Braden puts it, “Neighbor Lady started because I was too nervous to play a show by myself, so I asked my friends to play with me.”

Neighbor Lady’s debut LP Maybe Later consists of 7 songs that introduce the band’s foundations of country-kissed indie-rock in a poignantly sweet and evocative style — the album shifts fluidly between the dreamy, stripped-down, aching melodies of just Braden and her guitar, to the powerfully noisy and fiery hooks of the full band. Neighbor Lady’s momentum is indebted to their blend of a powerfully dynamic band paired with Braden’s soaring vocal melodies, creating a sensation both comforting yet heartbreaking in the same moment. You’ll feel compelled to put “Let It Bleed” on endless repeat. And there’s an immediate Southern element to Neighbor Lady, emanating from Emily’s voice (which has been compared to Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Kate Bush and Nancy Sinatra), some of Jack’s pedal steel-esque guitar melodies, the slower 2-stepping rhythm in the song “I Wish Nothing,” and the fire in songs like “Fine” and “Silently Separately.”

Friendship Fever is happy to close the polarizing gap between here and there with the release of Maybe Later, available now.