Backwoods 2020 Artist Spotlight: Interview With Maddy O'Neal

See Maddy O'Neal LIVE at Backwoods at Mulberry Mountain 2020! Click here for tickets.

Recently we sat down with rising star Maddy O’Neal. Hailing from Denver, Maddy has carved out her unique niche in the ever-evolving electronic genre. This will be her first time gracing the Backwoods stage, and if you haven't heard of her yet, you'll definitely want to get familiar...

Hey Maddy! How would you describe your sound?

Hi! It's hard to describe, but I use a lot of melodic overtones, driven bass lines, and jazzy hip-hop in my music. It definitely has an upbeat jazzy vibe.

This year will be the first time you've played Mulberry Mountain since 2014 right?

That's right! I played Wakarusa back in 2014-ish with my old project, but I am so pumped to see what Backwoods has done with the grounds. It's such a rad location and I've only heard amazing things about Backwoods!

If you could eternally be stuck in one year's music scene, which year would it be?

Oh man - can I do a decade instead? 90's hip hop has forever changed me. I would give anything to go back and re-live that era. 

What's your biggest inspiration when it comes to making your music?

Honestly, for me inspiration can come from anywhere. Meeting new people and experiencing new things are really what drive me and motivate me to create. I love experiencing new things, meeting new people, and hearing people's stories. I'm especially motivated from an experience I had a few weeks back. I was in Costa Rica teaching women from all over the world how to produce music in Ableton... that was a pretty life changing week for me. Seeing the excitement on my students' faces from creating and having breakthroughs sparked some serious inspiration in me... I'm going to be channeling all of that when I hit the studio next week.

Do you have any new releases or upcoming ones that we should keep an eye out for?

It's been a pretty wild 6 months of touring, so I'm headed back into studio mode for next couple months leading into festival season. I'm pumped to get back into my writing flow. I have so many half-finished projects to revisit... some remixes for homies, as well as a remix album I'm curating for my last release "The Rush EP." I reached out to a group of artists to put their own twist on the album... be on the lookout for that early spring. 

Thanks Maddy! We'll see you at Backwoods!

I can't wait! 😊