Neal McCoy got his start in country music working with Charley Pride at 21-years-old and released his first album in 1991.
His discography now includes 10 records, including three platinum albums and one gold. He was voted Entertainer of the Year both in 1998 and 1999 and won Video of the Year in 1997 for “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye.”
However, McCoy says the acknowledgment that he is most proud of is the Academy of Country Music’s Humanitarian award, which he received in 2005.
“That’s a real recognition of helping folks, helping your community, the good things you do in life,” he says. “You don’t do it for the recognition, but for someone - especially a great organization like that - to pat you on the back and say, ‘we know you’re not doing it for the recognition, but we see it and thank you for it,’ it feels good.”
McCoy and his wife started their own charity foundation 14 years ago called the East Texas Angel Network to help children with serious and life-threatening illnesses.
“It’s something were very proud of,” McCoy says. “We’ve raised a lot of money and helped a lot of families. We’ve raised almost $5 million dollars and we’ve helped over 400 families in our community. It’s a real honor to the folks of East Texas who want to help their own.”
McCoy has been on somewhere between 15 to 20 USO tours over the last seven years, visiting soldiers across the U.S. and around the world. He has been to Iraq seven times and Afghanistan twice.
“There’s nothing like having an opportunity to thank our soldiers,” he says. “There are great soldiers all over our country and all over the world who are taking care of us and doing their job, and we just think it’s very important to thank those folks. I appreciate not just those who are serving now, but also our veterans who have served I the past. Anyone who has served in the U.S. military, I’m very proud of.”
McCoy spends 7 to 8 months out of the year touring. As he doesn’t prepare a set list before he performs, no two Neal McCoy shows are exactly alike.
“It makes every show fun for me and for my band because we don’t know what’s coming next,” he says. “We all have to concentrate on what’s going on. With some musicians that have set lists, everyone knows what’s coming next, and I think you just kinda get into a rut. You lose some of that excitement.”
McCoy is known for on-the-spot covers of other songs as well, including some that he has never rehearsed with his band.
“We just do whatever comes to us,” he says. “Sometimes I’ll just start singing and maybe a band member or two will know it and maybe they won’t. Sometimes we screw it up more than we do it any good, but that’s fine. Our shows are just real honest.”
So what can audiences expect from his set at this year’s Jamboree?
“Who knows?” McCoy says. “I don’t know because we don’t have a set list. Just expect to have fun. If you’re a Neal McCoy fan, you’ll probably hear the songs that you’ve hopefully grown to know and love from us, our hits. Other than that, it’s just going to be wide open. There’s no telling what you’ll hear, but we think if you stick around for the whole show, you’ll have about as much fun as you’ve ever had.”
Published in the 2008 Oregon Jamboree program
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