Pamela McNeill

GIG: Country-rock siren Pamela McNeill cooks like grease on the griddle. Her latest CD, Nightingale, released in April on her own Sweetheart Records, illustrates why she’s been flooring crowds at such Minneapolis hot spots as Bunker’s, the Varsity Theater, and O’Gara’s for years. On November 4, McNeill and a few friends, including her bass-playing husband, Dugan McNeill, are doing a benefit at O’Gara’s for flood victims in her native Winona County.

GREW UP: Minnesota City.

INSTRUMENTS: Piano and harmonica. I’m classically trained, sixteen years, on the piano. I picked up the harp [harmonica] around 2002, doing a few Steve Earle songs in my band. I use Lee Oskar harmonicas. That’s all I’ll play.

ON STARTING HER OWN LABEL: I learned a long time ago that the saying is true: If you want to get things done the right way, you have to do them yourself. Also, unless you get the big deal with a ton of money to help with promotion, there’s not much else a small label can do for someone like me.

REASON FOR THE BENEFIT: When I wrote the songs for Nightingale, I wanted to pay tribute to the Winona area with songs such as “Mississippi River Song.” Never did I dream that such a beautiful and lush land would become a major disaster area. It was surreal, waking up on Sunday morning [August 19] to see Minnesota City on MSNBC and CNN! I immediately thought, “What can I do?” This is something I can do—raise some money to help my people, my hometown.

ON WORKING WITH HER HUSBAND: It’s great. We’re usually pretty wired, so after we get everything unloaded, we get comfy and make a pizza and have a beer and dissect the gig and the whole evening. We both have so much respect for each other. And he’s my biggest fan!

WHAT’S IN HER CD PLAYER: Black Cadillac by Roseanne Cash. She’s amazing.

CATCH HER ACT: Nov. 4. Silver Linings: A Benefit Concert for Southeast Minnesota. O’Gara’s, 764 Snelling Ave. N., 651-644-3333