Trent Monk and Michael Neagle, the latest to sign with
Flicker Records, have a lot in common. Monk and Neagle both hail from
Amarillo, Texas, play guitar and have been happily married for five
years to women they met at their home church.
Plus, they're horrible mechanics when it comes to fixing
their RV. However, this duo makes up for its automotive shortcomings
with superb songwriting and harmonizing as evident in its self-titled
debut, which released in August.
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While any young guy with a brand new crush might pen such
a sentiment, these words are actually sung by two men who have each
been married for over five years. And yes, they're singing about their
wives.
Singer / songwriters Trent Monk and Michael Neagle are
as crazy about their wives as the day they met them, and that ongoing
devotion is woven into many of the songs on their self-titled Flicker
Records debut.
In addition to providing musical inspiration, Monk & Neagle's
commitment to the respective loves of their lives has also led them
to make a rather unusual lifestyle decision. While on the road touring
the country, "home" means many addresses for the two men,
but only one place - a 1995 Holiday Rambler RV, in which the pair travel
with their wives.
Rachael Neagle and Micah Monk have come alongside their
husbands to join them in their work, and to put an end to the lonely,
all-night drives the men were making to be with their wives after out-of
state concerts. |
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"Our wives realize that we are doing what God has
called us to do and that, as married couples, they have a role in helping
us to fulfill that destiny," explains Monk. "We made a commitment
early on that if we were going to do this, we had to all do it together."
Though that decision was made only a few short months
ago, when Monk & Neagle officially became a twosome after signing with
Flicker Records, the friendship that birthed their alliance began over
ten years ago. Growing up in the dusty little Texas town of Amarillo,
Monk and Neagle met in college and became close friends while fishing
and picking out guitar tunes together. As the years passed, Monk pursued
the path of independent artist, becoming a favorite among followers
of indie distributor Grassroots Music with the release of two solo projects,
I Wait (1999) and Stars Would Fall (2003). Meanwhile, Neagle dedicated
himself to full-time ministry as a worship pastor for a church in Abilene,
Texas.
In the fall of 2003, Monk & Neagle suddenly found their
divergent musical paths coming together once again. When Monk was asked
to join Inpop Records duo Shane and Shane on the group's highly successful
"Carry Away" tour, he asked his longtime friend Neagle to
join him for the trip.
"I had always known that the first big opportunity
I had, I wanted Michael to come along," shares Monk. "There
is a chemistry between us that I hadn't found with any other artist
I'd worked with, so it just made sense for him to come on the tour.
But we had no intention, initially, of ever becoming a duo," he
admits.
As the tour took off, however, more and more people came
up to the men and asked when they'd be doing an album together. At the
tour's close, despite the fact that Neagle had just released his own
successful independent project, Recreated, Monk & Neagle made the life-changing
decision to become a double act. Almost immediately, they found themselves
signing a recording contract with Flicker Records and beginning work
on their first project together.
Partnering with producer Ed Cash (Bebo Norman, Chris Tomlin,
Caedmon's Call, Bethany Dillon), Monk & Neagle worked tirelessly to
craft an album expressing their unique musical combination of pop, rock,
jazz, and funk, with a touch of folk.
The pair found a musical soulmate in Cash, who became
intimately involved in the creation process of the songs of Monk & Neagle,
and who ultimately shared writing credits on eight of the project's
ten cuts.
"In addition to becoming really great friends with
Ed, we also found a mentor and a partner," Neagle tells. "We
write together and pull from similar experiences we have all had in
our Christian walk, in our marriages, and in life."
Monk & Neagle features the two men's tight vocal harmonies
and blended guitar styles on a bevy of soulful, acoustic pop songs.
Though many of the album's cuts were taken from Monk & Neagle's earlier
independent projects and freshly reworked, the pair labored with Cash
during their five months in the studio to craft several rich new musical
offerings for the record, including the playful groove of "Paradise"
and the passionate, straight-ahead pop of "Secret."
"We wanted this album to be fun to listen to while
communicating our hearts and our vision as well," said Neagle.
"It was very important to us that we be involved in the songwriting
process for every song on the album, because we wanted the music to
convey what God has done in our own personal relationships with Him
and the many situations, good and bad, we have walked through in our
lives."
With a well-crafted, hook-laden debut under their belts,
Monk & Neagle are poised to spend a lot of time singing that praise
as they travel the highways touring this year. But don't think for a
minute that they'll travel alone - at every milestone, they'll have
their better halves at their side, because there's simply no other girl
in the world for either of them.