#risingartist: You Should have seen the other Guy, Noah Riley Teal talks
Southern rockin’ triple threat — singer, songwriter, and guitar slinger — Noah Riley Teal may only be 17 years old, but he doesn’t sound it. His empathy as a lyricist and a vocalist, and his fretboard flare evoke the presence of a well-seasoned Americana artist, brimming with hard-luck wisdom three times his age.
His self-titled debut album, Noah Riley Teal, produced by ace Zac Brown Band multi-instrumentalist Coy Bowles, is a vibrantly varied collection of songs threaded together with a love of Southern and Classic rock, Americana, Blues, and Country. The project's lead single “Shoulda Seen The Other Guy” — showcasing vocals of a cool, laidback drawl and tasty guitar work — conjures the ominous thrills of a good old-fashioned bar fight
Noah picked up his first electric guitar at the age of five. Music is a part of his DNA; his dad is also a musician and the drummer for Noah’s band. Today, Noah is a hometown hero on the road to becoming a household name, dazzling audiences regionally with his southern-fried rock. Select live performance highlights to date include sharing the stage with Samantha Fish, Shawn Mullins, and Rhett Akins.
Noah is nothing short of determined. His life motto has always been “There is no plan B!” “I’ve always had one goal in life, to play music on the largest stage there is.” And he’s willing to do whatever it takes to reach that life long dream. It was this pestering level of persistence to have a life in music that caught ZBB’s Coy Bowles’ attention. He is the one who also challenged Noah to write songs.
“Playing guitar was my strong suit, but I didn’t have experience writing songs. With the mentorship of Coy, I finally got it, and that’s when we started to talk about making an album,” Noah recalls. Again his determination paid off and Clay Cook and John Hopkins of ZBB, Tyler Greenwell of Tedeschi Trucks Band, and Benji Shanks from Blackberry Smoke threw their hats into the ring and joined the project.
He may be an old soul, but he’s not set in his ways. Constantly evolving as an artist, he sees his debut as a primer for what he’s capable of as a musician. Noah finalizes, “the goal of this album is learning how to connect as a writer and this is the first step into finding myself as an artist not just a guitar player, and I can’t wait to see where else this journey leads me.”
