Neal Merrick Blackwood is Music City Scoring’s co owner, founder, producer, music composer, contractor, conductor and arranger. He has over 40 years experience as an in demand film and music composer. Additionally, he has an extensive Grammy Award-winning background in production, recording engineering, composition and arranging. He is a classical musician, composer, conductor, orchestrator, arranger and producer. Music City Scoring offers scoring, solo instrumentalists, choral groups (adults and children), the Music City Orchestra, string sections, woodwind sections, brass sections, percussionists, pianists, world instruments, solo vocalists, vocal coaching, recording engineering, mastering engineering, mix engineering and complete overall production services.

Grammy Award Winning Music

Through the years, Neal has worked under numerous world-renowned Grammy Award winning production teams and recording studios. His compositions are distributed worldwide by Universal Music Group and Merrick Music. Concurrently, Neal has been a voting member of NARAS (The Recording Academy/Grammy Awards). As a result, he has served as part of the NARAS Producers & Engineers Wing for many years. He has also been a great supporter of the AES (Audio Engineering Society) and is a member of AFM (American Federation of Musicians) Local 257. 

Neal Merrick Blackwood has worked with PBS, BBC, The Walt Disney Company, Paisley Park Records, The Suzuki Method, Warner Classics, Universal Music Group, Decca Records, The Olympic Games, Apple inc., Bill Mize, Miriam Stockley, Julie Fowlis, Fox Lima, Nashville Symphony, Margaret Cornils Luke, etc. 

Taryn Merrick Blackwood is co owner,  production coordinator and the vice president of operations. She has years of extensive experience in business management in the media industry, for Fortune 500 executives and for the fine arts. Not to mention, she has worked with producers of the Oprah Winfrey Show, OWN, with numerous prominent recording artists and symphony conductors. Through her business Merrick Management And Media Services, she handles the administrative needs for all of our recording productions. Her responsibilities include scheduling and all project management affairs. Because our goal is excellence, we are always monitoring progress. As a result, we are on the job from inception to the final delivery of the finished masters.

Rebecca Harrold is an award winning pianist composer and vocalist, that has had the privilege of working with such luminaries as The Boston Ballet, Neal Merrick Blackwood, Bobby McFerrin, Stephen Schwartz, Tony Levin, Will Ackerman, Jeff Haynes, Charlie Bisharat, Eugene Friesen, Average White Band, The Guess Who, etc.

Rebecca is the principal pianist for the Northshore studios of the Boston Ballet School. Recently, her music has been the setting for two original Ballet compositions: “Chaplin” and “Farewell my Lovely,”  affording her the opportunity to collaborate with world class choreographer, Kevin Jenkins. Working within the ballet world has earned her critical acclaim for her modern compositions as well as her performance prowess.

Studio work has been Rebecca Harrold’s passion and life-long goal. Singing backgrounds for local original rock bands (Y.O.M.A.M.A and Eye to Eye) and recording piano compositions with Will Ackerman, founder of Windham Hill Records, have been pivotal experiences for pursuing this goal.

Her Strengths are her ability to aptly translate human emotion into musical expression and capture the rawness of that experience instantly. She develops and practices this trait by taking long walks in the forest, climbing mountains, combing beaches for natural treasures and trinkets from God.

Ginny Luke is a prominently regarded Los Angeles based violinist and singer. Born into a musical family, she began her musical career at age three, beginning training in classical violin, piano and dance in Vilseck, Germany.

As with any successful career, Ginny’s artistic experiences have varied from performing the Mendolssohn Concerto (violin) with the WCFSO Symphony at age 14, to debuting at Carnegie Hall at age 16, to playing with Britney Spears, Black Eyed Peas, Meatloaf, Foo Fighters, 4UPrince (Symphonic Celebrations Of Prince), Will.I.Am, Snoop Dog, J.Cole, Miguel, Daniel Caesar, Amine, Dave Matthews Band, Iggy Azalea, Ruben Studdard and Stevie Wonder (among others). In addition, Ginny has played on the 2016 American Music Awards with Nicki Minaj, Skylar Grey, and Shawn Mendes. Ginny was featured as the lead vocalist and electric violinist on the international 4UPrince Tour directed by Questlove in September 2018 – May 2019. Ginny was also featured on the Dr. Dre Orchestral Rendition US tour as concertmaster and lead female vocalist in August 2019.

Lucas Sader is a Los Angeles based guitarist, musical director, programmer and producer. Since graduating from Musician’s Institute, Lucas has worked with many world renowned artists and producers. For example,  John Legend, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Camilla Cabello, Martin Garrix, Pentatonix, Will Smith, D.R.A.M, TLC, Daniel Caesar, Starley, G-Eazy, Mary J Blige, and Willow Smith, among others. Additionally, Lucas has appeared on TV shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Today Show, Conan O’Brien Show, Good Morning America, Revolt TV, AXS Live, and E! News.

Moreover, Lucas established himself as a live guitarist and musical director. By the same token, Lucas established his career as a studio musician. What is even more impressive was that Lucas was nominated for a Grammy for his work on Ledisi’s 2017 album “Let Love Rule.” Understandably, his passion for Film and TV has also led to his involvement in Sound Design and TV/Film Scoring for companies such as Syfy and Honda. Lucas is a member of AFM Local 47.

Joseph T. Spence is an Emmy nominated writer, director and cinematographer. A former staff writer for Sony Music Publishing, an original member and co-founder of the power-pop trio The Semantics signed to Geffen Records. Joseph has music, film and TV credits on Bravo, Lifetime, TLC, CW and PBS, as well as having worked alongside the likes of Julian Lennon. In 2016 he wrote/directed his second feature “The Pea Shooter” which screened at 14 festivals winning multiple awards and can be seen on Amazon Prime, Google Play etc. In 2017, he received a second Emmy nomination in the best director short form category for the promotional film “The Orphan Mother: a Novel.”

Jeanie Grindstaff is an accomplished vocalist, pianist, actor, and songwriter who has spent the last 17 years building a successful career in Music City. After releasing her independent EP, “Azalea Lane,” Jeanie began working as a session musician in Nashville. From there, she spent several years working on the ABC hit drama, “Nashville.” She has recorded with many artists including Brothers Osborne, Tyrone Wells, and Justin Rosolino. She has worked with Dolly Parton, Lady Gaga, and esteemed director, Joseph Kahn. Most recently, Jeanie appeared and sang in Burt Reynolds’ final film, “The Last Movie Star,” starring Reynolds, Chevy Chase, and Ariel Winter. She can also be seen in the critically acclaimed music documentary, “The Last Songwriter.” Jeanie has also performed on the 50th Annual CMA Awards with Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, Kacey Musgraves, and Carrie Underwood (among others). In 2017 and 2018, she performed on Country Music Association’s, “Country Christmas” with artists including Trisha Yearwood, Dan + Shay, Kelsea Ballerini, Dustin Lynch, and Amy Grant. 

Film Scoring Elite Talent

Music City Scoring Nashville is composed of world class talent from all over the world. Our talent roster is international in scope. This page highlights only a few of our team members. We have access to one of the largest talent pools in the world. This enables us to offer the very best to our clients. Additionally, we offer many suitable options for any type of project and cater to varying budgets. Contact us.