New novel by Monroeville native reveals the real life of rock stars
Kelley McNeil has spent countless nights rocking along with thousands of other concertgoers as the biggest musical acts on Earth rolled into Pittsburgh. But she knew that the performances she witnessed on stage weren’t the whole story.
What happened backstage at those shows was something that the Monroeville native always wanted to capture in book form.
Music and literature lovers alike will soon have the opportunity to peak into those greenrooms in McNeil’s second novel, “Mayluna.” The followup to her 2021 debut novel “A Day Like This” explores the epic romance between an aging rock star and the woman who inspired his most famous album.
“I’ve had this book in my mind for so many years,” McNeil told the PostGazette. “I wrote it actually before I wrote ‘A Day Like This.’ It’s how I got my literary agent, and it’s one that’s so close to my heart.”
McNeil is a Gateway High School and University of Pittsburgh graduate who still visits the Steel City relatively often to hang out with family and explore this ever-evolving region with her two daughters.
“I still love going back to Pittsburgh,” she said. “There’s such a pride there. If you were raised in Pittsburgh, you were part of a lifetime club. I love that feeling.”
Her mother introduced her to live music via a Neil Diamond concert at the Civic Arena, a detail she inserted into “Mayluna.” She began her musicindustry journey as an intern for DiCesare-Engler Productions, which ruled Pittsburgh’s concert promotion scene for decades before being consumed by Live Nation.
Completely different people
After leaving Pittsburgh briefly for a job with SFX Entertainment — which later became Live Nation — McNeil returned to Western Pennsylvania for a gig promoting concerts at local venues. She went on to work for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and as Mellon Arena’s director of marketing and public relations, before moving to New York and becoming a stay-athome mother.
Though McNeil completed the first draft of “Mayluna” nine years ago, she kept coming back to her manuscript chronicling Mayluna lead singer Carter Willis’ passionate affair with the mysterious Evie Waters. She explores the connection between artist and muse, passion and regret, as well as how we tell the stories of the people who inspired us most.
“I just could not let go of this story,” McNeil said.
Everything in “Mayluna” is based on McNeil’s former life watching rock stars whip adoring crowds into a frenzy and then realizing they “were a completely different person” backstage. She combined all that firsthand knowledge with a “wistful love story that’s filled with regret.”
She says her book “has some magical realism in it — that is something that’s a characteristic of the books I write,” McNeil said. “It’s not squarely magical realism, but there are always elements of the mystical.”
In the novel, Carter Willis believes that music can be a means of time travel in the sense that certain songs have the power to evoke shockingly vivid memories of when we last heard them. Ultimately, McNeil hopes reading “Mayluna” feels like listening to “a really sad love song” in that exact same way.