Fort Worth country artist Matthew McNeal wins 2026 Jambaloo Music Prize

Saturday’s Jambaloo Music Prize showcase at the Longhorn Ballroom featured three bands named as finalists in Jambaloo’s first-ever Music Prize, but the unspoken winner of the night was the North Texas music scene as a whole.

Ultimately, though, it was Fort Worth indie-country artist Matthew McNeal who took home the top prize: a trophy made by Dallas-based glass artist Simon Waranch, as well as $20,000 from the Mullen & Mullen Music Project. The prize also includes the opportunity to sell albums at Josey Records and a studio recording session with Grammy-winning producer Tre Nagella.

“I feel like twenty thousand bucks,” McNeal said as he accepted the award.

The contest is an extension of the annual Jambaloo Music Festival, a free, week-long series that aims to boost revenue for local music venues. The Music Prize competition is a publicly-voted contest to honor albums released by local artists in the previous calendar year. Profits from Saturday’s ticket sales were split to benefit Booker T. Washington High School of the Performing and Visual Arts, and Amplified Minds, a nonprofit that provides mental health resources to local artists.

The night’s three finalists — McNeal, Aaron’s Book Club and Paul Schalda — each performed sets to a few hundred people at the Longhorn Ballroom before the prize was announced just ahead of Marc Rebillet’s homecoming headliner set.

Schalda took the stage first, performing cuts from his debut solo record, “Lately,” which landed him among the contest’s finalists. Last year, we praised the album for its “blend of country, folk and super soulful harmonies, filtered through his tender voice, made us want to listen to the album during a trip to Big Bend.” The Texas transplant is soon headed for a fall tour with Built to Spill, which includes September dates in Dallas and Fort Worth.

McNeal was up next for his fifth full-length LP, “High Lonesome,” released last year. The record follows McNeal’s warm, soulful take on country-tinged songs that can be traced throughout much of his earlier work, which, much like “High Lonesome,” explores themes of love, loss and grief. McNeal says he already has plans to use the prize money on his next album.

Dallas native and Booker T. alum Aaron Daane of Aaron’s Book Club rounded out the finalists’ performances with a six-piece band, which included a violin and cello. The band’s latest album “Doggies” traverses the throughlines of indie rock and Midwest emo. Daane told the crowd Saturday marked the band’s first-ever live show, which is particularly impressive when you remember $20,000 was up for grabs.

By the time Marc Rebillet hit his hometown stage, silk robes were sprinkled throughout the crowd, a nod to his signature live performance getups — Saturday’s look included a candy-apple-red robe adorned with the Longhorn Ballroom’s logo on the back and red-and-white boxer briefs occasionally peaking out underneath.

“Happy Pride Month, bitch,” Rebillet told the crowd from behind his inflatable pastel stage design. Rainbow lasers followed his next set of live loops, naturally.

Being an alum of Booker T. himself, Rebillet was something of a quintessential headliner for a night meant to celebrate local music, as his ascent as an infectiously viral performer offers a glimpse of the promise the Dallas music scene has held in recent years.

“Back in Dallas, back on solid ground, back in the homeland,” he said.

And as Rebillet passed his frenetic torch of sorts, one thing was certain: the future of music in North Texas is in good hands.