Jocelyn Neal received a BA in music from Rice University in 1993, an MA from the Eastman School of Music in 1995, and a PhD in music theory from the Eastman School of Music in 2002. Her primary areas of research are commercial country music and American popular music, following on her dissertation (titled "Song Structure Determinants: Poetic Narrative, Phrase Structure, and Hypermeter in the Music of Jimmie Rodgers").

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Neal teaches music theory, analysis, and popular music courses; her research addresses commercial country music, rhythm and meter, and dance/music interactions in popular music. She was a Fellow at the Mannes Institute for Advanced Studies in Music Theory (2005 and 2008). She has served as chair of the Popular Music Group for the Society of Music Theory and as a member of the editorial board for the academic journal Music Theory Spectrum. She is currently co-editor of Southern Cultures. Dr. Neal regularly presents her research at national conferences on American music, popular music, music theory, and cultural studies. In 2012 she was appointed Director of the Center for the Study of the American South at UNC.