“…I packed up everything I owned into my Mini Cooper and headed west.”
In 2014, following breakups with his band and girlfriend, Paul Oneto left everything behind and drove from Connecticut to California to pursue a career in music. A songwriter who resides in nostalgia, Paul creates music described as “recalling memories from a life you’ve never experienced.”
With the melodic ambient qualities of indie folk artists like Band of Horses and haunting lyrical stylings reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, Paul found his voice in Northern California, using it to share heartfelt songs that explore love, life, and loneliness.
Born and raised in Connecticut’s New Haven County, Paul got his first guitar at the age of eight. He was rewarded with a black Fernandez (complete with a built-in amplifier) after relentlessly begging his parents to play Bryan Adams and Beatles for Sale in their living room. At eighteen, he moved to New York City to study English at Manhattan College and became infatuated with seeing bands at iconic clubs like CBGB and The Bowery Ballroom. He immersed himself in the music of artists like Jets to Brazil and Elliott Smith, finding emotional refuge while struggling with depression and the aftermath of childhood trauma.
A few semesters into his time in New York, Paul shifted his focus to Jazz Performance. He made a personal promise to dedicate his life to music and share the comfort and refuge he found in music. Yet back in his hometown, years of writing and performing left him isolated – those closest to him struggled to understand or support the introspective musical world he was building. He finished recording an album that felt divorced from his true identity then decided it was time to leave town.
In 2020 Paul released his debut EP Virtually Together, a concept album inspired by the juxtaposition of interconnection and isolation in the digital world. In 2023 Paul released his second album Strange featuring his single “Equinox.” Paul can be seen throughout the Northern San Francisco Bay Area, frequently performing at wineries and breweries in the North Bay. His album Tomorrow Morning releases in 2026 with Wilson Street Records.
“If you feel like this music was written for you, it’s because it was.” -Paul Oneto
