In 1975, he became administrator for the Regional America Program of the Smithsonian Institution's Festival of American Folklife, and in 1976 he took the job that he held for the remainder of his life as folklorist for the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas.
In the post, he organized public programming, disseminated research, and established an archives of traditional material.
He received popular recognition for his work with the publication of Ghost Stories from the American South (1985), which became a mass market paperback.
A large editorial project that had occupied him for many years was issued after his death as the Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music (2005).
McNeil's analytical concern was to show, contrary to popular perceptions, that mountain folk cultures is complex and constantly evolving and adapting to new conditions rather than being stuck in the past.