Living and Working in New Zealand. Work is singing and songwriting in the music business.
Actually, the real work is being a mother and wife. Then comes work.
If you like the power of voices like Etta James & Patsy Kline then Tami is your kind of singer.
But she’s more than that.
A feminist, mother, and social activist.
Her latest album is Chicka Boom. It’s fantastic. Just like Tami
We’re going to talk about starting over, women in country music, expectations of a Mother in music, double standards, and what being a Canadian still means.
“But being in a room with Tami Neilson—whose voice is equal parts Patsy Cline, Mavis Staples and Etta James, and no, I’m not reaching for hyperbole here—is a reminder of the soul-shattering effect of the human voice at the height of its powers. I don’t get that reminder often enough; I’m not sure I could handle it emotionally if I did.”
Michael Barclay
McLean’s Magazine
The Neilson Family was part of the country scene in Canada. A young daughter Tami was shy and quiet. Not anymore.
She fell in love with a Kiwi and moved to NZ
Been there 10 years.
But she found her voice and direction.
Big voice driving a wicked mix of blues, soul, rockabilly, and country.
She was ready to take her latest album Chicka Boom on the road when the COVID-19 pandemic shut the music touring world down.
We found her at home In Auckland and open to talking about early family days in Canada, restarting her career in NZ, the challenges women face in country music, and the reaction to being a mother, a performer, and a feminist.
The Complete Zoom interview can be found on The Mulligan Stew Podcast
I have never been to the Wild Mountain Music Festival in Hinton, Alberta. But it feels like I have now!
It’s mid-July. Whole families show up. With two main stages side by side, all the audience has to do is turn 2 feet either way and the next artist kicks off.
The host for the past 6 years is CKUA’s Mid-Morning Mojo Baba.
We’re going to talk to Baba, Jason Williams and Meagan Loves from Swear by the Moon, who’s played and volunteered since the beginning.
I put together a wish list of artists from the many who’ve played Wild Mountain.
CKUA Senior Producer Elliott Garnier kindly gathered live tracks from various festivals we’ve recorded. (Thank you Scott Franchuk)
Looking back on highlights from years past.
The on-stage performance list says it all.
Blue Rodeo – ‘Til I am myself again (Calgary 2017)
Terra Lightfoot – Never Will (Wild Mtn 2019)
Harp and Axe – Pretty Please (Edmonton 2019)
Harry Manx – Make Way (Edmonton2015)
Steve Mariner – Trouble no more (Edmonton Blues Fest )
Matt Anderson – People get Ready (Bear Creek 2017)
Whitehorse – Boys like you (Canmore 2017)
Mariel Buckley – Driving in the Dark (Edmonton 2017)
Diggin Roots – Highway 17 (Edmonton 2016)
Serena Ryder – Sing Sing (her Live album)
Special guests include BABA (who’s MC’d many years)
Also, Meagan Loves – Swear by the Moon
Jason Williams – Festival Artistic Director
Hour one starts with
The great Brian Wilson and his song Love and Mercy
Led Zeppelin back to back with new Robert Plant
Paul Simon Live in Central Park.
Dave Mason and his famous pals,.
John Mayer and Ben Harper
Anna Jayne Burton and Joey Landreth
Michael Kaeshammer and Colin James
Gord Downie and The Sadie’s
And a famous moment in Amsterdam when The Who ran onto the stage at the Concertgebouw to play Tommy for the first time.
That moment when drummer Keith Moon kept running and fell off the stage and took the sound system with him.
I was there..remember it well and now I can hear the audience go “ooooh” as he fell.
“We are a team of artists & technologists passionately building an efficient, friendly and transparent marketplace where anybody can perform, host, or curate shows for their communities”
And then this –
“Although our company was originally for in-person shows only, we quickly expanded to the online sphere, once gatherings became unsafe. Our job is to help artists, curators, festivals, and venues keep creating shows and help audiences find them.
When faced with a crisis, it is always art that helps us through. Whether it offers comfort, community, understanding, solace, distraction, or perspective, art has always been something humanity employs to make it through pain and suffering. We are committed to supporting the creators in safe and innovative ways to connect to their audience.”
Laura Simpson Co-Founder & CEO
Laura’s founding partner is Dan Mangan, a singular artist who knows about endless road trips, rooms full of strangers, and surviving the hard road.
SideDoor started several years ago as a way for emerging artists to play stages in towns, cities, regions, and provinces.
The stages were storefronts, backyards, front rooms, porches, tennis courts, and actual stages.
Forward to 2019 and a World epidemic that changed everyone’s life.
Dan tells the story of where he was and how Sidedoor Access became “The Thing”
Here’s the story of how Dan, Laura, and Sidedoor became a sensation and changed their lives. Again.
This week we celebrate the great Edmonton Folk Music Festival.
My co-host is Elliott Garnier who was the on site producer for the entire festival.
The fans can’t gather on The Hill but we can help recreate the feeling.
We had many interviews and live performances to choose from…but here’s the final list.
Terry Wickham – Producer of the Festival. He gives us a preview of the new Festival documentary The Hill featuring highlight performances from past years. www.edmontonfolkfest.org
Nathaniel Rateliff – 3 days after the Jimmy Fallon breakout. (2015)
Rhiannon Giddens – appearing as a solo performer for the first time. Outspoken activist. Gifted artist. The complete memorable conversation can be heard on the MulliganStew Podcast (2017)
Dan Mangan and Blacksmith – a brilliant off-the-cuff acapella song. (2014)
The Bros. Landreth – debuting songs from their new album. Strong performance. (2018)
Mike Farris – Grammy winner. A wicked mix of rock, gospel, and soul. Great voice. (2016)
Michael Franti – who better to close the show. He returns to Edmonton where he spent some of his teen years. Biggest audience we’ve seen at the CKUA tent. Brings the Joy of The Hill (2018)
Enjoy!! Do you own Hill!
PLAYLIST:
Mulligan Stew
Aug 8 2020 EFMF
Welcome to The Stew TDM and Elliott Garnier
Celebrating past guests from Edmonton Folk Music Festivals
This is the first repeat that we’ve presented on the Podcast. It comes from working on a Mulligan Stew special celebrating our many years at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. One interview stood out. This one with Rhiannon Giddens. It was 2018 and she was returning to the festival for the first time since taking time away from her friends in Carolina Chocolate Drops. She was now a solo artist with T Bone Burnett producing and mentoring. That’s a matter of record. What was outstanding were her comments 2 years ago on Black Lives Matter, civil rights, the history of black struggle in America, and her place in that struggle. Powerful words and opinions. As essential today as they were 2 years ago. We present Rhiannon Giddens. The complete interview.
Recorded live at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Rhiannon Giddens talks to Terry David Mulligan about stepping into the spotlight as a solo artist, the influence T-Bone Burnett has had on her career, her latest record ‘Freedom Highway’ and her thoughts on the recent sea change in American politics.
I’ll take some liberties with the actual words but I recently remember coming across these two headlines that seemed to define the profile of Margo Price.
Margo Price is here to save Rock.
Margo Price. The next superstar of Country.
There’s some truth in both but if you ask Margo she may say “I’m somewhere in between”
With her new album, That’s how rumors get started Margo takes a stance somewhere between Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen.
Smart move.
We’ve lost Tom and Bruce finds himself releasing live Broadway sets, modern country, and future solo works.
Somebody has to claim that sound and those audiences. Why not Margo Price.
She’s a fan of Janis Joplin and Linda Ronstadt. Two amazing singers who could not be wrapped up in a neat box.
They did what they did and you could come along or maybe reconnect down the road.
Margo is outspoken, passionate about her songs and music, and possesses one of the best voices.
We covered a lot of ground in this interview.
Tracks from the album, losing one child, discovering she was pregnant as she started the album, the personal cost of endless days on the road, and her place in music.
Touched on Black Lives Matter and the whole Lady A mess.
And the album? Flat out, her best yet.
Note: The complete interview can be heard at MulliganStew Podcast
(Subscribe at Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts)
We pay tribute to the late Peter Green..the co-founder of the original Fleetwood Mac. Brilliant guitarist and songwriter.
“With a script by Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy, based on The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper, the film emerges as an action thriller which never loses sight of the futility of the war being fought.
You could also watch this intensely powerful movie, which Lurie directs with a keen understanding of the mechanics of battle and an overriding humanism that puts flesh-and-blood on the bones of the tragic story being told about Bravo Troop 3-61 CAV, one of the most decorated units of the 19-year conflict”
Peter Travers Rolling Stone
Rod Lurie attended West Point and served four years as a combat arms officer. Started the Broadcast Film Critics Assn with Joey Berlin.
Then turned his attention to writing and directing in TV and film.
It all came together when he wrote and directed the Golden Globe and Academy Award-nominated The Contender.
This conversation about his latest film The Outpost is a reflection of my admiration for Rod and all he’s done. The Outpost plays to all of his strengths., the characters of the real soldiers involved and honoring the men who battled that day. His toughest critics were the families of those who died. It was vital that they saw their loved ones portrayed as the warriors they were.
Hour Two is a collection of audio highlights from the years spent at the Calgary Folk Festival
And who better to co-host than our own Elliott Garnier.
After all, he’s the on-site producer and procurer for The Stew at these festivals.
Kris Kristofferson talks about his friendship with Johnny Cash.
Guests interviews and performances Include
Lee Fields Art Bergman Blue Rodeo concert and Jim Cuddy Interview (with the Bentall boys) Fishbone The Deep Dark Woods
Hour One, the donor Michael Witt has asked us to play artists from previous Edmonton Folk Festivals.
From 2000 – Jackson Browne/Wilson Pickett/Linda Tillery
From 2013 – Amy Helm/The Avett Brothers/Mighty Clouds of Joy/Carolina Chocolate Drops
From 2005 – Ruthie Foster/Mavis Staples
and to end the show – Blackie and the Rodeo Kings/kdlang/Van Morrison/Doug Sahm
August 8th we’ll present a full two hours of highlights from past Edmonton Folk Festivals.
“Although our company was originally for in-person shows only, we quickly expanded to the online sphere, once gatherings became unsafe. Our job is to help artists, curators, festivals, and venues keep creating shows and help audiences find them.
