“Could the King of Country Music be the daughter, not the son”
The 5th Tami Neilson Album is called Kingmaker.
The song Kingmaker “addresses the gatekeepers and kingmakers who hold tightly to the keys of equity and minorities in the music industry and, more largely, society as a whole.”
It’s an amazing breakthrough album for this Canadian/New Zealand singer and songwriter.
The song Beyond the Stars is about loss and grief. Tami lost her Father. As Tami wrote the song, she kept hearing a duet with her father’s voice. She thought the best voice on the planet should sing her Father Ron’s lyric – Willie Nelson. Willie was fully in, as he had just lost his sister.
Tami moves through, blues, country, rock, and roots, with an ease that comes from years of street busking.
As we talked via Zoom I was thrilled to tell her that she had the number 1 album on the CKUA Top 30.
“Could the King of Country Music be the daughter, not the son”
The 5th Tami Neilson Album is called Kingmaker.
The song Kingmaker “addresses the gatekeepers and kingmakers who hold tightly to the keys of equity and minorities in the music industry and, more largely, society as a whole.”
It’s an amazing breakthrough album for this Canadian/New Zealand singer and songwriter.
The song Beyond the Stars is about loss and grief. Tami lost her Father. As Tami wrote the song, she kept hearing a duet with her father’s voice. She thought the best voice on the planet should sing her Father Ron’s lyric – Willie Nelson. Willie was fully in, as he had just lost his sister.
Tami moves through, blues, country, rock, and roots, with an ease that comes from years of street busking.
As we talked via Zoom I was thrilled to tell her that she had the number 1 album on the CKUA Top 30.
During the Saturday night interview, The Stew will feature four tracks from the album and then drop the complete 40-minute interview on The Mulligan Stew Podcast.
For a total treat, check out the Zoom video on our TDM – YouTube Channel.
NEXT WEEK
Tom Wilson and Colin Linden (Blackie and the Rodeo Kings) The very day they headline The Bear Creek Festival
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
The song Beyond the Stars is about loss and grief. Tami lost her Father. As Tami wrote the song, she kept hearing a duet with her father’s voice. She thought the best voice on the planet should sing her Father Ron’s lyric – Willie Nelson. Willie was fully in, as he had just lost his sister.
It’s an amazing breakthrough album for this Canadian/New Zealand singer and songwriter.
