CANADIAN-BORN, NEW ZEALAND-BASED DYNAMO
VOCALIST TAMI NEILSON
GETS BACK TO HER FAMILY ROOTS
WITH POPPING NEW ALBUM CHICKABOOM!
DUE IN FEBRUARY 14, 2020 VIA
OUTSIDE MUSIC;
FIRST SINGLE DROPPED SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
FIRST SINGLE DROPPED SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
Is she country, rock or
soul?
This phenomenal talent
creates music for all.
#NoGenreIsBestGenre #BeyondSimpleCategorization
Rolling Stone Country debuted
the video for “Hey Bus Driver”:
AUCKLAND,
New Zealand —No one forgets the
first time they saw Tami Neilson.
She can hush a room with an original song that channels the hurting spirit of
Patsy Cline or the sensuality of Peggy Lee, or bring the audience to its feet
on a rockabilly raver.
She’s an artist with real range, whose powerful
voice can take on big ballads, golden-age country, heartfelt Gospel,
soul-infused R&B, Western swing, even old-style rock ‘n’ roll. Tami
encompasses them all and is a personality-powered cyclonic force of nature in
stylishly retro attire, long lashes and a stacked-high beehive.
Previous media accolades come from both sides of
the Atlantic, including Rolling Stone, which called her “a
fire-breathing belter on her own terms” and the U.K.’s Guardian, which
asserted that “her powerhouse voice recalls 1950s stars such as Wanda Jackson and Patsy Cline.”
Of her new album’s title, CHICKABOOM!,Tami
explains, “I wanted to write an album of punchy little songs, popping
firecrackers that, when stripped back to nothing but a guitar, percussion and
two voices, would still go boom!” The
new collection, due out February
14, 2020, brings much personal and family history to the table.
Tami grew up performing across North America
with the Neilson Family Band,
working alongside greats such as Johnny
Cash, Tanya Tucker, and Kitty
Wells. With her parents Betty and Ron (her late father a songwriter of
considerable accomplishment) and two brothers Todd (drums) and Jay (bass), she
spent years on the road learning her craft.
This enabled Tami to explore her increasing vocal and emotional range and build a deep well of musical influences to draw upon when she started to write her own material.
This enabled Tami to explore her increasing vocal and emotional range and build a deep well of musical influences to draw upon when she started to write her own material.
Subsequently, Tami fell in love with a New
Zealander, moved to the bottom of the world and began her solo career. Though
she left the comforts of her loving family and musical community in Canada,
over many years she built a platform for herself through open-mic nights,
playing soulless casinos and the dead-air time-slots at festivals, finding a
small group of fellow travellers and supportive players, and then a series of
increasingly impressive albums followed.
Tami Neilson’s singing and writing is too big to
contain, as HMV Canada noted:
“There are singers and then there is Tami Neilson, for whom the word singer
just isn’t big enough.”
The road has now led to CHICKABOOM!, which
is something different again, and even more personal. “In the past year, I
started to notice something,” she says. “The artists I would spend time with
backstage at festivals, the ones I gravitated to the most and followed on
social media ... artists like the Secret
Sisters, Shovels & Rope, Kasey Chambers, Brandi Carlile ...
they all had family performing with them. When you tour away from
loved ones, it makes a world of difference to have part of your village with
you on the road. Not to mention, nothing can come close to that special blend
of blood harmonies and silent communication that only comes from being onstage
with a person for over 30 years. Family has always been a huge part my
music-writing, recording and creating with me, but I wanted family on this
project and on the road with me again.” Brother Jay flew to Auckland, New
Zealand from Toronto to record a selection of new songs that have unmistakable
sibling magic and harmonies. “I don’t think he quite understands what he’s
gotten himself into but now the album’s coming out it’s a bit too late.
Sucker,” she laughs.
Tami Neilson @ AmericanaFest!
HAVE MERCY!!! Look at the company I am keeping, thanks to @wideopencountry! Now, if someone would just make this list a festival lineup on one stage...Tanya Tucker, Sheryl Crow, Wynonna, Bonnie Raitt and ME?! 🤯 Nevermind, it would actually kill me 😵 https://t.co/z4dccJ82vt— Tami Neilson (@tamineilson) September 19, 2019
And if you’ve missed Tami before — on record or in concert — then you are in for a treat ... and you might not quite understand what you’ve gotten yourself into either.
As we say: you’ll never forget the first time
you saw Tami.
Jay will join Tami on tour to take CHICKABOOM! and
her earlier sounds to international crowds.
Earlier
in the year Tami Neilson was described by Rolling Stone as “a crackling,
hand-clapping soul vamp that would do Amy Winehouse proud for its swagger and
defiant self-reliance.” Tami brought this energy with song “Big Boss Mama,”
the standalone single celebrated the Big Boss Mamas of the world. It was released
on International Women’s Day on March 8.
Co-written with Kaylee Bell, Seth Haapu and Jol Mulholland (Anika Moa, Neil Finn, Liam Finn), “Big Boss Mama” was inspired by the strut, swagger and confidence of hip hop music, and aimed to bring the same energy to the country/Americana genre.
See Related BLOG POST (April 2018): Tami Neilson to release new album, SASSAFRASS!
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