TAMI NOMINATED FOR THIRD TUI AWARD!

COUNTRY ALBUM & SONG FINALISTS ANNOUNCED Awards to be presented in Gore on 31 May The finalists for the RIANZ Best Country Music Album 2012 have been announced today. Two of the finalists - The Harbour Union and The Unfaithful Ways - are from Christchurch and both of their albums have emotional connections with the city’s devastating earthquakes. The third finalist is no stranger to the awards – Tami Neilson’s “The Kitchen Table Sessions Vol II” is her third finals berth. The Harbour Union’s self-titled album features 27 Christchurch musicians who have banded together to produce a fund-raising recording with the profits going back to the Lyttelton community. “Free Rein”, the debut album from Christchurch four-piece The Unfaithful Ways, was nearly a victim of the earthquake. Thanks to the perseverance of two structural engineers they were retrieved from the studio which had been tagged for demolition. The Unfaithful Ways was a finalist in the 2011 Vodafone NZ Music Awards Critics’ Choice Award and performed at the Big Day Out that same year. Auckland-based Tami Neilson is a two-time winner of a RIANZ Country Music Awards Tui – in 2009 (“Red Dirt Angel”) and 2010 (“The Kitchen Table Sessions”). She was also a co-finalist last year. “The Kitchen Table Sessions Vol II” builds on Tami’s successful previous Sessions album with her trademark raw energy and music that is a hybrid of acoustic torch and stripped-bare country blues. RIANZ managing director, Chris Caddick, says: “What an absolutely brilliant year for Country Music. Congratulations to the three finalists all of whom have recorded outstanding albums. We wish them all well for the big night in May.” Tami says,"I'm so proud to be nominated for "Best Country Album" once again, with fellow nominees "The Unfaithful Ways" and "The Harbour Union", both incredible bands! Exciting to be in such talented company and see the bar being raised for country music in NZ."