Tami Wins "Best Female Artist 2010" at the NZ Country Music Awards!

An audience of enthusiastic country music fans filled the 1200 seat Founders Theatre in Hamilton this past weekend where Tami Neilson was awarded "Best Female Artist 2010" at the National Country Music Awards. The show included performances by Tami, Marian Burns, JamesRay and The Topp Twins, who were presented with the "Country Music Legend Award".

Cover Girl Tami Neilson for Sunday Magazine

1 Aug 2010
Sunday Magazine
Hip to be Hick :The hardy crop of Kiwis making country music cool

Whether you prefer it slick and glossy, feral and munterish or dark and melancholy, New Zealand makes country music all ways. Grant Smithies surveys the wide range of sounds happening on the Kiwi country scene...

Some music snobs maintain that country music is just corny cowboy crap written for yokels who live in those dull provincial outposts referred to by TV programmers as “the heartland”. They imagine mutton-fed squares out in Deliverance country line-dancing in checked shirts and Hallensteins slacks. But country music has never been so easily defined or dismissed. Like rock, pop or hip hop, it has evolved since its inception, mutating like a particularly frisky virus, cross-breeding shamelessly with other styles. In New Zealand, musicians have been putting their spin on country music for decades.

Canada-born country singer Tami Neilson has won Best Country Album at the New Zealand Music Awards for the last two years, and it’s easy to see why. Rather than choose sides between slick Nashville country-pop and a more fashionable alternative country sound, she keeps one cowboy-booted foot in each camp. Recorded in her brother’s kitchen using an old refrigerator box as a vocal booth, her latest album, The Kitchen Table Sessions, contains hectic bluegrass versions of Dave Dobbyn’s “Slice of Heaven” and Scribe’s “Not Many” alongside the kinds of glossy ballads you might hear at the annual Gold Guitar Awards in Gore. Throughout, Neilson sings her heart out, recalling a cross between Roy Orbison and Patsy Cline.
“Well, country has a lot of range, and I try to get all that range into my music. A lot of people over here say they hate country music, yet they love Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams and Ryan Adams, and you can’t spit in New Zealand without hitting a country music club. You guys love country but you just don’t know it.”
Back in Ontario, Neilson’s parents played music professionally since before she was born. “We have footage of me on stage with them in a little frilly white dress when I’m not even two. I can’t talk yet, but I can sing. My dad’s trying to get the microphone off me, and I’m freaking out, and Mum’s waving my milk bottle at me to seduce me off the stage.”
From the age of 12, Neilson travelled with her parents and two brothers in a Partridge Family-style motor home, playing as a family band across Canada and the US. They performed regularly on TV, had two Top 20 hits, and shared stages with Brenda Lee and Loretta Lynn. She even opened for Johnny Cash in her pyjamas after an electrical fire on the bus destroyed their stage outfits.
“And then I married a New Zealander and had to start all over again. That was a real shock. I’d had this professional career since I was a teenager, then five years ago I had to start afresh in this place where so many people are hostile towards country music. Back in North America, country music is seen as being cool and cutting edge, whereas in New Zealand I was getting all this advice from people in the music industry, like, ‘Don’t say the ‘C’ word. It’s a dirty word over here.’ I was like, really?
“But at least I’m unique here. The fact that I’m singing country is a point of difference, and so is the fact that I’m this maple Kiwi: half Canadian, half Kiwi. Also, I think being Canadian gave me the confidence to do country versions of Kiwi songs that are iconic to you guys, whereas Kiwi musicians might be afraid to try things like that because of that whole tall poppy thing.
“Really, winning you guys over is like a challenge to me, and it seems to be working. Every time I tour, there are more hip, young city people at my gigs, and the minute we pull out a banjo, they freak out, they’re so excited. People are like, ‘Banjo! Awesome!’ Maybe it’s finally becoming cool to be a hick.” “The minute we pull out a banjo, people are like, ‘Awesome!’ Maybe it’s finally becoming cool to be a hick”

Neilson Wins Again!

COUNTRY MUSIC AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Tami Neilson and Matt Langley Strike Country Gold

The nation’s biggest awards night on the country music calendar has seen the gongs handed out for Best Country Music Album and Best Country Song of 2010 at the New Zealand Country Music Awards in Gore tonight (June 4).

Tami Neilson has followed up her 2009 win by picking up the Recording Industry Association (RIANZ) Best Country Music Album while Matt Langley has taken out the APRA Best Country Song for 2010.

Auckland-based Neilson’s ‘The Kitchen Table Sessions’ took out the award ahead of other finalists The Bads for ‘So Alive’ and The Topp Twins for ‘Honky Tonk Angel’.

‘The Kitchen Table Sessions’ features guest performances by members of the Neilson family and includes several blue grass takes on classic songs such as ‘Slice of Heaven’, ‘Salty Dog Blues’ and ‘I Fall to Pieces’.

Tami is no stranger to the Country Music Awards with her album ‘Red Dirt Angel’ winning Best Country Music Album last year. Her single ‘Cry Myself to Sleep’ was also a finalist for the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Best Country Song Award.

Canadian-born Neilson’s soulful take on country music has seen her carve a solid following in both New Zealand and Australia.

Having toured Canada with her parents’ band as a young girl, Tami is used to living life on the move. As well as and several stints in Australia and New Zealand, she recently finished the ‘Saints and Sinners’ tour of New Zealand, which received rave reviews. Tami will also be touring Canada in July.

RIANZ CEO Campbell Smith says Tami’s win highlights the calibre of country music artists in New Zealand. “This is Tami’s second Tui in as many years and that in itself shows just how talented and prolific she is as an artist. She is a wonderful asset to our local country music scene and is very deserving of the recognition that taking home a Tui brings.”

Ant Healey, director of New Zealand operations for APRA, says: “We have a uniquely Kiwi take on country music in New Zealand and each year it’s exciting for us to see what local writers are producing. It’s great to see excellent musicians such as Tami and Matt being recognised for their contribution to a great genre of music.”

Attracting more than 5,000 country music fans during the festival, Gore’s Gold Guitar week is in its 37th year.

http://www.nzmusicawards.co.nz/2010/06/08/country-music-award-winners-announced/

Country Album Finalists Announced

The finalists for the RIANZ Best Country Music Album 2010 were announced today.

They are The Bads for 'So Alive', Tami Neilson for 'The Kitchen Table Sessions' and The Topp Twins for 'Honky Tonk Angel'.

Awards are to be presented on June 4 at the New Zealand Country Music Awards in Gore.

Dianne Swann and Brett Adams are The Bads and they have worked together since 1992. So Alive is the duo's 2nd album, four years after 'Earth From Space'. The title track was the first single from the album and was featured as the theme song for the award winning TV series 'Hunger For The Wild'.

Canada-raised Tami Neilson features in the RIANZ Best Country Music Album Award category for the second year in a row after taking out the title in 2009 for 'Red Dirt Angel'.
Neilson now lives in Auckland and tours New Zealand regularly. 'The Kitchen Table Sessions' was recorded with various other Neilson family members and features a blue grass version of Dave Dobbyn's 'Slice of Heaven'.

Lynda and Jools Topp are New Zealand cultural icons and extremely talented songwriters and recording artists, as critics the world over acknowledge. They have two previous Best Country album wins - for 'Grass Highway' in 2001 and 'Flowergirls and Cowgirls' in 2005. In 2008 they were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.
'Honky Tonk Angel' was produced by old friend Don McGlashan with his band The Seven Sisters playing on most of the tracks.

RIANZ CEO Campbell Smith is glad he's not one of the judges:
"This is one of the strongest line-ups in this RIANZ Best Country Album category that I can remember. Two of the finalists have won the award before and the third is one of New Zealand's most talented duos. It's going to be very hard to pick a winner.
"I wish all three finalists the best of luck."

Canada Shows Announced!

Having just been nominated for the 2nd year in a row for New Zealand's Best Country Album, Tami Neilson is reunited with her family to perform songs from their award-nominated 'The Kitchen Table Sessions" album. She will also be joined by special guest, New Zealand artist Lauren Thomson!

This only comes around once a year with a few exclusive shows in Ontario, so don't miss out!

25 June: Moonshine Cafe, Oakville, 9pm
BUY TICKETS:

http://www.sellyourevents.com/TamiNeilsonTheKitchenTableSessionsLIVE!TheMoonshineCafe.aspx

26 June: Kerr St Market, Oakville, 10am-1pm

27 June: Legion Hall, Stoney Creek, 3pm

9 July: London Music Club, London, 7:30pm
BUY TICKETS:

http://www.ticketscene.ca/events/1930

10 July: South Simcoe Theatre, Cookstown, 8pm
BUY TICKETS:

http://www.sellyourevents.com/eventpage.aspx?name=TamiNeilsonTheKitchenTableSessionsfeaturingRonNeilsonJayNeilsonspecialguestLaurenThomson

An Encore Auckland Show Added to Saints & Sinners Tour!

For those of you who missed out the first time around, or wished you'd brought your friends (or Mums!) Saints & Sinners has added another Auckland show to the tour!

SUNDAY, MARCH 7th
JUICE BAR @ The Windsor Castle, Parnell Road
Doors open 7.00pm, show starts 7.30pm

Tickets: Under The Radar www.undertheradar.co.nz
Door Sales $15

Check out the following fantastic review of the show by Graham Reid, as well as a live performance on Good Morning:

http://tvnz.co.nz/good-morning/s2010-e120210-saintsandsinners-video-3362807

Review by Graham Reid
"SAINTS & SINNERS
Jackie Bristow, Lauren Thomson and Tami Neilson
Feb 2010

I seriously doubt you'll find three more talented women sharing a stage anywhere in this country than these singer-songwriters: not only do they individually have terrific and memorable songs (many of them), but they play the heartfelt ones from places deep inside and their kick-arse ones with undiluted energy.

Their humour is unaffected and infectious (a fluffed intro, a compliment that comes out wrong and so on are laughed off) and I have rarely been to a gig where there is such a sense of joy, and sheer delight in playing music for an audience. Not for these women some shoe gazing or "shucks you guys". They play their songs for themselves but reach out to their audience.

I guess that comes from having separately played gigs across the States and in Canada, and knowing that you have to try harder once you get under the lights.

But never once did these women look like they were trying: they just let the songs come out, sang harmonies with each other, swapped around their instruments and delivered great original songs (and a couple of stomping covers), some of which sound to me like contemporary alt.country classics.

I'm not going to single any one of them out, or indeed any song.

My advice is just go and see them, get a beer and prepare to be amused, engaged, made to think and laugh.

Take cash too because I'd bet you'll want to buy their albums on the door on your way out.

I'm told they are coming back for another gig in Auckland after their Saints and Sinners tour around the country.


I'll see you there -- because I /will/ be there. Again. And again.

Graham Reid
www.elsewhere.co.nz

What do you get when you mix the winner of this years’ Tui Award, a Silver Scroll nominee and the winner of an International Songwriting Competition?

A divine and potent cocktail called “Saints and Sinners”.

Internationally acclaimed female songsmiths Tami Neilson, Lauren Thomson and Jackie Bristow will be swapping songs and stories in front of audiences on a 12-date national tour in February 2010.

This writers-in-the-round show will be an intimate acoustic evening, three solo artists joining forces on stage and sharing the experiences that inspired their songs, from opening for Johnny Cash and Art Garfunkel to touring from Canada to Europe, the USA to Japan. Drawing comparisons with Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Patty Griffin and Roy Orbison, these women bring 3 unique voices together for a rare collaborative show.



Thursday 4th Feb...HAMILTON, The Academy of Performing Arts
Friday 5th Feb...RAGLAN, Orca
Saturday 6th Feb...AUCKLAND, Juice Bar @ Windsor Castle
Sunday 7th Feb...WHANGAREI, Salut Bar

Thursday 11th Feb...WELLINGTON, Mighty Mighty
Friday 12th Feb...CARTERTON, The Lounge
Saturday 13th Feb...PETONE, Wellington Bluegrass Society
Sunday 14th Feb...CHRISTCHURCH, Harbourlight Theatre, Lyttleton


Tuesday 16th Feb...DUNEDIN, Chicks Hotel, Port Chalmers
Wednesday 17th Feb...MOERAKI, Fleurs Place
Thursday 18th Feb...GORE, The Little Theatre
Friday 19th Feb...INVERCARGILL, The Repertory Theatre

All shows start at 8pm

Buy Your Tickets Today at: http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/utr/tour/id/736/title/Saints_and_Sinners_Tour:_Tami_Neilson,_Lauren_Thomson_and_Jackie_Bristow_.utr

"The Kitchen Table Sessions" Album Review...

"It's a curious thing that in New Zealand where country and alt.country of various persuasions has become increasingly popular that an album like this slips past most people. It slipped past me until very recently, although I'm pleased to note her previous one Red Dirt Angel, didn't go around the judges at the 2009 music awards who picked it as the country album of last year.

Without having heard the other contenders for next year I'm prepared to bet this will be pretty far ahead the rest of the pack. It shifts easily from being moving to upbeat fun, delightful to raunchy . . .

Canadian-born Neilson grew up in a family of musicians and was part of their traveling band (a country music Partridge Family, she jokes) but has moved to this far side of the world.

While back in Canada seeing family they were sitting around the kitchen table swapping songs and so the idea of an equally informal album was born.

That's not to say these 16 songs (among them some terrific originals, more of that soon) are lo-fi and aw-shucks. These are smart and sensitively produced songs, just tune in to the aural clarity and early Cowboy Junkies-like guitar sound on her cover of Dream with her brother Jay. Beautiful.

Recorded in Canada with various Neilsons (Marian Burns' fiddle part was recorded in New Zealand), this one also takes some serious chances: a banjo-driven version of Sam and Dave's sexual steamer Hold On? A bluegrass take on Dave Dobbyn's Slice of Heaven? The old Salty Dog Blues?
Only the most confident of talents would take those chances -- and Neilson certainly has that self-assurance. (She was "Amy Winehouse" on a Stars in Their Eyes show which is ample evidence for me.)
She opens with the alarmingly good original Cry Myself to Sleep which works those dramatic Roy Orbison/Gene Pitney emotions: "I wave hello and my smile is bright, I am so gracious, so polite each time you pass me on the street, and then I cry myself to sleep. And when I'm laughing with my friends, they say they're glad I'm on the mend . . ."
This exceptional song is co-written with Jay, and their writing partnership forms the backbone of this album (six of the 12 Neilson family originals here) and is about as good as it gets in country music.
When she and Jay merge their voices (be it on the gentle ballad Full of Moon or the uptempo tunes) real magic sparks.
And these songs have classic country emotions being pulled apart: "You want to kiss and pretend that we've never met" on the aching I Fall to Pieces; "I didn't believe my eyes until you waved goodbye" on the haunting Girl on the Moon; "You say my name when we enter a room with your hand on the small of my back" on the lovely My Name . . .
There's also the raunchy Six Months Married which would rock any bar, let alone a kitchen.

That subtitle "Volume 1" just makes you want them to get together in the Neilson kitchen again real soon. Excellent album. "- Graham Reid, Elsewhere

New Album & Website Launch!

We are proud to announce that Tami's new CD "The Kitchen Table Sessions" is being released to stores on 19th Oct! So, we thought, what better way to celebrate than to go all-out and launch a brand new website? It's pretty fancy- more music, media clips and better access to the online store where you can buy both the new "Kitchen Table Sessions" as well as Tami's first Tui-Award winning album "Red Dirt Angel". Be sure to join Tami's mailing list on the home page to keep up with all the upcoming shows (like her album launch party coming up soon!) and just plain old juicy gossip ;)

We hope you enjoy!

About "Tami Neilson- The Kitchen Table Sessions":

"This project was recorded on a visit back to Canada over the Christmas holidays in Jan 2009. while sitting around my brother's kitchen table, various Neilsons dropped in, playing instruments, stomping their feet, singing along to old songs, writing new ones, knitting, cooking, laughing and reminiscing. We drank vast amounts of Tim Hortons hot chocolate and feasted on my sister-in-law's southern fried chicken to keep warm and cozy while the winter snow piled up on the doorstep outside.

I love making music with my family. It used to be our way of life, what we did everyday for a living. It was just "normal"...(if normal was the Partridge Family). Now, living on the other side of the earth, it has become something special and rare and precious. So, it was fun to capture that feeling of going back in time for a little while, back to when it was no work and all play with my siblings and parents. A holiday from being a grown-up.

So, pull up a chair at our kitchen table and feel free to join in if you like!"

-Tami Neilson Auckland, New Zealand

Tami's "Red Dirt Angel" is Air New Zealand's Top Pick of the Month!

I always say that I've spent so much time and money over the years flying back and forth from Canada to NZ on Air New Zealand that I should have shares in the company...well, it looks like they're showing me some sweet airline love, choosing me as their Top Pick of the Month for their in-flight entertainment magazine "Kia Ora"! Woot woot! So, if any of you are flying Air NZ, please be sure to watch the safety video and note the exits, then recline your seat and tune in to some Red Dirt Angel.

Thank you for flying with us :)