NEW ALBUM NEON COWGIRL OUT JULY 11 ON OUTSIDE MUSIC FEATURING GUESTS ASHLEY MCBRYDE, SHELLY FAIRCHILD, GRACE BOWERS AND NEIL FINN
TAMI TO HEAD OUT ON THE OUTLAW TOUR WITH WILLIE NELSON AND BOB DYLAN THIS MONTH
“NEON COWGIRL represents a lifelong dream of chasing Nashville and country music. I’ve loved her my whole life, even when she breaks my heart over and over again.” – TAMI NEILSON
Tami Neilson has been called a “fire-breathing R&B belter” (Rolling Stone) and a “full-tilt badass” (Saving Country Music), electrifying peers and fans worldwide with her powerful, emotive voice and riveting stage presence. A native Canadian who lives with her family in New Zealand, Tami grew up on the road, traveling North America in a motor home with her family band, The Neilsons. Today, she reaches into her own history with her latest single “Foolish Heart,” a song inspired by Roy Orbison. She met the late legend as a baby when her father’s band supported him on tour. The song’s lush string arrangements and soaring vocals call to mind the epic, countrypolitan sound of some of Orbison’s ’60s hits and was performed and recorded live in one take in one room. Tami is also releasing an accompanying video for “Foolish Heart,” also recorded in one take.
“I grew up with a photograph of Roy Orbison cradling me in his arms, tucked into the pages of my baby book” she recalls. “I was just an infant when my Dad played a venue with him. When he met him backstage afterward, he asked if Roy would mind holding his new daughter while he snapped a photo of us. Roy’s face lit up with delight and he happily complied. I like to think of this moment as my true christening. A tiny dusting of his magic falling onto my bald little baby head, a seminal moment of musical destiny. Driving past his old house in Nashville, I felt a deep sadness, reflecting on the tragedy and heartbreak that plagued him in his short life and this song poured out of me. I named the demo ‘Orbiting Orbison’ — that’s as close as we can get to reaching his greatness.”
The video is meant to evoke the loneliness of the performing life — the life the audience never sees“.I wanted to capture a true-to-life moment that performers experience after they walk off stage from the applause and connection of thousands of people to being completely alone in silence as we remove the layers of artifice,” Tami explains. “It’s how we all feel when we can remove our brave faces and allow ourselves to fall apart and release the pain we carry. This is one take, made completely by humans, with their foolish hearts beating in their chests.”
NEON COWGIRL will be released on July 11 on Outside Music and features guests JD McPherson, Ashley McBryde, Grace Bowers, Shelly Fairchild and Neil Finn. Tami and her band joining Willie Nelson, and then Willie and Bob Dylan, on this year’s Outlaw Festival tour. She will also be playing Willie’s Fourth of July Picnic, and a few dates at The Grand Ole Opry. This month, Tami will be in Europe for shows in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Her huge, glorious voice and powerful live performances have won the admiration and support of some of country music’s biggest names and fans worldwide. Check this space for tour dates: https://www.tamineilson.com/tour
TOUR DATES
*Outlaw Music Festival Tour 2025
WED 25 JUN – Franklin, TN @ FirstBank Amphitheater*
THU 26 JUNE – Nashville, TN @ Grand Ole Opry
FRI 27 JUN – Memphis, TN @ Radians Amphitheater @ Memphis Botanic Garden*
SAT 28 JUN – Maryland Heights, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheater *
SUN 29 JUN – Ridgedale, MO @ Thunder Ridge Nature Arena *
TUE 1 JUL – Oklahoma City, OK @ Lucky Star Amphitheater *
FRI 4 JUL – Austin, TX @ Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic
SAT 5 JUL – Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion *
SUN 6 JUL – Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion *
ABOUT NEON COWGIRL – BY TAMI NEILSON
The Neon Cowgirl, towering over Broadway like the patron saint of heartbreak in downtown Nashville as she smiles coyly over her shoulder in red cowboy boots, watched me grow up.
Basking in her glow, I walked wide-eyed into the Ryman Auditorium as a 16-year-old, clutching my ticket. Later that night, dreaming of standing on that stage, I drifted off to sleep in the bunk of our home on wheels at the KOA next to the Opry. When I was 18, she saw me flipping through Loretta Lynn CDs in Ernest Tubb Record Shop after performing the breakfast and lunch shows on the General Jackson showboat with my parents and brothers in our family band, The Neilsons. At 25, she watched me running all over town, meeting up with other songwriters- writing, writing, writing- before I had to fly back home to Canada again. At 30, I returned as a newlywed on my honeymoon, flying in from New Zealand where I’d moved for love, holding hands with my new husband in Hatch Show Print, introducing him to her like a family member. A decade passed without her as I built a life on the other side of the world and raised 2 babies. My heart raced as I returned to her again to showcase at Americanafest, playing to 12 people at 3rd and Lindsley. 5 years and many showcases later, I swear she smiled right at me as I stopped to point her out to my two children as we walked past her, into the doors of the Ryman to finally perform for the first time.
NEON COWGIRL represents a lifelong dream of chasing Nashville and country music. I’ve loved her my whole life, even when she breaks my heart over and over again.
This album came rumbling to life on 6 wheels over the highways of North America. I wanted our children, born and raised in NZ, to get a taste of their Neilson family heritage — a 5-month pilgrimage from coast to coast and back again in a 36 foot RV. It was also my once-in-a-lifetime chance to really give it my all with my career, which I’d built slowly and steadily in small 2-3 week increments over a decade, running back and forth from the other side of the world. Then, only 2 months before our trip, I landed in the hospital for a month, battling for my life in ICU with sepsis. Our trip changed from one of me going full throttle to make a good dent in my career to one of recovery and slow healing. It became a time of embracing life fully and savoring the precious time with my family in a way one does only after a near-death experience. We zig-zagged across the country, from the ghostly halls of Graceland to the technicolor desert of Salvation Mountain, across neon graveyards in Las Vegas to driving alongside herds of buffalo in Montana. I collected the seeds for these songs in each place along the way. When they blossomed, there were crossbreeds of Presley and Patsy, Orbison and kd lang- the blues of Memphis, the twang of Texas, the cinematic torch of Judy Garland on a Hollywood soundstage. But, mostly, it became a love letter to my Neon Cowgirl. Or, more accurately, a lovelorn letter. Because she’ll just keep on breaking a foolish heart if you let her.
FOLLOW TAMI NEILSON:
WEBSITE / SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC / YOUTUBE / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / TWITTER/ BANDCAMP
