When Country Is One Color in a Grand Kaleidoscope: Wrangling Multiple Genres With Neon Cowgirl Tami Neilson
Why Stay In Just One Musical Lane?
After a huge spring season of traveling and gathering interviews, things feel like they are getting back into a more steady rhythm. That does not mean that things are slowing down, by any means: this weekend we are looking at two interviews, with both NC avante-folk artist Sally Anne Morgan, as well as Alabama native and recent Albino Skunk Music Fest headliner, Paul McDonald. Then, it’s a vacation week (my family’s first real vacation in a looong time), but then right back to talking with artists, as we have western NC by way of New Orleans mainstay Seth Walker on schedule for an interview later this June.
Speaking of New Orleans (and Albino Skunk), I got to sit with Andrew Duhon soon after his buzz worthy show at the spring festival, and his episode is also in the works. Our very next episode is another Skunk Fest (and WNCW) favorite, Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms.
Today, we give you the magnificent Tami Neilson, from when I spoke with her after her MerleFest 2025 debut. She is just as much fun in conversation as she is on her records. This episode is the first to feature new WNCW intern, Elena Dickson. We are excited to have her on board — she has come to western NC all the way from the University of Michigan, and while here, she is making strides towards completing her senior thesis. Elena reports that her thesis will be “examining traditional storytelling techniques in the Appalachian region and how people of the mountains have created an identity for themselves compared to the identity that has been historically given to them.” Welcome, Elena!
Thank you for reading, and I encourage you to listen to the podcast and follow the series everywhere you find podcasts. There is much more awaiting you at the podcast website as well, including articles, photos and videos that are not included in these newsletters. Onwards to the transcript for our latest, enjoy!
[“Baby, You’re A Gun” by Tami Neilson, from Kingmaker, continuing as bed]
In November 1941, The Blitz was over, but remained an all-too fresh memory for Britons. After enduring eight months of bombing which ended late the previous spring, and with Hitler’s army controlling the continent of Europe and advancing on Moscow, England was ready for some sunny, escapist entertainment. It was then that BBC radio broadcaster Roy Plomley had a flash of inspiration: a program titled Desert Island Discs. The concept was simple: bring on guests who chose eight records to take to their “desert island”, play them, and talk about these favorite songs and what went into choosing them for this fantasy trip, far away from bombs and fascist war machines. It remains the longest running interview show in radio’s history, and the concept is a recurring conversation piece with music fans the world over.
You may have had these “desert island” conversations too -- I certainly have, even going as far as to produce a music roundtable about it on my former music talk show What It Is not once, but twice. The hypothesis shines light on each participant’s personality, because it is an exercise in not just picking favorite music, but also presenting that to the world as a kind of calling card. Inevitably, though, I think that everyone who took this metaphorical, small batch of music to their faraway island would tire of it in reality, sooner or later. At least I would. And I think Tami Neilson surely would, even considering that she literally moved from her native Canada to one of the most isolated, far-away islands in the world, New Zealand:
You know when people say, oh, you're singing all these -- pick one genre, you know, pick one lane. To me, it's music. Music is the lane, you know and. Like you know, life would be so boring if we had to just pick one. And I'm the kind of artist that, you know, I'm independent. I, I don't have to be restricted. Like people who might be signed to a big label or, you know, a very specific thing that they're needing to achieve, I kind of love that. I have that freedom to just sing what I love and the audience goes along with me, you know?
Tami Neilson is often called a country music artist, but as she just described, her musical well goes much deeper than that. Her lyrics reveal a spirit of defying stereotypes too, especially the patriarchal kind, like in the song you are hearing now, “Baby, You’re A Gun” from her 2022 album Kingmaker.
I spoke with Tami Neilson after her debut performance at MerleFest in late April 2025, where she talked about her love of wide ranging musical journeys, her own journey to her adopted country of New Zealand, growing up in a family band and now bringing her sons on stage from time to time, playing the Grand Ole Opry and making music with greats like Willie Nelson, and a whole lot more. I am your host Joe Kendrick, welcoming you to our episode on Tami Neilson on Southern Songs and Stories.
[SSaS theme song with VO by Joe Kendrick]
00:03:14 Joe Kendrick
Let's get at the aesthetic of Tammy Neilson, and I've trying to wrap my head around all of the sounds that go into your music and there's say, Bessie Smith and Brenda Lee and Etta James and Patsy Cline. And you're at a place where it sounds like a lot of these things diverged -- like rockabilly and Blues and country diverged at one point, but it sounds to me like you've brought them back together.
00:03:34 TN
Hmm. Yeah, well, you know, people always say. Ohh you you. You sing so many different genres and I say no like all these genres are family, they all come from the same place. They all come from the South. They all come from here and the only thing that, you know these genres were segregated just like the people of the South were segregated and. Blues and soul and country and rockabilly are all brothers and sisters. They're all from the same family. They all grew up in the same town and it's the industry. It's the music industry and at the time, racism, segregation that had to divide it up, you know, felt, felt the need to divide it up and make it consumer friendly and this is for white people, this is for black people. This is for people who like country music. This is for people who like just this, you know. And when you listen to all forms of those, those styles particularly, they all bleed into one another. They're all you're painting with the same palette, sometimes some song’s a little bit more of one color and the others a different color, but they're all in the same family, the same palette.
So to me, I don't see them as being such a huge difference in genre. You know when people say, oh, you're singing all these -- pick one genre, you know, pick one lane. To me, it's music. Music is the lane, you know and. Like you know, life would be so boring if we had to just pick one. And I'm the kind of artist that, you know, I'm independent. I I don't have to be restricted. Like people who might be signed to a big label or, you know, a very specific thing that they're needing to achieve, I kind of love that. I have that freedom to just sing what I love and the audience goes along with me, you know? And people are. It's now a time that people have playlists, they they consume music in a way where they're making their own playlists or they're listening to. Streaming or, you know, they're not often listening to a full album anymore. So I think people are intelligent enough to go, “That's OK. I can go on this journey with you.”
I've always loved soundtracks for movies and film, and listening to those, you know it. It's taking you on a, on a journey from the beginning, beginning to the end. And when I'm on a journey, I want, I want different flavors. I want different moods. I want different sounds and and I don't want the same thing every time, so that's what a what what a journey is. Is Kind of. That. Varying terrain, you know, and so I guess that's kind of how I see music is creating a journey for the audience to follow along.
00:06:41 Joe Kendrick
Well, at the same time that you're combining all of these elements, your sound is unique and it is. Something that you don't hear a lot of what you're doing, you've got, you know, that big, powerful voice, a fairly broad repertoire. And it comes across as kind of unclassifiable, which I, I love that again, getting at the aesthetic and and the sort of like existing outside the lines.
00:07:13 Tami Neilson
Umm, I like that. I like that. And I guess for me as a listener, as a fan of music. I love all different kinds and. I you know when when I hear kind of a few songs of an artist, I'm like, OK, it's time to switch it up, you know? And I feel like if I'm getting bored on stage and then the audience is going to get bored, if I'm excited and enjoying this journey and different flavors and different colors, different sounds then. It's hopefully also coming shining through and exciting the audience as well.
00:07:52 Joe Kendrick
What sort of country scene exists in New Zealand? What's your? What's your music scene like?
00:07:58 Tami Neilson
New Zealand is, as you you would guess very isolated from the rest of the world. And I think that is part of why I feel so much freedom with the music to to just sing whatever I want.
It has a very because New Zealand's kind of this little little, you know, two islands at the bottom of the world next to Australia. They have a very DIY do-it-yourself attitude with everything, because if you want something done, you got to create it yourself. There's nothing close by. There's just ocean for miles and miles and miles. If -- you know the closest place you can fly to is 3 or 4 hours away, so. If you want to create something, you got to do it yourself, and I think also because you're not in a place where, you know here there's musical hubs, you know, you've got LA, you've got New York, you've got Nashville. They're very distinct industries with distinct sounds and and when you're in towns like that and everybody's writing and everybody's kind of chasing the next hit It can start to sound similar things concert, even not intentionally by kind of osmosis, you soak up the creative ether. That's around you, you know, and there isn't any of that in New Zealand because we're so damn far away from everybody else. And I think that's what makes it so refreshing and free and unique. And you know, obviously there's the drawbacks. When I moved over there, I'm originally from Canada and when I moved over there to marry my husband, I had people going, “You're you're committing career suicide.” You know, people leave, leave there to come here to make it and. And I thought, well, that just means I can make my mark faster, you know.
[jump to]
00:11:31 Joe Kendrick
Yeah. Well, I'm glad you've made it work for you in your career. And how is that? Well, how is, say, getting into America nowadays? You know, is that any more difficult for you? What's? What's it really like? Getting over here and doing what you do on a just like on the ground, how does that work?
00:11:53 Tami Neilson
I mean, just as you know, logistically the distance alone is an obstacle, you know, and it's something you have to be really intentional and plan. And yeah, it's a lot of hard work and you know, getting a work visa in the States. That is very costly, a lot of time and a lot of investment, a lot of sacrifice being away from my family when I'm touring over here. So I tend to choose things that are “heart” gigs. You know, I'm like, well, it might not be a lot of money, but it's something that's going to either open opportunities or connect with/build my audience because it's definitely not a money making scheme. When you're coming from that far away. But you know I'm. I'm here. I'm touring twice a year this year. Sorry. Two times this year because I've got a new album coming out and I've just done a three-week run and then I'll do another three-week run in June and July, but so some people might go oh, that's not enough time. You need to be here. You need to be on the ground. But you know when you're touring with Willie Nelson for two weeks, and then you're playing the Grand Ole Opry, and then you're playing MerleFest, and then, you know, the next one I'm doing the Outlaw Festival with Bob Dylan and and Willie Nelson and playing the Opry again. So these are gigs that you know, my dad always said work smarter, not harder. And when you're coming from that far away and you know, you've got a young family, you have to be really smart about what you choose to do, and it's taken like 15 years to get to these opportunities.
And yeah, it's it's definitely an investment and a sacrifice. Not only I have to make my my husband my kids, we all kind of have to be on board with each of these opportunities that come. I was lucky enough year before last I'd said to my husband, “You know, I've always wanted my boys to experience living over here, even if it's for six months, not just a little two week visit every five years to see their cousins in Canada” and said, “I want them to really know and take ownership of their Canadian and their North American heritage.” And I mean, I grew up just as much in the States as I did in Canada because I was in a in a touring, traveling family band and we did six months in a motorhome from coast to coast and back again and toured and played shows all along the way and the most beautiful music to my ears was at the end of that trip my boys were talking to their friends when they came home and they were saying, “Oh well, you know, I'm I'm half Canadian.” I'm like, “Yes.”
[jump to]
00:09:56 Joe Kendrick
There's a great long history of underground artists coming from New Zealand and I, I have a background in college radio and underground, indie kind of music. So when I was coming of age it was everything on Flying Nun and bands like the Chills.
00:10:00 Tami Neilson
Hmm. Yes.
00:10:12 Joe Kendrick
There are tons of hands. We could just rattle off talking about New Zealand bands that are, are near and dear to my heart and...
00:10:19 Tami Neilson
Well, see, this is the beautiful thing about New Zealand. I just guested on the Chills’ final album; Martin was a dear friend. Bless him, and we miss him so much in our industry. We just lost him last year and he was recording his, his final swan song.
And it just came out a couple months ago and we were great friends and it's with all different artists that he loves and that is such It kind of is like the snapshot of New Zealand music. You know, I'm considered a country artist. He's this like prog rock, Flying Nun, indie underground guy. But everybody just is like, who cares? There's no rules like we can color outside all the lines. And yet so much amazing, unique music comes out in New Zealand.
[“Learn To Try Again” by The Chills, from Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs, excerpt]
That is a bit of The Chills, with Tami Neilson singing background vocals on “Learn To Try Again” from Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs. Martin Phillips fronted The Chills beginning with their formation in 1980, and we lost him in late July, 2024. This posthumous, 20 song collection is available on Fire Records and The Chills’ bandcamp page.
Speaking of New Zealand bands and their habit of punching above their weight, our new intern Elena Dickson immediately latched onto Tami Neilson’s comment about its isolation and ensuing feeling of freedom, and pointed out that this lack of expectations can lead directly to the kind of musical diversity that Tami’s catalog embodies. Indeed.
Coming up, Tami Neilson talks about her eleventh studio album, which includes this collaboration with Ashley McBryde, Grace Bowers and Shelly Fairchild the song “Borrow My Boots”.
[“Borrow My Boots” by Tami Neilson, from Neon Cowgirl, excerpt]
00:24:18 Joe Kendrick
Well, let's talk about the new album. What's coming out? And what wrinkle is going to be uncovered. What's new with this?
00:24:26 Tami Neilson
Well, the album's called Neon Cowgirl, and it was very much the seeds of the song were kind of collected on this journey across North America with my family and our motorhome for six months. So it's little sprinkles of, you know, everything from Graceland to Nashville to the desert, you know, just all the stories kind of gathered along the way, but has some incredible collaborations beyond my wildest dreams. So I got to write and collaborate with Ashley McBryde, whose single in May is one with her and Grace Bowers. Shelly Fairchild. So you know, that was just wild. And then did a collaboration and wrote a song with the Secret Sisters.
And then the title track “Neon cowgirl” -- kind of taking it back to New Zealand. Neil Finn of Crowded House sings that one with me. So it's just, yeah, it's kind of become this beautiful collaboration and celebration of like, I don't know, a journey of like a long career of resilience and pushing through and keep chasing that neon cowgirl, which to me is Nashville and country music. And yeah, just a testament to not giving up and You know I'm a 47 year old mother of two at the bottom of the world and on paper that makes no sense in the music business. But I think it's just a testament, like you don't give up, there's no expiry date on your dreams and it's kind of crazy when you've been tilling this dry *** soil your whole life. And then these little green sprouts start coming up like Willie Nelson and the Opry. And Bob Dylan and collaborations with some of your heroes so keep trucking. Don't give up.
00:26:28 Joe Kendrick
In the radio world, we see records come out with co-writers or guest vocalists and things, and it's always a mystery as to how does someone come into working with Ashley McBryde? I have no clue, but it's interesting to see it happen over and over. So it seems that you are definitely at a level where you're in the collaboration in, the guest, in the guest artist world that's that's a different level than starting out with just your band and doing your thing.
00:26:53 Tami Neilson
I don't even know. Hmm. Which, you know, I was at that starting out and playing to 12 people for a decade, you know, and it's like I said, you're tilling that dry *** soil, but and not giving up, but, You know, I remember James Taylor saying that There are these like portals, moments in your career where like You're standing on one side of the curtain and then all of a sudden someone opens that curtain and pulls you through, and he said for him it was The Beatles. They gave him a chance, pulled him through. They loved his work before he was famous and signed him to, I think it was either Parlophone or Apple, their label at the time. And he said it was like someone was pulling you through that portal and it changed everything and for me.
Willy is definitely one of those people that did that. You know, I've always been a tortoise artist. I've never been a hare. Nothing's ever come fast or easy and to have someone of that profile kind of pull you through and go. You can hop along with me for a little while and you get that much farther in such a short amount of time, after decades of being that tortoise taking one foot in front of the other.
00:28:30 JK
Yeah.
00:28:33 Tami Neilson
And so you know, working with Willie. And then that opened up being asked to do this show at the Ryman. That was part of a Patsy Cline tribute for PBS. And on that lineup was Winona Judd and Ashley McBryde and the people who booked the Opry were in the audience And that led to me working with Ashley and it led to me debuting on the Opry. And so all these little steps end up taking you on this journey and it can be little tortoise steps, but there's still steps.
00:29:11 Joe Kendrick
Yeah. Yeah. It's great to think about an artist like James Taylor as being, inevitably like, obviously we were going to have James Taylor, but maybe not so much because he was raw and in the period when there in the early 70s, you know, he had done that movie Two Lane Blacktop and before he was really known as a music artist at all. And he, you know, he had some his own problems which he got straightened out, but him getting that open door. You know, that is the thing. And you've had that open door too. So it's. It's wonderful to watch.
00:29:44 TN
Hmm.
00:29:52 Joe Kendrick
To see that sort of camaraderie, that sort of kinship amongst artists that once you become, say on stage of Grand Ole Opry and you have opened up for Willie Nelson, you know, you're just like family, right? It's kind of hard to imagine that as a fan, a lot of times.
00:30:15 Tami Neilson
It's hard to imagine it even when you're up there.
00:30:19 Joe Kendrick
Yeah. How much? How much hanging out is there in an opening up for Willie or being on Outlaw Country? Like, are you just like, hi, Bob or what? What is this?
00:30:27 Tami Neilson
Like, yeah, I have not yet toured with Bob and I think he's notoriously private, and I don't think anyone really hangs out with Bob Dylan. I think he's a bit of a, You know, keeps to himself after many years of well earned privacy.
But Willie's like -- the first time I got to come over and I did a duet with Willie on my album, but it was during lock down and COVID and so we didn't get to meet in person until 2022 and it was the month that the single was coming out. I was booked to play at Luck Reunion on his ranch in Texas and I'll never forget like just It was wild to be asked, like, you know, his wife, Annie said, “Come on up to the house and let's -- he wants to have a little rehearsal before tomorrow when we do the the song at the festival” and like walking into his kitchen and and he had on sweatpants and a T shirt tucked in like the most normal granddad, you know. And I'm like, he's just a lovely man and kind of realizing. I mean, Willie is a different breed, you know, a celebrity, that is, the most anti celebrity you'll ever meet, he's the most down to Earth person and you kind of forget that he is this global, legendary treasure. When you're in his presence, he's just such a warm, kind, lovely person and I think that the people who are at that level often there's no ego, there's no chip on their shoulder because they're so secure and who they are and what they've done and.
James Taylor was the same, you know, just very like, Came up to me and he's like, “Oh, hi there. My name is” and I said I'm Tami.” He's like I'm James. I'm like “James, who?” He's like “Taylor”. I'm like, I know. I know who you are, but Like just humble and kind people.
But it kind of short circuits your brain a little bit when you're in these situations, yeah.
[“Beyond The Stars” by Tami Neilson, featuring Willie Nelson, from Kingmaker, excerpt]
The ever prolific, red headed stranger, Willie Nelson, joining Tami Neilson on her song “Beyond The Stars” from her 2022 album Kingmaker.
While I was at MerleFest, a friend that knew about my upcoming interview told me to make sure to ask about Tami Neilson’s work on a New Zealand TV series, which I had yet to come across. It turns out that her involvement with that show was more than I anticipated:
00:21:38 Tami Neilson
Yeah, well, the Brokenwood Mysteries is this little New Zealand made at drama and it's a murder mystery show and it's it's kind of hard to describe, cause it's quirky and it's cute, even though it's murder, it's quite it's like the Midsummer murders, you know, in the UK, like quite quaint and and charming.
00:22:00 JK
Yeah.
00:22:01 Tami Neilson
And it's the little show that could, you know it is more popular around the globe than even within New Zealand, it's just taken off around the world. I was. They've been using my music from day one and my brother Jay and I actually scored the second season. We did the whole score as well as had our songs in it and It's just become the little show that could and it's now in its 11th season and without fail, every show I do anywhere in the world, I get people coming up to me afterward and saying we discovered you, your music on Brokenwood Mysteries. And I've been lucky enough to do 2 cameos on it now and it, and I think it was like season 5 and Season 10, where I just play myself singing in the pub, you know. It's quite cute, but it's really special to be a part of and my latest single.
My first single from my new album is called, “You're Going To Fall” and I wrote it specifically for Brokenwood kind of, as you know, it surrounded these two characters, the detective and the lady who works in. She's the one that, uh, what's the name of it when? They're the ones that like examine the bodies and figure out what went wrong, not a mortician, but yeah. Anyway, yeah, she's got this obsession with the detective, and he's not interested. And so the song was like saying, “you're going to fall, you're going to fall for me,” you know? Right. And I sent it to them. And they said, oh, we're going to write this whole episode around it. I haven't seen it yet. It's airing, I think, next month it's the season finale. And so I haven't seen what they've written about it. I know they're using this song. And then I ended up recording it as a duet with JD McPherson, who is one of my favorite artists and
00:24:01 Joe Kendrick
Oh yeah
00:24:05 Tami Neilson
It was not supposed to be on the album at all. And then I just kind of fell in love with it and went, “Actually, I know it's on Brokenwood, but I really like this song.” And so it ended up being the first single on the album. Yeah.
[“You’re Gonna Fall” by Tami Neilson, featuring JD McPherson, from Neon Cowgirl, continuing as bed]
Bringing our episode to a close with “You’re Gonna Fall” by Tami Neilson, with help from JD McPherson. Thank you for listening and we hope you have enjoyed getting to spend some time with Tami and her music.
You can check out over 150 episodes of Southern Songs and Stories anytime for free anywhere you find podcasts, and at my website southernsongsandstories.com, where there are many more articles and photos to go along with those episodes. That is where you can also check out my previous music projects Lingua Musica and the aforementioned What It Is.
You can follow us on social media: at southstories on Instagram, at Southern Songs and Stories on Facebook, and now on Substack, where you can read the scripts of these podcasts, and get updates on what we are doing and planning in our quest to explore and celebrate the unfolding history and culture of music rooted in the American South, and going beyond to the styles and artists that it inspired and informed.
This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available at osirispod.com. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio at bluegrassplanetradio.com. Thanks to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng who wrote and performed our theme songs, and now, Elena Dickson. I am your host and producer Joe Kendrick, and this is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it.