Tami Neilson

From being cradled as a baby in the arms of Roy Orbison, to performing a duet with Willie Nelson, one would think that Tami Neilson lived a country music fantasy life.

However, between these monumental occurrences, The Neilson Family Band, including Tami, Tami’s parents and two brothers, were busking in the streets of small-town Ontario to put food on the table. They performed gospel concerts to prisoners and roared down the Trans-Canada Highway in an exploding RV to open for Johnny Cash, which Tami managed to do at 18 years old in her pajamas.

Tami left to start her own family on the other side of the world in New Zealand, where she now resides. Her busking chops served her well as she took to the streets of Auckland looking for her big break. From open mic nights and clubs to headlining theatres and major festivals across New Zealand, Tami has now won almost every music award possible.

2022 brought Tami’s fifth album, Kingmaker. Recorded at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios, Kingmaker was born of the pandemic, a moment when women were struggling, when frontline workers were fighting for human lives, when essential services providers were disproportionately affected by furlough: a “she-cession,” analysts termed it. Women put their dreams and careers on hold to care for their families and homeschool children. They mobilized online to bring awareness to domestic abuse and systemic inequalities. They marched in the streets for the lives of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, and the remains of more than 1,700 indigenous children found in mass graves of former residential schools in Canada.

Grief is central to this narrative. There’s the grief of loss. After finding a cassette tape with an unfinished song by her father, Ron Neilson, Tami wrote the lyrics that completed “I Can Forget,” a song about being caught unexpectedly by grief. This theme continues in Tami’s duet with Willie Nelson on “Beyond the Stars.” There’s also the grief that comes with realizing that the music that runs in your blood is tainted and poisonous for women and people of color.

Tami’s story is at the center of this feminist tapestry, and it is just taking shape, from her humble beginnings and tireless work ethic, and success, on her own terms. Tami Neilson is now using her voice to be a game changer, a cage shaker, a Kingmaker.