Tami Neilson

Tami Neilson, winner of the New Zealand Music Award for Best Country Album in 2009, was raised in Canada, by parents with a closet full of sequined stage costumes and platform shoes. She grew up in a house where amplifiers and guitar cases were just as much a part of the furniture as chairs and tables, and when most kids are still singing nursery rhymes in the bathtub, she was traveling across North America in a 34 foot motor home, performing professionally in her family band, The Neilsons. Sharing the stage with the likes of Johnny Cash, Tami appeared regularly on television and radio, and at fairs and festivals, promoting The Neilsons independent CD, releasing 2 top 40 singles on the Canadian music charts. She also managed to score an award-winning music video for their single "Windows to The Past", which aired regularly on CMT. Then Tami met a boy who caused her heart to flutter and her feet to move to the other side of the world. She arrived in New Zealand, showcasing as the support act on numerous NZ tours, performing at festivals in NZ and Australia and on television and radio and releasing her debut solo album, “Red Dirt Angel”, which included the single “Sister Cash”, a duet with Joanne Cash. Now launching her second album, The Kitchen Table Sessions, her first single "Cry Myself to Sleep" was nominated for APRA "Best Country Song". Buzzing with raw energy and talent, her music is a hybrid of acoustic torch and stripped-bare alt-country. From haunting ballads of heartbreak and irony to foot-stomping, hand-clapping, harmony-infused numbers, her live performance is one to be remembered.