Borrow My Boots is the second single from Tami Neilson's new album Neon Cowgirl. The song was written by Tami and Nashville stars Ashley McBryde and Shelly Fairchild, who are featured alongside guitar prodigy Grace Bowers. The video shows footage of the four performing the song live at Tami's Grand Ole Opry debut.
The link to BORROW MY BOOTS is as follows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGvfKb2Pv-c
On May 14, 2025, the Canadian musician based in New Zealand, Tami Neilson, released the second single from her upcoming album "Neon Cowgirl". "Borrow My Boots" is an exuberant track that celebrates female empowerment. The song was written by Tami and Nashville greats Ashley McBryde and Shelly Fairchild, both of whom are featured on the song alongside guitar prodigy Grace Bowers. The Grand Ole Opry presented a video showing how the four performed the song live at Tami's Opry debut.
Tami also shares how the second single of the album came to be: "After I had the honor of performing at a dream show with an all-star cast singing the music of Patsy Cline at the Ryman, I woke up the next morning to a DM from one of my favorite country stars, Ashley McBryde. She had been at the show and, after seeing me, immediately browsed through my music catalog and wrote to encourage me, saying she was a fan. A few weeks later, she tagged me in a post as she was getting ready on the red carpet for the CMAs, playing 'Careless Woman' as her hype song! A few months later, she asked me for permission to make a T-shirt with my photo and a line from the song 'I Wanna Be Her When I Grow Up' so she could wear it around town while hosting the CMA Fest and promoting my music.
So when I had a song idea about women supporting and uplifting each other, she was the first person that came to mind. I asked her if she would participate in a long-distance session, and she invited powerhouse songwriter and artist Shelly Fairchild to join us, and 'Borrow My Boots' was born and recorded for the album the following week. I met Grace Bowers when she was 15 and had just moved to Nashville. I asked her to play her first paid gigs with me at Americanafest - we had to hide her backstage because she was not old enough to perform in the venues. After she played with everyone from Dolly and Slash to the Grammys, I wasn't sure if she would have time for a little guitar solo on my album. Not only did she contribute a stunning solo, but she also changed her flights mid-tour to perform this song with me, Ashley, and Shelly at my debut on the Grand Ole Opry stage.
The Neon Cowgirl, who shyly smiles over her shoulder in red cowboy boots like the patron saint of heartbreak above Broadway in Downtown Nashville, has seen me grow up.
Basking in her glow, I entered the Ryman Auditorium as a 16-year-old with wide eyes, clutching my ticket. Later that night, I dreamed of standing on that stage and fell asleep in the bunk of our RV at the KOA next to the Opry. When I was 18, she saw me browsing through Loretta Lynn CDs at the Ernest Tubb Record Shop after I had performed with my parents and brothers in our family band The Neilsons at the breakfast and lunch shows on the General Jackson Showboat. At 25, she watched me run all over town meeting with other songwriters - write, write, write - before I had to fly back to Canada. At 30, I returned as a newlywed on my honeymoon, flying in from New Zealand, where I had moved for love, holding hands with my new husband at Hatch Show Print and 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 two children. My heart raced as I returned to her to play at Americanafest for 12 people at 3rd and Lindsley. Five years and many performances later, I swear she smiled at me as I stopped to point out my two children to her as we walked past her through the doors of the Ryman to finally perform for the first time.
This album was created on 6 wheels on the highways of North America. I wanted our children, who were born and raised in New Zealand, to get a taste of the Neilson family legacy - a five-month pilgrimage from coast to coast and back again in a 36-foot RV. It was also my one-time chance in my career, which I had slowly and steadily built over a decade in small 2-3 week increments, to really give it my all by traveling back and forth from the other side of the world. Then, just two months before our trip, I landed in the hospital for a month and fought for my life in the ICU with sepsis. Our journey changed from one where I wanted to go full throttle to advance my career to one that served recovery and slow healing.
It became a time when I fully embraced life and enjoyed precious time with my family in a way that only a near-death experience can allow. We zigzagged across the country, from the ghostly halls of Graceland to the colorful desert of Salvation Mountain, through neon graveyards in Las Vegas and alongside buffalo herds in Montana. At each of these places, I gathered the seeds for these songs. As they bloomed, there were intersections of Presley and Patsy, Orbison and KD sound - the blues of Memphis, the tan of Texas, the cinematic touch of Judy Garland on a Hollywood soundstage. But above all, it became a love letter to my "Neon Cowgirl." Or rather, a love letter. Because she just keeps breaking your heart if you let her.
The link to BORROW MY BOOTS is as follows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGvfKb2Pv-c
On May 14, 2025, the Canadian musician based in New Zealand, Tami Neilson, released the second single from her upcoming album "Neon Cowgirl". "Borrow My Boots" is an exuberant track that celebrates female empowerment. The song was written by Tami and Nashville greats Ashley McBryde and Shelly Fairchild, both of whom are featured on the song alongside guitar prodigy Grace Bowers. The Grand Ole Opry presented a video showing how the four performed the song live at Tami's Opry debut.
Tami also shares how the second single of the album came to be: "After I had the honor of performing at a dream show with an all-star cast singing the music of Patsy Cline at the Ryman, I woke up the next morning to a DM from one of my favorite country stars, Ashley McBryde. She had been at the show and, after seeing me, immediately browsed through my music catalog and wrote to encourage me, saying she was a fan. A few weeks later, she tagged me in a post as she was getting ready on the red carpet for the CMAs, playing 'Careless Woman' as her hype song! A few months later, she asked me for permission to make a T-shirt with my photo and a line from the song 'I Wanna Be Her When I Grow Up' so she could wear it around town while hosting the CMA Fest and promoting my music.
So when I had a song idea about women supporting and uplifting each other, she was the first person that came to mind. I asked her if she would participate in a long-distance session, and she invited powerhouse songwriter and artist Shelly Fairchild to join us, and 'Borrow My Boots' was born and recorded for the album the following week. I met Grace Bowers when she was 15 and had just moved to Nashville. I asked her to play her first paid gigs with me at Americanafest - we had to hide her backstage because she was not old enough to perform in the venues. After she played with everyone from Dolly and Slash to the Grammys, I wasn't sure if she would have time for a little guitar solo on my album. Not only did she contribute a stunning solo, but she also changed her flights mid-tour to perform this song with me, Ashley, and Shelly at my debut on the Grand Ole Opry stage.
The Neon Cowgirl, who shyly smiles over her shoulder in red cowboy boots like the patron saint of heartbreak above Broadway in Downtown Nashville, has seen me grow up.
Basking in her glow, I entered the Ryman Auditorium as a 16-year-old with wide eyes, clutching my ticket. Later that night, I dreamed of standing on that stage and fell asleep in the bunk of our RV at the KOA next to the Opry. When I was 18, she saw me browsing through Loretta Lynn CDs at the Ernest Tubb Record Shop after I had performed with my parents and brothers in our family band The Neilsons at the breakfast and lunch shows on the General Jackson Showboat. At 25, she watched me run all over town meeting with other songwriters - write, write, write - before I had to fly back to Canada. At 30, I returned as a newlywed on my honeymoon, flying in from New Zealand, where I had moved for love, holding hands with my new husband at Hatch Show Print and 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 two children. My heart raced as I returned to her to play at Americanafest for 12 people at 3rd and Lindsley. Five years and many performances later, I swear she smiled at me as I stopped to point out my two children to her as we walked past her through the doors of the Ryman to finally perform for the first time.
This album was created on 6 wheels on the highways of North America. I wanted our children, who were born and raised in New Zealand, to get a taste of the Neilson family legacy - a five-month pilgrimage from coast to coast and back again in a 36-foot RV. It was also my one-time chance in my career, which I had slowly and steadily built over a decade in small 2-3 week increments, to really give it my all by traveling back and forth from the other side of the world. Then, just two months before our trip, I landed in the hospital for a month and fought for my life in the ICU with sepsis. Our journey changed from one where I wanted to go full throttle to advance my career to one that served recovery and slow healing.
It became a time when I fully embraced life and enjoyed precious time with my family in a way that only a near-death experience can allow. We zigzagged across the country, from the ghostly halls of Graceland to the colorful desert of Salvation Mountain, through neon graveyards in Las Vegas and alongside buffalo herds in Montana. At each of these places, I gathered the seeds for these songs. As they bloomed, there were intersections of Presley and Patsy, Orbison and KD sound - the blues of Memphis, the tan of Texas, the cinematic touch of Judy Garland on a Hollywood soundstage. But above all, it became a love letter to my "Neon Cowgirl." Or rather, a love letter. Because she just keeps breaking your heart if you let her.
