'Neon Cowgirl' represents a lifelong dream of chasing Nashville and country music. I've loved it my whole life, even though it keeps breaking my heart.' - TAMI NEILSON
Tami Neilson, a Canadian living in New Zealand, teams up with her Kiwi colleague and Crowded House frontman Neil Finn for the fourth single from her upcoming album NEON COWGIRL, the highly anticipated follow-up to Kingmaker. Tami and Neil duet on the title track, an autobiographical song dedicated to a younger version of herself, a girl who spent her childhood on the streets and performed in her family's gospel band, The Neilsons. The version of herself that left Canada and her brother and longtime collaborator Jay Neilson to start a new life in New Zealand and build her own family. After decades in the musical trenches, her dreams began to come true. In 2023, she and Jay played at the Ryman for the first time, and in 2024, they thrilled the audience at their debut at the Grand Ole Opry.
The link to NEON COWGIRL is as follows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBkjgJoGk1Q
'I wish I could time travel and play this song for earlier versions of myself.'
'The teenager who slept on the floor on a mattress after her family band lost everything. She got a job at the makeup counter of a local pharmacy. With her small salary, she could feed all five for a while. 'Fall at Your Feet' by Crowded House played several times a day from the pharmacy speakers. She sang the harmony softly, feeling down and wondering if she would ever make music again.'
'The 27-year-old sat with her brother Jay in the audience in the darkness of Massey Hall in Toronto, listening to Neil Finn and his brother Tim sing 'Disembodied Voices,' a song about siblings. She took Jay's hand as they both cried, knowing she would be moving to New Zealand in a few weeks.'
'Two decades later, I walked through the doors of the Ryman Auditorium to fulfill a lifelong dream and perform on that stage for the first time. Neil had invited me to open for Crowded House - the Kiwis invading Nashville! Jay was by my side, my husband and children were backstage, the Finns watched from the side, the audience was on their feet, and the Neon Cowgirl shone down on us all.'
On Friday, July 11, NEON COWGIRL was released on Outside Music. The album features guests JD McPherson, Neil Finn, Grace Bowers, and Ashley McBryde, as well as Shelly Fairchild, who co-wrote Tami's current Americana radio single 'Borrow My Boots.' After performances in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, Tami and her band will join Willie Nelson and then Willie and Bob Dylan for select dates on the Outlaw Music Festival Tour 2025. They also performed at Willie's Fourth of July Picnic and were invited for two appearances at the Grand Ole Opry. The 'fire-breathing R&B singer' (Rolling Stone) and 'hard-hitting vocalist' (Saving Country Music) is still chasing that dream, and with NEON COWGIRL, she may have already reached it.
The Neon Cowgirl, who shyly smiles over her shoulder in red cowboy boots, has seen me grow up as she looms like the patron saint of heartbreak over Broadway in Downtown Nashville.
Basking in her glory, 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 watched me browse 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 breakfast and lunch shows on the General Jackson Showboat. At 25, she saw me running all over town, meeting 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 in front of 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 passed by and walked through the doors of the Ryman to finally perform for the first time.
NEON COWGIRL embodies a lifelong dream of chasing Nashville and country music. I've loved it my whole life, even though it keeps breaking my heart.
This album was brought to life on six 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 to give everything in my career that I had slowly and steadily built over a decade in small 2-3 week increments 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, fighting 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 enjoyed life to the fullest and savored precious moments with my family in a way that only someone who has had a near-death experience can. We zigzagged across the country, from the ghostly halls of Graceland to the technicolor desert of Salvation Mountain, from neon graveyards in Las Vegas to buffalo herds in Montana. At each location, I gathered the seeds for these songs. As they bloomed, there were intersections 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 above all, it became a love letter to my Neon Cowgirl. Or, more accurately, a love letter. Because she keeps breaking your heart if you just let her.
Tami Neilson, a Canadian living in New Zealand, teams up with her Kiwi colleague and Crowded House frontman Neil Finn for the fourth single from her upcoming album NEON COWGIRL, the highly anticipated follow-up to Kingmaker. Tami and Neil duet on the title track, an autobiographical song dedicated to a younger version of herself, a girl who spent her childhood on the streets and performed in her family's gospel band, The Neilsons. The version of herself that left Canada and her brother and longtime collaborator Jay Neilson to start a new life in New Zealand and build her own family. After decades in the musical trenches, her dreams began to come true. In 2023, she and Jay played at the Ryman for the first time, and in 2024, they thrilled the audience at their debut at the Grand Ole Opry.
The link to NEON COWGIRL is as follows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBkjgJoGk1Q
'I wish I could time travel and play this song for earlier versions of myself.'
'The teenager who slept on the floor on a mattress after her family band lost everything. She got a job at the makeup counter of a local pharmacy. With her small salary, she could feed all five for a while. 'Fall at Your Feet' by Crowded House played several times a day from the pharmacy speakers. She sang the harmony softly, feeling down and wondering if she would ever make music again.'
'The 27-year-old sat with her brother Jay in the audience in the darkness of Massey Hall in Toronto, listening to Neil Finn and his brother Tim sing 'Disembodied Voices,' a song about siblings. She took Jay's hand as they both cried, knowing she would be moving to New Zealand in a few weeks.'
'Two decades later, I walked through the doors of the Ryman Auditorium to fulfill a lifelong dream and perform on that stage for the first time. Neil had invited me to open for Crowded House - the Kiwis invading Nashville! Jay was by my side, my husband and children were backstage, the Finns watched from the side, the audience was on their feet, and the Neon Cowgirl shone down on us all.'
On Friday, July 11, NEON COWGIRL was released on Outside Music. The album features guests JD McPherson, Neil Finn, Grace Bowers, and Ashley McBryde, as well as Shelly Fairchild, who co-wrote Tami's current Americana radio single 'Borrow My Boots.' After performances in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, Tami and her band will join Willie Nelson and then Willie and Bob Dylan for select dates on the Outlaw Music Festival Tour 2025. They also performed at Willie's Fourth of July Picnic and were invited for two appearances at the Grand Ole Opry. The 'fire-breathing R&B singer' (Rolling Stone) and 'hard-hitting vocalist' (Saving Country Music) is still chasing that dream, and with NEON COWGIRL, she may have already reached it.
The Neon Cowgirl, who shyly smiles over her shoulder in red cowboy boots, has seen me grow up as she looms like the patron saint of heartbreak over Broadway in Downtown Nashville.
Basking in her glory, 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 watched me browse 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 breakfast and lunch shows on the General Jackson Showboat. At 25, she saw me running all over town, meeting 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 in front of 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 passed by and walked through the doors of the Ryman to finally perform for the first time.
NEON COWGIRL embodies a lifelong dream of chasing Nashville and country music. I've loved it my whole life, even though it keeps breaking my heart.
This album was brought to life on six 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 to give everything in my career that I had slowly and steadily built over a decade in small 2-3 week increments 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, fighting 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 enjoyed life to the fullest and savored precious moments with my family in a way that only someone who has had a near-death experience can. We zigzagged across the country, from the ghostly halls of Graceland to the technicolor desert of Salvation Mountain, from neon graveyards in Las Vegas to buffalo herds in Montana. At each location, I gathered the seeds for these songs. As they bloomed, there were intersections 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 above all, it became a love letter to my Neon Cowgirl. Or, more accurately, a love letter. Because she keeps breaking your heart if you just let her.
