Singer-songwriter Tami Neilson grew up in Canada, lives in New Zealand, and will be performing at Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Sunday, July 6. How did all that happen?
The answer lies in Neilson’s early years, when, at the age of 12, she began touring North America with her parents and two brothers, appearing as “The Neilsons” and working with luminaries like Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison. By virtue of this experience, Neilson learned that a career in music was not all glitz and glamour.
“Before [a] show, I remember my dad telling me to follow him,” Neilson says, speaking via Zoom. “He said, ‘I want you to see something.’ And we walked down this hallway, and there was Kitty Wells sitting in a little chair. She was in this galleyway, because it was a dinner show, and there were all these waiters rushing past her with trays and food flying everywhere. She was sitting in this chair in head-to-toe sequins with her little handbag clutched on her lap, holding her purse. And my dad said, ‘You see that lady there? That is the queen of country music. Dolly, Loretta, Patsy, they all wanted to be her. And look at her now. This is the reality of the music business.’”
Undeterred, Neilson has built an international career in music despite living in New Zealand, where she moved after marrying a police detective who lived there. “The only reasons you move to the other side of the world are either for love or money, and sadly, mine was love,” Neilson laughs.
Consequently, Neilson has to contend with long plane rides while balancing the demands of touring and recording with those of marriage and motherhood (she has two sons, 11 and 13). She has recorded ten albums as a solo artist, including Neon Cowgirl, which will be released on July 11. How does she make it all work?
“With any parent who is a musician, it takes a village. Nothing is spontaneous anymore. Everything has to be well-planned. I feel like being a parent makes me a better musician because I have no time to waste. The decisions that I make need to be the best decisions in a very small amount of time. So I’m not going to waste my time on things that are not going to serve our family,” Neilson explains.
“If I’m going to sacrifice and have time away from them, it needs to be something really worthwhile. When you’re growing up in the music business, you’re used to saying ‘yes’ to everything, because everything could be an opportunity that could be the break in your career. I think [having a family] shifts the way you view things, and it puts things in perspective. ‘Is this worth being away from the people I love most in the world?’ Then it’s a ‘no.’ You trim the fat off pretty quickly once you have kids.”
“Borrow My Boots,” a single released in advance of Neon Cowgirl, explores the theme of women supporting each other. “The music business is a tough place to be a woman, particularly country music. When you look at 2024, less than 10 per cent of country music radio was female artists. Writing that song with Ashley McBryde and Shelly Fairchild, who also face the same challenges in this industry, was a very liberating and empowering writing session for sure.”
McBryde has been a fan of Neilson’s for a while. After performing together as part of a tribute to Patsy Cline, she began working to raise Neilson’s profile. “Ashley became the personification of that song for me, in my life and career this past year. She was hosting CMA [Country Music Association] Fest at the big stadium in [Nashville]. She and Jelly Roll were hosting. And I get this message from her. She said, ‘Can I have your phone number. I need to ask you something.’ So I’m standing on my porch in New Zealand talking to Ashley McBryde on the phone, very normal.
“And she said, ‘I’m cohosting CMA Fest and running around doing all these interviews, and I want to be wearing a Tami Neilson T-shirt with your face on it to get conversations going, and I want people to see you so I can talk about your music. I went on your website, and there’s not one T-shirt with your face on it.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, well, I feel a little bit wanky doing that.’ She said, ‘I want your permission for my graphic designer to make a Tami Neilson T-shirt, and I want to wear it around CMA Fest.’ And I thought ‘Above and beyond!’”
Neilson premiered “Borrow My Boots” at her Grand Ole Opry debut in September of 2024, a month after it was written and recorded, joined onstage by McBryde, Fairchild and guitarist Grace Bowers, who played on the record. While on tour with the Outlaw Music Festival, Neilson will make a quick side trip for another Opry appearance. What is it like, playing in such a hallowed venue?
“The only thing I can kind of compare it to is your wedding day. Where you’re in the eye of the storm, and everything is swirling around you, and you can’t remember everything because you’re in this hurricane of joy and happiness and excitement. It’s really hard to soak it all in, because it’s so overwhelming,” Neilson says.
It’s no surprise to see Neilson on the bill for Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival, since she has an association with Nelson that goes back a few years. In 2022, Nelson joined her in the studio for a duet on her song “Beyond the Stars,” and last year Neilson recorded Neilson Sings Nelson, an album of Willie Nelson covers. A few months ago, she opened a string of shows for Nelson.
“When you open for an artist, the whole mood [on the tour] – the crew, everyone from the smallest cog in the wheel to the big pumbah, Willie – I think the artist sets the tone. And I’ve toured with artists who are assholes. And that sets the tone. When you tour with Willie, it is like touring with family,” Neilson says. “As his stage manager said, ‘It’s an open-arms policy.’ You’re embraced, you’re welcomed, nothing is too much trouble. Everybody is just as laid back as he is. He’s very inspiring to tour with. He’s 92 years old, and to be in the business and still have generosity of spirit, time to give, that says a lot about his character.”
Tami Neilson will perform as part of Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival at 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 6, at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Dr. For information, call 281-364-3010 or visit woodlandscenter.org. $68 and up.
For more on Tami Neilson, visit tamineilson.com.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.
