WATCH / SHARE “KINGMAKER” MUSIC VIDEO HERE
KINGMAKER LP, OUT TODAY VIA OUTSIDE MUSIC
BUY / STREAM KINGMAKER HERE
COUNTRY SOUL SINGER-SONGWRITER ON TOUR IN CANADA NOW
“Incendiary…Tami Neilson has a distinctive approach, blending soul and rockabilly with a lush country hinterland. KINGMAKER rips into misogyny in all its irksome forms, and each number’s so hooky you wonder how you didn’t already know it.” – MOJO (****)
“Neilson’s statement-making album about feminism and subverting traditions. Kingmaker is a satisfying middle finger to the patriarchy that has never felt timelier” No Depression
“the queen of Kiwi country at her imperious best - The Guardian (****)
“soulful countrypolitan and rockabilly stylings, dynamic stage presence and hurricane-magnitude singing voice have been turning any head within listening distance.” - The Toronto Star
“Kingmaker” Video Still
Award-winning country soul singer-songwriter Tami Neilson is proud to announce today’s long awaited release of her brilliantly subversive fifth studio album, KINGMAKER, available everywhere now via Outside Music. Hailed by The Guardian in a four-starred rave as “effortless…the Queen of Kiwi country at her imperious best,” KINGMAKER includes the cinematic, album-opening title track, “Kingmaker”, joined by an equally epic official music video premiering today.
“I wanted ‘Kingmaker’ to feel like a movie theme that plays as the opening credits unfold,” Neilson says, “so that the songs take the listener through the highs and lows of a story unfolding, more like a movie soundtrack than adhering to one genre or style.”
“It felt so fitting to work with an incredible team of women on this video for a song of empowerment, led by Director Alyx Duncan and Producer Emma Mortimer. Alyx really poured her heart and soul into making KINGMAKER come to life with her incredible attention to detail and she suggested approaching the owner of the historic St. James Theatre located in the heart of downtown Auckland, New Zealand. The once-grand theatre that had hosted Queen Elizabeth herself in 1963 is now crumbling and dilapidated, shuttered for years as work to renovate it came to a standstill. This created the perfect symbolism for KINGMAKER- a group of women, alive and powerful, rising from the ashes of the old colonial institutions that once excluded and oppressed them.”
WATCH / SHARE “KINGMAKER” MUSIC VIDEO HERE
BUY / STREAM KINGMAKER HERE
Known far and wide as an electrifying live act, Neilson marks the arrival of KINGMAKER with a wide-ranging world tour, which is currently making its way through Canada. Full tour dates can be found below, for tickets please visit www.tamineilson.com/tour.
KINGMAKER was previously heralded by such tracks as the striking “Baby You’re A Gun” and the rebellious honky-tonk anthem, “Careless Woman”, the latter of which arrived alongside by a spectacular official music video – co-starring New Zealand-based actress Olivia Tennet (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Power Rangers RPM) and Ling Zhang of Parris Goebel’s esteemed Royal Family Dance Crew
The album also sees Neilson joining forces with the legendary Willie Nelson for the timeless country duet, “Beyond The Stars”, accompanied by an official music video – directed by Neilson’s brother Todd and featuring exclusive footage filmed earlier this year at Austin, TX’s SXSW Music Festival and Nelson’s world famous Luck Reunion in Luck, TX.
“Beyond The Stars” – which immediately hit the Official NZ Music Chart’s “Top 40 Hot Singles” and “Top 20 NZ Hot Singles” in Neilson’s adopted home country of New Zealand – was further met by critical applause from media outlets around the world.
As noted, this spring saw Neilson lighting up SXSW with a series of dynamic show-stopping performances, including a live performance alongside Nelson at his 10th anniversary Luck Reunion event, the latter captured in a new short film, “TAMI NEILSON’S UNBELIEVABLE ONCE IN A LIFETIME OUT OF BODY AMAZING EXPERIENCE AT LUCK REUNION,” streaming now HERE.
BUY / STREAM KINGMAKER HERE
MORE ABOUT KINGMAKER
Recorded at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios in Neilson’s adopted hometown of Auckland, New Zealand, KINGMAKER marks Neilson’s most provocative and powerful collection to date. Fueled by the world-changing events of the past two years, the album’s songs expose and explode the patriarchal structures that pervade the music industry, family life, and society as a whole. While Neilson has previously explored these themes on such acclaimed LPs as 2018’s SASSAFRASS! (hailed by PopMatters as “a potent social and political statement dressed up in catchy melodies and infectious choruses that sometimes belie the more serious elements taking place deep within the choruses.”), the new album draws these challenging ideas out even further, shining a dramatic musical light on what the late bell hooks referred to as “the politics of domination” that render women nameless and voiceless. Songs like “Baby, You’re A Gun” and the cinematic title track see Neilson giving her own resonant voice to women everywhere – to their strength, power, fierceness, and resilience in the face of structural and cultural barriers to their full participation in society.
Born in Toronto, Tami Neilson has been performing for as long as she can remember, first alongside her parents and brothers in the Canadian country music family band, The Neilsons. From being cradled as a baby in the arms of Roy Orbison, singing with Kitty Wells at the age of 10, and opening for Johnny Cash in her pajamas at 18, she had already led an extraordinary life before leaving North America in 2007 to start her own family on the other side of the world in New Zealand, where she has resided ever since. It was there Neilson forged her own artistic path as a critically acclaimed solo artist and songwriter, busking on the streets of Auckland and performing in countless clubs before ultimately earning wide-ranging applause and myriad NZ-based awards for her booming vocal power and inventive, strikingly personal approach to country, rockabilly, and soul. 2020’s CHICKABOOM! proved her most internationally praised work thus far, with No Depression declaring, “Neilson’s phrasing is impeccable…she gets inside the song, turns it inside and out, and makes it her own. She can soar on the rockers, she can deliver the heart-rending ache of a ballad of lost love, and she can capture the playfulness of a schoolyard rhyme with a joyous seriousness.” With her tireless work ethic, seemingly infinite musical gifts, and subversive songwriting approach, Tami Neilson has already found extraordinary success on her own terms. Now, with the groundbreaking KINGMAKER, she takes her music and message even further, using her one-of-a-kind voice to rattle cages and change the game for those who have been denied their rightful place at the table for far too long.
KINGMAKER TRACKLIST
01 Kingmaker
02 Careless Woman
03 Baby, You’re A Gun
04 King of Country Music
05 Beyond The Stars (Feat. Willie Nelson)
06 Green Peaches
07 Mama’s Talkin’
08 I Can Forget
09 The Grudge
10 Ain’t My Job
TOUR DATES
July 15 - Toronto, ON - Harbourfront Centre
July 16 – Quebec, QC – FEQ 2022
July 23 – Guelph, ON – Hillside Festival
Jul 30 - Auckland, NZ - Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre
Aug 3 - New Plymouth, NZ - Theatre Royal
Aug 10 - Wellington, NZ - The Opera House
Aug 13 - Tauranga, NZ - Baycourt Addison Theatre
Aug 17 - Nelson, NZ - Theatre Royal
Aug 18 - Dunedin, NZ - Regent Theatre
Aug 20 - Christchurch, NZ - Christchurch Town Hall Auditorium
MORE PRAISE FOR TAMI NEILSON
“Tami Neilson should be this year's Yola. The Canada-born, New Zealand-based singer has boots made for walking, a beehive hairdo fit for a Sixties girl group, and a voice that can take a door off its hinges…She's overdue for a new album. Or maybe she's just waiting for the rest of the world to finally catch up.” – THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE
“One of today’s most dynamic purveyors of blues, classic country and all manner of musical styles in-between.” – AMERICAN SONGWRITER
“Tami Neilson has strong and powerful pipes, one of those great soul shouter voices that preach the gospel of great music at every turn… Confronting injustice with sass is punk and badass in the best sense of the words and Neilson does it with aplomb.” – POPMATTERS
“Tami Neilson and Willie Nelson meditate on heavy losses in their new duet…‘Beyond the Stars’ is a mournful ballad in 3/4 time and it takes a close look at the grief brought on by a loved one’s death. Neilson wrote the song after the 2015 loss of her father and, while Nelson acts as her father’s voice in his verse, it takes on an extra poignancy coming so soon after the death of his sister and bandmate Bobbie Nelson.” – ROLLING STONE
“‘Beyond The Stars’ taps into the painful feelings of longing to be with the one you've lost. Neilson and Nelson's vocals blend beautifully on the emotional and poetic song, anchored by a soaring string section.” – THE BOOT
“‘Beyond the Stars’ works to help remedy all loss, giving hope for a reunification someday in the future in the eternal dwelling of the cosmos, delivered via the timeless tones of Willie’s guitar Trigger.” – SAVING COUNTRY MUSIC
“Country music gold. And an absolute tear-jerker.” – OUTSIDER