Tami Neilson Looks to Knock Socks Off with “SASSAFRASS!”
Tami Neilson is a full tilt badass monster of music, and I will puff my chest out and challenge any man, woman, or beast who dares questions the full-throated pronouncement that she is the one of the best living singers in all of roots music and beyond. Her 2014 album Dynamite! was a once-in-a-lifetime effort that stills hold up, and was followed by her 2016 tribute to her father Don’t Be Afraid.
Now she is back with a new selection of songs compiled under the name SASSAFRASS! that will be released June 1st via Outside Music, and promises to pick up where the rambunctious Dynamite! left off. Co-produced by Tami and Ben Edwards, who worked on Neilson’s previous two records, it’s an old-school rockin’ smokey bluesy soul country affair with backup singers and a horn section brought in to blow your socks off with badass tunes served at full volume.
SASSAFRASS! includes the songs “Bananas,” which plays off the Tomato-Gate scandal a few years back involving country music’s women, “Manitoba Sunrise at Motel 6” written on the day Glen Campbell died, and “Miss Jones” about another recently-passed musical icon, soul singer Sharon Jones. You can hear the opening track “Stay Outta My Business” below. Playing on the record is Tami Neilson’s Hot Rockin’ Band of Rhythm: Neil Watson on guitar and pedal steel, Brett Adams on guitar, Mike Hall on bass, and Joe McCallum on drums.
A native Canadian whose family band toured with the likes of Johnny Cash, Neilson now hails from New Zealand. She is the Queen of Country Music in the southern hemisphere, taking home 7 total New Zealand Music Awards for Best Country Album and Best Female Artist. SASSAFRASS! will definitely be one to look out for.
SASSAFRASS! Track List:
- “Stay Outta My Business”
- “Bananas”
- “Diamond Ring”
- “A Woman’s Pain”
- “Devil In A Dress”
- “One Thought Of You”
- “Miss Jones”
- Smoking Gun”
- “Kitty Cat”
- “Manitoba Sunrise At Motel 6”
- “Good Man”
March 23, 2018 @ 8:37 am
I can hardly wait!
March 23, 2018 @ 8:57 am
Oh yeah
March 23, 2018 @ 9:07 am
Wow. I’ll be glad to share this one.
March 23, 2018 @ 9:11 am
Shinyribs looks good in drag–and sounds good in falsetto!
March 23, 2018 @ 9:47 am
Very ” Dap Kings ” . Maybe TOO Dap Kings. She’s the reigning queen of country in new Zealand ?
Interesting .
The definition of ‘ country’ in the southern hemisphere is most definitely more askew than in North America .
March 23, 2018 @ 9:59 am
It’s one song.
Go listen to “Texas” or “Whiskey & Kisses” from Tami and tell me it’s not country. This record will also have country songs on it.
March 23, 2018 @ 10:18 am
“Texas” is a great track, but one of the campiest and weirdest video I’ve ever seen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODB4KfDjNXA
March 23, 2018 @ 12:48 pm
That’s Marlon Williams performing “Texas” with Tami, a fellow Kiwi, whose new record “Make Way For Love” can not be recommended enough to people who like the idea of a proper crooner belting out Americana with a Polynesian tint.
Here’s Marlon not being above making a bit of a monkey of himself on a NZL beach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zchdH3zAYAE
March 23, 2018 @ 1:25 pm
LOL, I love that guy. Dude’s got skills!
March 23, 2018 @ 1:53 pm
Corncaster, there’s a really great story around the video. It’s a tribute, I believe. Tami told me, and I can’t remember it! I know she’s super busy (she’s performing at a free outdoor concert in Auckland tonight!) but maybe she can weigh in and tell the story?
March 23, 2018 @ 2:43 pm
Well, it sure looks like the set (and the colors) from old country TV.
March 25, 2018 @ 4:30 pm
I’d call that video delightfully old fashioned, not weird or campy.
March 23, 2018 @ 11:11 am
“This record will also have country songs on it.”
Yes, it probably will, I have both “Dynamite” and “Don’t Be Afraid”. And neither of them are pure country albums they both have a mix of soul and rockabilly tunes on them.
Will you be reviewing Courtney Marie Andrews latest album?
March 23, 2018 @ 11:56 am
Courtney Marie review is in the works, along with many others.
March 23, 2018 @ 1:17 pm
Thanks.
March 24, 2018 @ 1:46 am
right you are , trigger…..listened to more of her stuff and man ….that is one killer vocal talent…..especially the straight up trad stuff.
so far scandanavia and new zealand are winning when it comes to whose mainstream country artists are most respectful of the genre . canada is WAY down the list ….right behind the u.s. it seems
March 24, 2018 @ 6:59 pm
“Texas” reminds me of Patsy Cline! Love it.
March 26, 2018 @ 4:17 am
This my view as to what genre each song of her album “Dynamite” belongs to. I choose “Dynamite” because it’s my favorite of the two albums of hers that I’ve got.
Walk : Soul
Come over : Rockabilly
Texas : country
Cry over you : Rockabilly
You Lie : country
Dynamite : Soul
Woo Hoo : Bit harder so I say rockabilly with touch of country 🙂
Running to You : Country
Honey Girl : Country
Whisky and Kisses : Country
So five country songs.
Most of the on the songs on the album are in the style of the 50’s/ 60’s so perhaps some of the younger people reading your blog are to young to recognize it as country.
April 1, 2018 @ 10:53 am
Also at the time of the rock ‘n’ roll era the genres mingled and blended all the time, which I imagine is why it all just got lumped as rock ‘n’ roll a lot of the time.
March 23, 2018 @ 9:52 am
Oh baby, what a beat! Butt-wagging R&B. Tina Turner. This wails. Love the theremin.
Not country, but thanks for the tip toward a great band.
It would be great to hear some crazy steel guitar in this. Why not.
March 23, 2018 @ 12:52 pm
I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more theremin!
Great stuff, Trig. Thanks for the intro.
March 23, 2018 @ 5:50 pm
To be blunt, it’s stupefying to me how few folks know who Tami Neilson is, and that there’s even any discussion about how country she is or isn’t, with folks poking around YouTube. “Ooh! her ‘Texas’ video’s too campy.’ Has the readership of Saving Country Music really turned over so much in the last four years that folks don’t know about this woman? She is literally the greatest singer I have ever seen live, even behind Raul Malo.
In the last 15 years, the three most important records released in country are:
1. Hank Williams III – Straight to Hell
2. Tami Neilson – Dynamite!
3. Sturgill Simpson- Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
If you don’t know who Tami Neilson is, get on it.
March 24, 2018 @ 3:50 pm
Really?
come on brother.
“Golden Guitar of Don Reno”
“Don Rich sings George Jones”
“George Jones and the Smoky Mountain Boys”
“Traveler”
“Bakersfield”
“Man Against Machine”
not being critical of your choices but why are these three (mostly modern) albums “the most important” compared to those with widespread cultural impact and/or historical significance like the Don Rich masters or Don Reno album.
what criteria are you using to make this claim?
March 25, 2018 @ 11:08 am
Really? Man against machine as in the shitty Garth fucking brooks cd?
March 25, 2018 @ 4:28 pm
I don’t think Straight to Hell is even remotely close to being Hank 3’s best work.
March 25, 2018 @ 4:36 pm
Trigger, never heard of Tami before you posted this article. I listened to every track on Dynamite and gotta say that barely half the songs can really be considered “country”. Yes, there’s a 2 or 3 I really enjoy and that are clearly country, but as a whole I have no idea why you think the album is so groundbreaking.
March 25, 2018 @ 5:07 pm
Who gives a shit? I never said it was a dedicated country album. Go back and read the review for it. I don’t understand this hard-minded “EVERYTHING MUST BE COUNTRY OR ITS SHIT!” attitude. I used the example of “Texas” as a undeniably country song on the record, but honestly, it’s probably one of the weakest tracks on the album. But then folks feel they need to commentate on that song. All I’m saying is that the sound of Tami Neilson takes a wide range through roots music, and that includes country, and there will be country songs on this new record. Don’t just take this one song as the only example of her sound.
When I posted my review for “Dynamite!” in 2014 it went viral. It broke Tami Neilson in North America. People lost their minds. What’s sad is that would never happen these days because 1) Barely anybody reads album reviews. 2) People would freak out because a few of the songs are not straight down the middle country, and so most would say the album is shit.
It blows my mind that in four years, nobody knows who Tami Neilson is on this website. It’s like the readership has completely changed over. It’s me and Jack Williams.
March 25, 2018 @ 4:38 pm
And I think High Top Mountain blows MM Sounds away by a country mile.
March 26, 2018 @ 12:03 am
You said “3 most important records released in country”. If the album can barely be considered country, how is one of the 3 most important country records?
You’ll have to go back to my original post and point out where I said her album was “shit”.
Be careful if you decide to get off that high horse you’re sitting on.
April 2, 2018 @ 12:04 pm
I will be singing the praises of this woman on my show until she is a household name. I hope she comes to my area at some point because I know plenty of people who would swoon for her if they saw her live.
April 2, 2018 @ 12:08 pm
Also I remember when Dynamite was up for your album of the year. And it lost to Metamodern Sounds. I was so said but totally understood why it happened. And I agree about her vocals and would go on to argue she has some of the best vocals recording music, period no matter what genre. Because for me she can belt but she also knows how to phrase and show restraint and build in a song.
March 23, 2018 @ 11:08 am
Hmm. Kinda sounds like the theme to a 60’s James Bond movie.
March 23, 2018 @ 11:54 am
Love Tami Neilson. Cannot wait for this one.
March 23, 2018 @ 12:09 pm
Tami is great, and I can thank you for having introduced me to her, Trig. I’ll be ordering this one.
March 23, 2018 @ 2:01 pm
OMG! OMG! OMG! New Tami Neilson. Super excited. I’m loving her new swagger and style. A true icon of female empowerment and badassery! And she’s so genuinely bloody lovely as well, as you know Trig. PS I saw Delaney Davidson perform a couple of weeks back. He has a new album coming out in April. The new songs sounded awesome … like everything he does.
Here’s a great interview with Tami just published here in NZ:
https://thespinoff.co.nz/music/23-03-2018/tami-neilson-on-her-new-album-and-taking-motherhood-on-the-road/
March 23, 2018 @ 5:18 pm
Thanks to Trigger for another fine find. The song posted made me go watch a Detroit Cobras video. The Texas video said Linda Ronstadt! Great music plus fun.
March 23, 2018 @ 11:15 pm
I want to like this but I just don’t. I’m a fan of Tami’s country sounds. This song reminds me of something that belongs on the Mavericks Brand New Day album and sadly I think it’s their worst they have put out.
March 24, 2018 @ 6:18 am
Tami Neilson was a great find here on SCM some time ago. I ordered her first cds in my local recordstore in Nijmegen, Holland, and I know they sold more copies after playing the cd instore. I guess it’s because there’s more to listen to than just her voice, lyrics are good, music is great, and I don’t really care if it’s country or not. I’m going to order this next one right now!
She also reminds me of Candye Kane, the blues-singer who sadly died too young, and is sadly missed. She was always truely outspoken, and she could have made great countrymusic, but went the blues-way. It’s not about genre, it’s about keeping passion and finding inspiration in the history of american music.
Anyway, Tami Neilson is from New Zealand, my absolute favorite female singer is Australian. Kasey Chambers has in my opinion never recorded a song that I didn’t like, since her first solo effort The Captain. And she can sing pop, country, bluegrass, and rock a bit as well. She’s the one I really love, but I hope Tami can build such a carreer for herself.
March 25, 2018 @ 10:14 am
She is based in New Zealand and I suppose there are many countries who wants to claim Tami Neilson as their own. 🙂 But she was actually born in Canada like some other great artists like Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Kate & Anna McGarrigle.
March 24, 2018 @ 7:49 am
She and her music sound like UK singer Duffy who had a great album in 2008 called Rockferry. Then she lost her record deal.
I like this girl and her music and will grab some of the old stuff now that I heard about her.
March 24, 2018 @ 10:48 am
I hope there’s s US tour in the works
March 24, 2018 @ 2:31 pm
Not even remotely my kind of thing and I listened to clips of many of her songs. But, to each their own!
March 26, 2018 @ 3:55 am
For those saying Tami ain’t country, listen to her early albums Red Dirt Angel and Kitchen Table Sessions. You may change your mind. At core she’s a country singer, she’s a star in New Zealand in the country realm. These days she’s dabbling in Soul, Rockabilly, country politan and whatever else. Perhaps Americana might be a better term to describe her current sound.
March 26, 2018 @ 7:22 am
She’s so awesome, she gives me chills.
March 26, 2018 @ 10:50 am
The marriage of style and substance – musicified!
March 27, 2018 @ 9:30 am
I’ve been a fan of Tami since you wrote about her Dynamite! album a few years ago. Thanks for the regular updates. What an incredible talent.
March 29, 2018 @ 6:26 pm
I just adore Tami. She has such amazing voice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jByWDU_63ts .Thanks for info.. So excited.
April 2, 2018 @ 12:13 pm
Basically what is comes down to for me is, a good album is a good album a good song is a good song and a good singer is a good singer. And Tami has proven to me she can do all three!