Singer/songwriter Tami Neilson. Photo/supplied
After 10 years in New Zealand, and the birth of two sons, Canadian singer/songwriter Tami Neilson feels like a local.
"I think I've earned my stripes," she said.
The award-winning alternative country artist has certainly made an impression in her adopted country, winning a host of Tuis and the 2014 APRA Silver Scroll Award for New Zealand song of the year.
Headlining the 2015 Church Tour, Neilson is excited to see her Americana brand of music - a mixture of soul, blues, folk and rockabilly - creeping into mainstream media and said the fact the popular annual tour was solely alt-country artists, was an indication of the genre's increasing popularity.
"I thought that was really exciting, people are becoming more exposed to our kind of music. There's been a huge groundswell," she said.
Neilson grew up singing with her Canadian family in The Neilson Family Band, opening for the likes of Johnny Cash.
Now a successful solo artist, she is married to a Kiwi police officer and has two sons aged three and one. Three months after her youngest was born she went on tour with the Topp Twins. Her husband looked after their newborn son while she performed each night. "At that age he's a little bit more transportable," she said.
During the 10-day Church Tour, Neilson will attempt to return home to Auckland between shows. "It's way too hard to be apart so long." A musician's lifestyle doesn't always coincide with family life, she said.
"We just have to be well organised well in advance, there's no just picking up and flying here or there." Neilson will be joined on the tour by fellow alt-country artists Marlon Williams, Delaney Davidson and Barry Saunders.
She described it as an "eclipse of the sun" that all four artists were available for the tour, which runs from October 1 to 10.
The artists are friends and colleagues - they are also the best in the business.
"I guess really you're getting pretty much the cream of the New Zealand crop when it comes to American alternative country singer/songwriters. I think it will be a fantastic show," Neilson said.
They have also been recognised internationally. Williams was recently named in Rolling Stone as an artist to watch in 2016 and Neilson's album Dynamite named by The Guardian as one of the top country albums of 2014.
Neilson has performed, toured and produced albums with the three male artists before, and is looking forward to working with them again.
"I'm the only girl in a line-up of smelly old boys, that sometimes can be a bit of an occupational hazard but I'm happy to carry the torch for the female gender on this tour," she said.
She describes Saunders as having a "gritty, quintessential Kiwi sound" and herself as retro: big songs in a Patsy Cline style with some soul mixed in. Davidson has more of a dark earthy side, more like Tom Waits, while Williams has an incredibly beautiful voice, she said.
Their music attracted audiences of all ages. "I get people who are teens to people who have white hair, it's just people that love music." Neilson hopes to release her new album Don't be Afraid in April 2016, which will feature the same "cast and crew" as her previous one Dynamite.
The fine print
Tickets for the Church Tour, which will be held at Tauranga's Holy Trinity on October 2, are available from www.churchtour.co.nz and Ticketmaster from July 6, or July 1 for Civic Events member pre-sales.