“A bootleg full of surprises” is what you can call this boot-shaped island state in Oceania, although some prefer the traditional New Zealand. Maori dance brutally here, Kiwis sneak mercilessly at the worm in the night, and sometimes even leggy hobbits get turned on. For example, Canada is a completely different hemisphere. Everything is neatly covered with a maple leaf. But you can’t hide your true talent under an antique bikini: after traveling around North America as part of The Nielsons family orchestra, our heroine outgrew and overcame, settling and marrying in Auckland, in the land of true Maori. At that time, in 2007, her name had been Tami Nilson for thirty years, and she did not change her last name to her husband, Tetzlaff, nor did she change her predilection for extravagant Pentecostal outfits and retro-Futurist hairstyles.
With the help of her brother Jay, in 2009, Tami composes, records and releases her first solo album, “Red Dirt Angel“. A few years later, Delaney Davidson, a musician venerable by the standards of not only Kiwi Sauron, penetrates into this lair of family and mutual responsibility – he managed to work with the macabre cabaret Dead Brothers and Reverend Beatman / Reverend Beat-Man. Released under Davidson’s sensitive production, “Dynamite!” jumped to number 10 on the New Zealand charts, which would have been a phenomenon for a rockabilly/country album in a country less fabulous.
Since that memorable 2014, Tami’s business has been going uphill like an avalanche back. Possessing a completely Ural appearance, this Lady mixes such an intense cocktail from all the root genres, which, alas, Imelda Mae is still far from. Another excellent cocktail of Nilson’s potion was poured into the ears of a grateful audience on February 14th, 2020, and an expanded version of “Chikaboom Deluxe” was released a year later. The same people were swimming in the broth: Tami and Jay, Delaney, Joe McCallum with his drum kit, as well as guests of the deluxe edition – The Big Boss Orchestra. Put your ears in, the opposite is Billy, the rhythm and kiwi blues is already bubbling and splashing over the edge!
Call Your Mama – Tami is loudly sarcastic, while the guitar gives out a fat, like gumbo, Louisiana swamp rock. Gospel backing vocals add color and incite. The album from the first song gently grabs the listener by the liver. Hey, Bus Driver! – a fast-paced number in which Buck Owens and Patsy Cline materialize like at a good seance, and the guitar riff vibrates like hot Texas air. A pinch of the Everly brothers’ magic is also available.
Ten Tonne Truck is a skillful hybrid of rockabilly and holler, songs of convicts of the South. Instead of the chorus, Tami laughs, giggling with John Lee Hooker and Hazel Adkins. Queenie, Queenie is a children’s counting song accompanied by primitive percussion. With such songs, the black kids of New Orleans summon loa at midnight.
You Were Mine – piercing blues. That voodoo sometimes stops working. But the ghost of Jay Hawkins is still here. 16 Miles Of Chain is a minor country song with a desperate refrain. Southern Gothic. Tell Me That You Love Me is a cheerful contrast to the previous couple. Rural young ladies start dancing, picking up their skirts higher.
Any Fool With A Heart is a beautiful ballad from those places where ranches in the Spanish colonial style, herds of horses and a deep horizon. Sister Mavis is a cheeky rockabilly action movie. Listening to him, you realize that this lady doesn’t just have nerves of steel. Sleep is a charming lullaby from the time when Clint Eastwood was still playing in TV series, and happy American families went to Nevada to admire the mushrooms of nuclear explosions. The perfect ending to the album “Chikaboom”.
But we have a premium version, which means five additional tracks! Walk (Back To Your Arms) is one of the hits from the breakthrough “Dynamite! “, a menacing swing stroll. It becomes alarming for the character, into whose hands this large fish returns. Like the next four, the song was recorded live on RNZ radio with The Big Boss Orchestra big band. Roimata (Cry Myself To Sleep) is a serenade sung by an Aboriginal duo, Troy Kingi, in his Aboriginal language, accompanied by violins. I wonder if Troy danced his awesome aboriginal dance at the same time? And do the aborigines have other dances besides intimidating ones?
A Woman’s Pain is a moderately heartbreaking southern soul. Strings and slide guitar go together perfectly. Call Your Mama differs from the album version, perhaps, only slightly more expressive, while You Were Mine became more insinuating and softer, and the orchestra gave it a “spy-like”, a kind of pleasant “bond”.
It’s rare for albums to be so harmonious, being so stylistically diverse. It is rare for a singer to have such a palette of characters and moods. Tami Nilson is a true Event in women’s, and not only, rock’n’roll. Ruapehu volcano is snoring peacefully, Lake Taupo is bubbling sweetly, it’s time for us to go to bed, Moon Dogs!
