SASSAFRASS! (in all caps and with an exclamation mark, mind you!) is possibly one of the most-played albums of 2018 in this Norselands household. That’s what happens when the entire family likes it. This album has catchy and singable songs that should resonate with everybody.
Canadian-born, New Zealand-based powerhouse vocalist Tami Neilson represents some genres I don’t often delve into on these pages, but when I do, it is for the same reason that I get into anything: it is great stuff and I like it! Tami plays her very own brand of Americana, which is a mix of folk, blues, rockabilly, soul, rhythm and blues, country, and rock and roll. This may sound like a hodgepodge of style on paper (or screen), but it is more a blend of these things rather than a lot of genre-hopping. All these influences combined is what makes up Tami’s sound, and it all makes sense on her albums.
Before going solo, Tami more or less grew up on the road with the family band The Neilsons. Both parents and several siblings have also had careers in music, and she has probably played most clubs in North America. With her family, she has opened for legends like Johnny Cash and Kitty Wells. Don’t mistake Tami for one of those flash in the pan “singing ladies” who got things handed to her. She has paid her dues with hard work, is hands-on in every aspect of her music, have clawed her way to where she is today, and have credentials to burn.
SASSAFRASS! is her sixth album (including the two volumes of the frustratingly hard-to-find “Kitchen Table Sessions”). All her albums are solid efforts in their own right, with a satisfying increase in quality throughout her career. The new one is hitting an incredible level, and I can only imagine that SASSAFRASS! is exactly the album she has always wanted to make. It is a sensational tour-de-force of styles and energy, and as sassy as its fabulous leading lady (“Sassafrass” being a slang term for a self-assured person – or as it says on the record sleeve: “A sassy person who isn’t afraid to speak their mind). That does not mean that it’s all flash and style, though – there album has genuine substance, and there are some very emotional moments here – including what I think is the single most heartbreakingly beautiful song I have heard all year from any one artist. We’ll get to that one in a bit.
The songwriting is solid and often deals with a myriad of issues related to equality. Indeed, the album is dedicated to “every woman and man, fighting the good fight for equality”. This is done with a lot of humour and warmth rather than soapboxing, making the album way more inclusive and entertaining than preachy. It is also incredibly clever, matching up its numerous stories and anecdotes with a suitable musical backdrop/style that matches the mood. Given the numerous styles on the album, this implies that she has a lot of different things on her mind! The music is nicely unified through cohesive songcraft and, of course, that wonderful and unique voice. Tami is the total package. She can deliver a gentle, sentimental ballad one minute, then launch into a gutsy, gravelly blues number, or how about listening to her belting it out on some hard-driving old-time rock and roll?
SASSAFRASS! opens with a bang on Stay Outta My Business. Tami gets to display her full vocal range over the course of the song, which mainly has a rockabilly vibe but with the usual mix of other influences as well. You will hear smattering of rock’n’roll, country, and soul music overlapping. The song itself explores the double standard often imposed on women who are out working (by being a musician on the road or otherwise) while the husband looks after the kids at home. The song is full of things people would shockingly say to her face, often after a show. She sings:
A woman stay home to raise the babies
Must be nice to do nothing, must be lazy
And so she go out to make the money
How can you leave your babies you’re a bad bad Mommy
The chorus (and title of the song) summarise her feelings on the matter, and ultimately the song becomes a triumphant finger in the face of all those people. As Tami is quick to point out, these statements are not only insulting to her, but also her husband, implying that the kids having him as a caregiver wasn’t sufficient.
Things get more playful (at least musically) on Bananas which introduces a horn section and a Tropicalia-style track with bongos and interesting rhythms. The choruses contain traces of rock’n’roll that give it a more driving rhythm to deliver the song’s rather biting chorus.
The lyrics explore the glass ceiling for women in music, and was inspired by something that happened a few years ago for country music radio across the States. A US radio adviser said that it was a bad idea to play female songs, especially back to back, because you lose your listener’s interest. He interestingly described men as the lettuce of a salad and women as tomatoes. You can hear Tami go to town on all of that in Bananas, as she should. With a title like that you can especially imagine her having a lot of fun with the association between anatomy and gender norms. You will amongst other things hear her arguing for equal pay for women as she croons, “It’s bananas she wants equal pay, just for working all night and day.”
The slinky rhythm & blues-inspired Diamond Ring has a lovely groove. It is had a great, fat, bluesy guitar lick running through it, and a lot of ambience with interesting things going on in the background. It incorporates rich vocal harmonies from female backup singers evoking a Doo-wop sound.
In a YouTube interview, Tami talks about writing the song from her mom’s perspective. After her father sadly passed away a few years ago, her mother started getting some attention that, although described as kind attention, ultimately was unwanted. The song nearly didn’t make the album as it was hard to find the correct musical arrangement, but in the 11th hour it clicked.
The styles keep changing with A Woman’s Pain where Tami channels the bluesy balladeering style of fellow Canadian Alannah Myles in this acoustic-based blues-rock ballad. Lovely electronic harmony guitars hover in the background of this song about her grandmother and the challenges she went through.
Devil In A Dress also has a bluesy backdrop, although set against a more percussive mid-tempo rock beat. The mid-song trumpets recalls the feel of the old spaghetti westerns, and Tami sings about how women are usually seen as one of two extremes – either the very nice and innocent girl or the sinful bad girl. Of course, in reality everybody are usually both – with different sides showing up at different times.
The ballad One Thought of You brings something different to the table, with a lot of soul and the nostalgic flair of a bygone era. Neil Watson’s pedal steel guitar adds a lovely touch, nicely underscoring the vocal melody. The music comes from a song Tami’s dad came up with back in the day and used to sing bits and pieces of. Tami finally finished it, and it ends up being a poignant track on the album.
Side two of my incredibly cool emerald green vinyl kicks off with Miss Jones which really is a firecracker of attitude and sassiness. Tami pays tribute to Sharon Jones as the “Genuine, real deal; Girl has always kept it real”.
The song is both playful and sharp with rapid-fire, snappy lyrical delivery. The choruses in particular explode in a musical party, with the band rocking out, horns coming in, the band shouting out, and just a great overall feel of celebration. Sharon Jones got her breakthrough very late in her life after a lot of adversity, but became a well-known soul and funk singer. She passed in 2016 and Tami’s tribute would have made her proud.
Things get slinkier on Smoking Gun, which immediately establishes a slow, crawly, bluesy atmosphere. It all feels a bit ominous, as if something bad is going down – which is greatly emphasized by the hushed vocal delivery. “There’s a predator creepin’ in the pool,” Tami half-sings/half-whispers, and it quickly becomes clear that they are of the two-legged kind.
The song specifically points to the predatory and rampant sexual misconduct of the ‘casting couch’ men of Hollywood. Tami warns them that those days are over: “You can run, boy, but you can’t hide; The judgement day has finally come; For the man who holds the smoking gun”. The whole feel and delivery of the song, and especially the use of the line “Bang bang goes the smoking gun” in the choruses, awake memories of Nancy Sinatra’s own song Bang Bang. Smoking Gun is masterfully executed and one of my favourites on the album.
As usual we switch gears yet again, and next song Kitty Cat seems like a fun and bouncy rockabilly tune. The playful tone of the music and the lyrics is only skin deep, as the song is a thinly veiled poke at a certain politician’s female crotch grabbing.
While the message of the song is clear and unmistakable, it is (again) delivered with lots of humour and sassiness. “She might wave her tail in your direction; Show you a little bit of love and affection; Lick and purr and give you a scratch; But that don’t mean that she’s your kitty cat.” I doubt my son thinks of these things as he bounce around the house singing “kitty cat, kitty cat,” but it works just fine as a catchy, fun song, too.
On an album of many highlights, the biggest one for me comes late on the album. Manitoba Sunrise At Motel 6 is a heartbrekingly lovely ballad with a lot of sadness in it. Being a travelling artist is hard work, but can be very rewarding – performing to people who love what you do and earning a living in the process. It also means you will frequently be away from home, separated from your family. Touring can be fantastic, and it can be heart-breaking at the same time. Manitoba Sunrise touch on those feelings, and finds Tami at a motel – alone, and at the peak of missing the family. Her voice dripping with emotion, as she sings.
O lonesome prairie wind
Won’t you take me home again
To the love I left behind
That never leaves my mind
My head is dark and my heart feels sick
A Manitoba Sunrise at another Motel 6
It is one of millions of songs written about this exact same situation, yet it all comes back to the ability to convey heartfelt feelings and emotions. If a song manages to pull your heartstrings, it does not matter how many times similar songs tried. A lot of us have travelled for work and understand these feelings only too well, and the song hits me pretty deeply.
The song features a lovely melody, with the voice and lyrics front and centre of everything. Stylistically it leans strongly on classic country music, which is a genre which is well equipped to deliver a heart wrenching ballad – and ditto lyric – to maximum effect.
The album ends with Good Man – a slow soul/blues waltz where Tami just shines on vocal. Again. While I really like the album version I feel this song works even better live, where Tami’s vocals enters that tour-de-force of push/pull singing.
The song has soft sections, definite belting sections, and just everything in between. She can apply force, or even whisper sections softly, for equal emphasis and effect. Tami mentions in a YouTube video that the song talks about what love is really like – miscommunication, not always seeing the best in each other, and waking up every day and choosing to love that other person even if you don’t feel like it. Ultimately, Tami still acknowledges that “I’d be a fool to lose you and lose my way; Because a good man just don’t come along every day,” thus ending the song – and album – on a very romantic note.
If you made it all the way to the end of this tome (many thanks!) I hope you have become curious enough to give this album a spin. Tami Neilson has a lot to offer, and if you don’t like a single genre of the numerous ones she represents you are missing out on much more than Tami. This is one of those albums that are designed to open doors, and maybe it can do this for you.
In the meantime I hope some of you will get to enjoy her live, and hope springs eternal that she will make it back to the Norselands soon. She seems to have fallen in love with the Tønder Festival in Denmark and is likely to reappear there, but I hope another visit to Norway is also possible when she’s “in the neighbourhood.”
She played a small club in Oslo, Norway in the fall of 2017, and hearing about that gig is actually how she appeared on my radar. I had never heard of her before so I started checking out music videos and albums. In the following month I realised I had missed out on something special, but her coming here was still worth it as it was the catalyst to me becoming a fan.
Tami has reached a career high with this album. It is so diverse, and so strong in every sense, that I am seriously curious to see where she will go next. I will still enjoy this for a long time, but at the same time I can’t wait for her next album! SASSAFRASS! has heightened the bar, but Tami Neilson is woman enough to meet expectations.
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