THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When I met Willie Nelson for the first time,” recalls Tami Neilson, “we hugged hello, then wandered over to his living room and sat — me on the couch with my guitar, him on a chair across from me holding Trigger — and rehearsed our duet Beyond The Stars, which we’d recorded together remotely during the pandemic. I gratefully gulped back the glass of water his wife Annie handed me and tried to still my trembling hands, hearing our voices join together for the first time in the same room. It was one of the most magical moments of my life.
“One year later, I flew out from my home in New Zealand, returning to his ranch in Texas, this time to record at Pederales Studio, an old country golf club that, in years gone by, Willie converted into a place where bands could come and stay to record their albums. It’s since been closed to the public and is only used by Willie himself, tracking all of his vocals and guitar with his longtime in-house engineer, Steve Chadie.
“A lot had happened in the year since my last visit. After performing with Willie at Luck Reunion 2022 — a festival held on his ranch annually — I had released and toured my album Kingmaker all around the world, winning New Zealand’s Best Country Album, Best Artist and Best Producer, while Willie and I were awarded Best Country Song for our duet.
“When I returned home at the end of the year for some much-needed rest, in a scary turn of events, I was admitted into ICU with life-threatening sepsis after a standard operation went terribly wrong. I spent a month in the hospital. During the long recovery, I thought about creating something healing — something to fill my depleted tank, a simple and joy-filled project. I wanted to record a love letter to Willie and his music to give to him for his upcoming 90th birthday. This idea was something I could focus my mind on, a goal to get better.
“At first, the idea was to do a stripped-back, acoustic version of my favourite Willie songs — just me and my brother Jay accompanying me on guitar. Nothing fancy or complicated. I asked my brother Todd to come along and film and document it. He suggested bringing his colleague Craig to assist. We walked into the studio and Chadie, who had agreed to engineer the sessions, had scavenged around the studio for some percussion and rustled up a kick, snare and a floor tom (no cymbals a la Willie!) I asked Todd if he would mind hopping on the makeshift kit, “just for one song…” It was a slippery slope that led to him playing on half the album. After growing up in Canada together, touring in a family band for over a decade with our parents, this album marks the first time the three of us siblings have recorded music together in 25 years.
“It was the one year anniversary of losing sister Bobbie Nelson when we walked reverently into the room where her piano is still set up. We were in awe and so deeply moved. I discovered that Craig plays piano and asked if he would learn I Thought About You and accompany me. Chadie was adjusting the mics as we rehearsed it for the first time and tears filled his eyes as he said, ‘That is the very song she played in here the last time I recorded her.’ We all smiled through our tears as he told us stories about her and showed us photos of her on his phone. What an incredible privilege to honour her memory and make her instrument sing again. I hope she felt our love and I hope we did it justice in our small way.
“When I hear Willie’s music, I can feel the olive green shag carpet of my childhood living room between my fingers, playing with my little brothers on the floor, his music deeply embedded in our DNA. Fast-forward 40 years and I’m playing with my little brothers once again, standing in Willie Nelson’s studio lined with shelves of reel to reels labelled Red Headed Stranger while we sing Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain. ‘Surreal’ doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling. But my hope is that this album has given you a small taste of it.”
