When Country Is One Color in a Grand Kaleidoscope: Wrangling Multiple Genres With Neon Cowgirl Tami Neilson

In 2024, I had the idea to produce podcasts based on interviews from MerleFest, with the theme being a focus on both first-time performers and veterans. Combining two artists who made their debuts resulted in the episode “Rural Roots That Run Deep With Nick Shoulders and Adeem The Artist”, we followed that with two of the festival’s mainstays in the episode “Jim Lauderdale, Donna the Buffalo and the Many Collaborations Of MerleFest”. It was great fun to compare and contrast artist experiences at the venerated event between newcomers and returning veterans, as well as dive into their stories and music along the way.

This year, I picked up on the approach once again, interviewing bluegrass heroes Woody Platt and Buddy Melton in the episode that immediately precedes this one, titled “A New Team For Two Heavy Hitters Of Bluegrass: Woody Platt and Buddy Melton”. Now, we celebrate another MerleFest newcomer, Tami Neilson. Although she just made her first stop at the festival, she is no novice in the roots music scene, having grown up in a family band and having made records since 2008; I was all smiles when I saw her on the MerleFest lineup for 2025. Fun fact: when I sent in the request to feature Tami on this podcast, her publicist replied, “So just to be clear here — Tami is for Southern Songs & Stories? She is originally Canadian and lives in New Zealand so just checking!” I chuckled and replied, “Yes, that’s correct. I break my own rules every so often. I’ve featured Ruen Brothers, Colin Hay and others over the years. New Zealand is south too right? ;-)”

I spoke with Tami Neilson late at night, after her rousing Dance Tent performance, where she talked about her love of wide ranging musical journeys, her own journey to her adopted country of New Zealand, growing up in a family band and now bringing her sons on stage from time to time, playing the Grand Ole Opry and making music with greats like Willie Nelson, and a whole lot more.

Tami Neilson playing her first of two sets at MerleFest on April 25, 2025. Photo: Willa Stein

Songs heard in this episode:

“Baby, You’re A Gun” by Tami Neilson, from Kingmaker

“Learn To Try Again” by The Chills, from Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs, excerpt

“Borrow My Boots” by Tami Neilson, from Neon Cowgirl, excerpt

“Beyond The Stars” by Tami Neilson, featuring Willie Nelson, from Kingmaker, excerpt

“You’re Gonna Fall” by Tami Neilson, featuring JD McPherson, from Neon Cowgirl

Thanks for reading and listening! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. You can find us on Apple here, Spotify here and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await, filled with artists you may know by name, or musicians and bands that are ready to become your next favorites.

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. WNCW intern Elena Dickson deserves a big thanks for jumping in on production work for this episode in her very first week! Thanks as well to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the unfolding history and culture of music rooted in the American South, and going beyond to the styles and artists that it inspired and informed. - Joe Kendrick

When Music Is More Than Music, And Becomes A Family: Marcus King

Sometimes it is easy to say what type of music you are listening to, and to pick out what influences go into an artist’s music. But how many times have you heard someone say something like, ‘their sound is Muscle Shoals meets Philly soul’ or ‘this band is what would happen if the Allman Brothers and Janis Joplin had a baby’, and so on? So many times, these are lazy analogies, but even when they have merit, they might only scratch the surface of what informs that artist or band. And on first listen, you will probably quickly recognize some of the ingredients in the music of Marcus King. Blues, rock and soul jump out right away. And when you look at Marcus, it is easy to sum things up by saying that he is a young guitar phenomenon with a powerful voice and a super tight band. This is all true, but there is so much more to discover with Marcus King, and the deeper you go, the more you find out about how intricate his music can be.

After moving to Nashville, Marcus King brought in hit songwriter Paul Overstreet and The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach to work with him on his album El Dorado

Even though Marcus King did not graduate from high school, he is widely read. Especially when it comes to music, he is a polymath. He enjoys learning guitar technique from vocalists, piano players, and saxophone players, and he knew to quit emulating other guitarists years ago. He can even draw a line from stand up comedy to the music he makes. Marcus is only 23, but his voice, his playing and his songwriting have matured greatly over the span of his five studio albums. With his latest, El Dorado, King brings in co-writers for the first time, along with new producer Dan Auerbach. In this episode, you will hear from Marcus King as well as fellow Greenville, SC based artist and frequent collaborator Charles Hedgepath, along with music from both of their newest records, and a live cover from when they were together on stage at the third annual Marcus King Band Family Reunion.

Marcus King Band live at WNCW 7-15-19. Photos: Kim Henson

Songs heard in this episode:

Marcus King: excerpt of “Wildflowers & Wine” from El Dorado

excerpts of Country Gentlemen, King Curtis, Janis Joplin, Margaret Glaspy and Sonny Rollins

Marcus King: “One Day She’s Here” from El Dorado

The Shady Recruits: excerpt of “Ghoraibi” from The Shady Recruits

Marcus King: excerpt of “Say You Will” from El Dorado

Marcus King Band with Charles Hedgepath: “Orange Blossom Special” live from the Marcus King Band Family Reunion 9-28-19

Southern Songs and Stories is produced in partnership with public radio station WNCW and the Osiris podcast network, and is available on podcast platforms everywhere. Would you help spread awareness of the artists featured here on Southern Songs and Stories, their music, and this series? Simply subscribe to the podcast and give it a good rating and a comment where you get your podcasts. For example, you can find us on Apple/iTunes here, on Stitcher here, and Spotify here. Our theme songs are by Joshua Meng, with a link to his music here. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Getting Ruened With Henry And Rupert Stansall Of The Ruen Brothers

It all began with the desire to give a platform to all the great off-the-cuff conversations about music heard in the hallways at WNCW. A dozen years ago, as then morning music host, I started the feature What It Is, with journalists, artists and other music professionals taking on a wide array of topics ranging from album and concert reviews to debates on overrated icons, and everything in between. My love of producing multimedia projects rooted in music conversation continued with other independent projects that followed What It Is, and now that comes full circle, with Southern Songs and Stories becoming a part of the WNCW lineup, while remaining a proud member of the Osiris podcast network and Bluegrass Planet Radio. 

The Ruen Brothers perform at the Albino Skunk Music Festival. Photo: John Gillespie

This episode takes a detour from the very South-centric array of artists and history heard previously on the series with a show on The Ruen Brothers, from England. Their music is inspired by a lot of pioneering Southern artists, however: The Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, Muddy Waters and Johnny Cash, among others, are all acknowledged as being key to their sound. 

I caught up with Henry and Rupert at the spring Albino Skunk Music Festival in Greer, SC. They talk about similarities between the rural area where they grew up and the rolling hill country of Upstate South Carolina, how people often forget that rock and blues greats from the mid 20th century had an air of danger about them, and how the Americana scene is booming in England; woven into these conversations are many live songs from their performance. - Joe Kendrick