“Borrow My Boots”

Tami Neilson, Neon Cowgirl

Jul 24, 2025

For all but seven years of my life, I have lived within a 20-minute drive of Niagara Falls. As of this writing, I am close enough that I can see the mist of the cataracts rising above the rooftops of my neighbourhood, and I can be standing at the intersection of Clifton Hill and Falls Avenue, looking up at the neon-lit thoroughfare teeming with tourists in less time than it took me to type this sentence. Being a local, I’ve never fully understood the draw and awe that visitors here feel. I think that’s common when a major attraction or landmark is commonplace to some and not others. What’s just “the Falls” to me is a once-in-a-lifetime marvel for many, a provocation and challenge for a daring few. And that’s the thing about landmarks of this sort: they’re emotional mirrors as much as they are physical structures and geographic locations. For some, they symbolize dreams, ambitions, or the life they’re chasing. For others, they’re just an oversized waterfall. Or a big neon cowgirl.

For Tami Neilson, the iconic neon cowgirl sign at Broadway and Third Ave. in downtown Nashville has always been more than just a kitchy icon or Instagrammable photo op. For Neilson — Toronto-born, raised on the road performing with her family as the Neilsons, and now residing in New Zealand — that landmark sign has been a symbol of aspiration. That sign has borne silent witness to Neilson’s hopes of one day gracing the stage at the nearby Ryman Auditorium. Every time she visited the city, she saw that glowing figure watching over her, a reminder of the stage she hadn’t yet reached.

Neilson got to walk across that Ryman stage, opening for fellow New Zealanders Crowded House in 2023, and if there’s any justice in this world, she deserves the chance to do so again soon in support of her crackling new album, Neon Cowgirl. Like many great albums, Neon Cowgirl comes with a serendipitous story so improbable and aligned that it feels scripted. Neilson had high hopes that the Crowded House opening gig would give her the chance to make inroads in North America in a way that her previous touring schedules just wouldn’t allow. Bringing her young family on the road with her, the plan was to capitalize on this “once-in-a-lifetime chance to really give it [her] all with [her] career,” but an unexpected run-in with sepsis had her fighting for her life in the ICU just two months before the tour started. Neilson recovered enough to head out on the five-month tour with her family, but her focus and priorities shifted: “Our trip changed from one of me going full throttle to make a good dent in my career to one of recovery and slow healing. It became a time of embracing life fully and savouring the precious time with my family in a way one does only after a near-death experience.” Suffice it to say that Neon Cowgirl is more than just a record of songs; it’s a reckoning of resilience and destiny, charged with an all-or-nothing spirit that suggests Neilson isn’t waiting for that neon cowgirl sign to call her number.

From the opening track, “Foolish Heart,” Neilson channels the spirit of Patsy Cline, her towering and tender voice belting out the song’s heartbreaking bridge: “They follow me, they let love lead / But I only lead them astray / And when they lose and come back bruised / There’s only one fool that they blame.” “Borrow My Boots” is a fiery anthem of empowerment, featuring Ashley McBryde, Grace Bowers, and Shelly Fairchild. Backed by a rocking rhythm section and foot-stomping beat, Neilson advises the sisterhood that “Sometimes the only way through / Is to knock it down, break it loose / Kick it in, you can borrow my boots.”

That same honky-tonk energy courses through “U-Haul Blues,” a song that connects to Neilson’s upbringing on the road performing with her family (“Gotta sing for your supper, gotta sing for the Lord / Sleeping on a mattress on a stranger’s floor / 3 kids on a Greyhound, rolling outta town”).

“One Less Heart” is cut from the same cloth as the best work of kd lang or Roy Orbison. It is a lovelorn ballad about learning lessons the hard way and vowing never to make the same mistake twice. It’s just one more example of Neilson’s storytelling prowess on an album rife with lyrics steeped in the kind of authenticity that comes from living between worlds. Each track on Neon Cowgirl feels like a postcard from a different stop on her journey, not just the 2023 North American tour, but her life’s trajectory so far.

On the title track, joined by Crowded House’s Neil Finn, Neilson asks, “Can I be the girl lighting up the sky / Shine like a star with a neon smile,” wishing for the fortitude and presence of a 20-foot, unmoving and unmovable giant. With Neon Cowgirl, Neilson gets her wish. Shining with the brilliance of someone who has weathered storms and come out luminous, Neilson is now a beacon in her own right, and a landmark others will measure themselves against.