Tami troubles

Queen of Kiwi country Tami Neilson may be taking over the world at the moment (a Willie Nelson duet and European tour as well as Silver Scroll nomination is a pretty neat combo) but she’s still having to sweat the small stuff when it comes to No 8-wiring her way around her gigs. After losing two guitars on flights, she discovered a third replacement had been broken during a Singapore Air flight and it threatened to derail the Scandiwegian leg of her tour until her drummer spotted the guitar tech for Norwegian alt-rockers Madrugada, ‘‘Erik’’, wheeling his roadcase of gadgets backstage. A spare tuning peg, mount and E-string later, and crisis was avoided. ‘‘What an absolute gem of a human,’’ Tami says. ‘‘Honestly, I was on the verge of tears while trying to figure out how on earth I was going to find somewhere to repair it in time before moving on to the next city, and if it was even repairable.’’