Australian Country Stars Weigh In On Tamworth: A Destination, Festival And The Future Of Country

It’s unbelievable to think that a town of only 65,000 people can hold the history and promise of an entire genre on its shoulders. We’re talking about Tamworth, of course, a regional New South Wales destination that many refer to as the “Country Music Capital of Australia”.

In the same way that Nashville is more of an idea and summit than an actual place, Australian country royalty have all been touched by Tamworth, impressing on it their passion and unique sound. But what is it like to actually live in Tamworth, and not just in January for the legendary Tamworth Country Music Festival, but year-round?

Countrytown was lucky enough to speak to Tamworth locals and country music legends about their relationship to Tamworth, and the many stars they have seen rise through the ranks using Tamworth as both a home base and a springboard to new heights.

Troy Cassar-Daley is one of Australia’s most distinguished country music exports, and not surprisingly, Tamworth played a significant role in his trajectory. Cassar-Daley remembers busking in Tamworth years before he heard about the Kmart “Jazzer” Smith Memorial Talent Quest, which he entered and won in 1989 when visiting from Grafton.

Cassar-Daley said, “Winning this heat of the Jazzer Smith quest just gave me a little bit of a confidence boost to keep going, and this, Star Maker and 'Search for a Star' were definitely experiences that put me on the track for a future in our industry.”

This same Star Maker competition famously launched Lee Kernaghan and Keith Urban into stardom, also, but it was the Kmart “Jazzer” Smith Memorial Talent Quest in Tamworth that really sowed the seeds for Cassar-Daley.

Cassar-Daley continued, “From my point of view, I moved there in 1991 for a couple of years and the music mid week was always happening with Michael Roy-Croft running a jam night with a hot local band at the town Talk (the now Tamworth hotel) I was in a band called “ Jump and Jive” with Henry Erich and Dave Adams and Barry Hardcastle, we went out on weekends to many gigs in the Tamworth region and locally and Stephen Bunz would get me to play solo, duo and band gigs at some venues he played,” he said.

“The town embraced me like its own, and I was always busy, to me it was my musical epicentre, and now every January, although I have lost quite a few of my beautiful friends, it still is the music centre of my world with such important memories only Tamworth could have given me. I truly believe the town helped form me musically from a very young age,” he said.

Now, according to Barry Harley, Tamworth’s colloquial name of “Country Music Capital of Australia” was coined by sheer coincidence in 1969, though he concedes that the shoe fits.

“It was a result of a radio station that could be heard all over Australia through a clear channel after television arrived in the north, and so there was an adjustment with radio scheduling, which led to all these specialist programs, including one called Hoedown,” said Harley.

“Hoedown demonstrated to the management of the radio station of the day that there was an audience out there that was interested in listening to country music because they were picking up people like truck drivers and shift workers and farmers. So from that, the management decided, “well, there could be something in this country music, so let's start promoting”, which they did, and then they looked at it and thought, "Well, hang on, the town is virtually getting behind the whole thing, so why don't we grab the title and just tell everyone that Tamworth from now on is going to be ‘Country Music Capital’,” said Harley.

From there, the Golden Guitar awards were developed, and 54 years later, the name and reputation still ring true. In fact, many of the legends we spoke with reiterated the fact that no one owns the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and that it is community-led at its core, with the benefits and proceeds being delivered directly into the community.

“It's the collaboration of so many venues and curators and promoters and entrepreneurs that have led to this unique festival that Tamworth calls its own, that has something like 80 venues, more than 700 artists, more than 400 buskers, and that's only been brought about by the passion and the exuberance of individuals other than anyone who principally owned the festival,” said Harley.

Long-time Australian country-music industry stalwart, Cheryl Brown, by no means contests how Tamworth was named, but believes the country roots in Tamworth were entrenched long before the radio campaign of the late-60s. In fact, her sources are a little closer to home.

“My father, the late “Gentleman” Geoff Brown, was the first artist to bring live country music to Tamworth. In the 1940s, when my father was a young boy, he could be found singing under the lamplight on the street corner of his parents’ home in East Tamworth. Maybe it was like having a spotlight on him,” Brown said. 

“In the very early years, there were no club and pub shows; just church halls, town halls and the annual agricultural shows and rodeo events. As a teenager, Dad was known to climb up into the Broadcast Tower and sing over the tinny-sounding microphone during the caller’s lunch time,” continues Brown. 

“In 1951, Dad won a “hillbilly” contest at the local rodeo when he was 22. It was donated by country music artist Buddy Bishop, who had moved to Tamworth from Taree to open a corner store with his wife and pursue his music. In the early 1960s, local publication Joe Maguire saw Geoff sing over a couple of weekends at the Nemingha Hotel and asked him to come to Joe Maguire’s Pub and start a regular weekend walk-up style event,” said Brown.

To have Geoff Brown’s experience verified and solidified in Tamworth’s history is critical to understanding how country was born in Australia. Fortunately, we have more recent accounts, with Josh Cunningham, one of the founding members of the folk-rock trio The Waifs, recounting a number of fond memories of Countrytown.

“I first went to Tamworth back in 2001 with some fellow Waifs as part of a musical play called Long Gone Lonesome Cowgirls that we put on at the Retreat Theatre. It was hot,  there were people everywhere, and there was a palpable buzz in the air. It really was an exciting place to be,” said Cunningham.

“That experience only made my love of country music grow all the more. I didn’t meet her until many years later, but I do remember seeing Felicity Urquhart singing with the Feral Swing Cats at the Pub, so I guess that experience has shaped my musical journey to a large degree, given that we now make records together and have won a few Golden Guitars,” said Cunningham.

Felicity Urquhart, an award-winning Australian country singer-songwriter, guitarist, and radio presenter from Tamworth, known for her heartfelt storytelling, rich vocals, and long-standing role as host of ABC’s Saturday Night Country is like many Australian country artists. Her earliest memories in the industry are intertwined with family and early bonds. With busking being an unofficial pastime of our now enthrined country stars, Urquhart can think of no better way to get her footing in country.

“My earliest memories of performing at Tamworth all come from busking on Peel Street with my sister and cousins as kids. Those experiences got me hooked on the joy you can share and receive through music, and it was so much fun. Watching my own daughters have that experience for themselves now as buskers on Peel Street fills me with pride,” said Urquhart.

“Tamworth is such a great environment for fostering young artists and introducing them to that same joy I felt all those years ago. It’s really important to have an event that offers so much by way of the Academy, Starmaker, and the opportunities to play on various stages around town or to busk on Peel Street. People love to see young talent come through and I’m proud that the country music family in Australia is so supportive of that. As a hometown girl, I’m especially proud that Tamworth is at the forefront of nurturing young talent,” said Urquhart.

Tamworth is as Australian as it comes, and attending the Tamworth Country Music Festival has become a way to get a front row seat and a preview of the names that will dominate the stages and airwaves for generations to come. With the festival gearing up for its 54th shindig, we hope to see new faces and old at this institutional event.