Key facts
- The Tamworth Country Music Festival is Australia’s biggest country music festival.
- Its pinnacle is the Golden Guitar Awards, the ‘Grammys’ of Australia’s country music scene.
Full story
Tents, caravans, big hats, friendly locals, guitars and stars create the welcoming atmosphere when 55,000 people converge for one of the top 10 music festivals in the world.
The friendly, unpretentious spirit of the Australian bush is evoked at the festival, a wholehearted celebration of Australian country music. Best-selling musicians and novice buskers share the stages. Venues range from the huge Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre to clubs, theatres, halls, outdoor stages and parks.
Tamworth’s tree-lined main street is closed to traffic, and buskers – from yodellers to Aboriginal rock bands to flamboyant bluegrass performers – line both sides. Some of Australia’s big names in country music – Kasey Chambers, Troy Cassar-Daley and Keith Urban – got their start here.
The festival program lists over 2,500 individual events, from concerts to record launches and exhibitions. Rodeos and bull-riding are also part of the mix, along with talent quests and bush poetry awards. Much of the festival is free.
The festival’s highlight is the glamorous Golden Guitar Awards, which first launched the Tamworth phenomenon in 1973. The awards are held at the end of each Festival and attract all the major stars of Australian country music, plus VIPs and fans from Australia and beyond.
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