So we've been back a few days from the Tamworth Country Music Festival and thought I'd give a bit of a round up.
There was a hellava lot of music going on around town - like, honestly, this town supported more acts during this festival than I reckon Sydney does in a month. Really quite amazing. Even though numbers were down this year due to the effects of the floods, the whole place was buzzing. With all the buskers in town you can imagine the collections of sounds in Peel St. The sight of so many musicians walking about with instruments in hand, setting up, packing down, showing their stuff was terrific.
Some highlights:
Amongst the buskers, the stand-out act for me was Graveyard Train. They made and awesome sound that lay somewhere between Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Tom Waits and The Brian Jones Town Massacre. Great presence and the band had a fantastic junkyard vibe with one fella playing the chains. Well worth checking out if you get the chance. Here are some pics and a clip:
This is what the band looked like. The guy squatting played the chains with a hammer.
Note the coffin-shaped washboard.
Another highlight was being interviewed and playing 2 songs on 2TM radio - we were in good company ...
I was absolutely stoked to be able to catch Tommy & Phil Emmanuel at the festival. I had been lucky enough to see the first concert in their 5oth Anniversary tour in Sydney. Getting to see them in Tamworth was a joy. We got there just as Tommy was playing one of my current favourites 'Haba Na Haba'. It was also a chance for Theo to say g'day as he has worked with them both over the years.
Moving on, after the Emmanuals finished we moved back into the main venue where there was some of the more traditional Country music being played on a stage which was showcasing guitars that had been made by an Australian luthier named Allan Tomkins ...
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... That's Allan Tomkins on bass.
We met Steve Passfield (guitar / vocals) and Michael Kerin (violin / fiddle, blue shirt) at a BBQ. We caught a couple of their shows during the week. On the last day MJEB was invited up to sit in with them.
Another busking group that I liked were called The Pugs ... played day and night ...
We spent some time on Peel St (where most of the action can be found). In one of the venues we saw this great covers band. Check out the gorgeous White Falcon the fella is playing ... nice!
And if Falcon's aren't your bag, hows about this one:
There was also a stall selling DIY whips:
Still on Peel St, I took this pic cos the gentleman just looked so much that part ...
One of the great things about playing music out and about the place is all the great place names. This is the street we drove up and down many a time:
We also had some great nights just hanging out with friends - eating, drinking, laughing ...
Big thanks to Val and Wayne (Kramer), Mr Byrne (& family) and Oya (& friends) for generosity and good times!
Anyways that's about it ... oh there was this other guitar I found ...
Cheers,
Rosie