Tamworth CMF #2

Tamworth #2

Tamworth as a city and the Country Music Festival have turned out to be a very enjoyable experience.  The town appears to embrace  the Festival and all of the visitors even though I am sure there are some very annoying disruptions for the locals.

 Peel Street before the crowds arrived

 Nice old style buildings in Peel St

We have enjoyed ourselves immensely.

The opening concert was a free one in Bi-Centennial Park. Many well known artists appeared and we were introduced to quite a few new musicians.  It was a great night with about 10,000 people attending with no fuss.

We have been to concerts by the Bushwackers, Troy Cassar-Daley, the Highwaymen,  and Graeme Connors.  Each was very good but the concert by Troy was great as he introduced many special guests to perform with him including, Kasey Chambers, The McClymonts,  Adam Harvey, Kieth Jamieson (ex-Blackwater, still looking like he has a wallaby stuffed up his shirt), and many more including Troy’s wife Laurel, of course.  The show was preceded by a video story about him and the making of his latest album in Nashville.  It gave both of us a new appreciation of Troy and kick-started another great and late night.  The tribute show to the Highwaymen was a great night at the Longyard Hotel.  Willie Nelson played by Bruce McCumstie was so good that with your eyes closed could not be picked from the real thing.  Daniel Thompson played John Wayne and was also brilliant.  We had seen Daniel a couple of times at other Pub/Club shows and his deep voiced songs of Johnny Cash were great.  Earlier in the week we went to see the Grand Final of the Starmaker and the Road to Discovery competitions featuring new country/folk/blues song writers and performers.  All of the performers were great and both nights included performances from the contestants as well as many other established artists.  Both fantastic experiences even though we did not pick the winners either night; the judges obviously saw things we couldn’t – (or they were wrong!!!)  The standout performer that was not selected was a young guy from Toowoomba called Bart Thrupp.  His song ‘Girl in the Fishbowl’ had the audience on its feet, including us. He can be found on You Tube and at www.bartthrupp.com

 Bill & Kasey Chambers

 Road to Discovery Finalists - Bart Thrupp 4th from the right with the dreadies, Kelly Menhennett - Songwriter winner 3rd from right, Andrew Redford - Performer winner 1st on left. 

 Troy & Jammo

Troy

 Troy with the O'Sheas - they have great song 'Its a Smash', Aussies living in Nashville.

 Bob Corbett Winner of Starmaker, his prize includes a RAV 4 for a year and an album recorded in Nashville.  

 Carol meets the McClymont sisters.

We saw many other groups at pubs/clubs around town and another group that was recommended to us and which we would never have chosen to see was “Simply Bushed”  the lead singer looks more like a boilermaker than a singer / songwriter – a large lad in a singlet with long red hair and a long beard.  However we thrilled by his songs and his performance.  His song ‘I’ll See Ya’ really struck a chord with us and is our new favourite song, right up there with Barts.

Today has been a big day starting with the Bush Poets Breakfast back at the Longyard pub at 7.15am and finishing with the Graeme Connors concert at the Town Hall this evening.   The poets were absolutely hilarious and the stories about the dead koala, the fitness program, and the laws of the land had us in stitches.  Please ask us about them when you see us next.  Graeme Connors is just a great storyteller through song and his new songs ‘Everybody is working in the Mines’, ‘Beach-house in the Blue Mountains’ (re global warming), and ‘GFC’ were very topical and well received.  We also took in a couple of hours of Bill Chambers (and friends) of the Dead Ringer Band at lunch time which was very good.  We saw the Poets at Bill Chambers with new friends Russ and Jane Drew. They hail from Beresford near Newcastle and shop at the same shopping centre we used when we were staying with Peter.  Jane used to work in a Mitre 10 and Russ is an ex copper.  Their friend Julie is also staying with them and we have enjoyed many hours of chatting in the evenings with them. Russ & Jane are just finishing their second trip around Australia and we have got many good tips and opinions from Russ.  Another thing Russ has managed is a re-kindling of my ability to sit and drink beer until all hours of most nights.  We have both been enjoying a beer / wine with them and the weather has been perfect for sitting outside in the cool night air.

 A bush poet at breakfast that had us in stitches!!

 Russ after the Poets with the guitar and 'Ol Purple' Slim Dustys ZC Fairlane that his wife Joy McKean drove to the Festival and was inside signing books looking very spritely at 82.

 Mackay boy Graeme Connors and mandolin

Our stay in the showgrounds has very pleasant and relaxed.  I must mention the first night there were about 20 of us sitting around having happy hour when the power went off along a row of vans including ours.  Seeing as beer was being consumed there were several would be electricians leaping up to assist the new van setting up and restoring power to all our vans.  After 10 – 15 minutes they gave up and the caretaker had been summonsed and an electrician was being called out from town.  Carol insisted I take a look and upon first inspection of the power box, I turned all 6 circuit breakers back on that had been turned off because they were installed upside down to all of the others in the box.  When the new guy plugged in he turned his down (thinking down was on like the rest) and he had no power.  The first helper then turned the rest of the block of circuit breakers down also which left all of us without power.  When I pointed out the words On/Off we discovered that all of the helpers were in fact as old as I am except that none of them were wearing their glasses.  We all had a good chuckle, cancelled the electrician, and returned to our beers with no problems encountered since. 

A couple of other mentions among the buskers which come in all shapes and sizes and included a brilliant young drummer, an Indian family playing and singing Country Music, Spoons Perry, and Pixie Jenkins.

 Rodney the one man band - a local Tamworthian

 the Indians doing a pretty good job of country

 Amazing little drummer with mum and dad.  Mum indicated that sales of their CD's went to Mum & Dad and the tips went to the boy who was saving up for an electric drum kit.  Some ol guy out of the audience walked down to the music shop and paid $1,600 for a set and cameback and gave the voucher to Mum - a great gift recieved excitedly.