Tamworth Country Music Festival has agreed to partner with Music2Deal in a new initiative highlighting  Australian Country Music – which is alive and flourishing with new talent amidst iconic favourites.

Tamworth is known as Australia’s capital of country, thanks to its annual Country Music Festival. The 10- day event is recognised as the largest and longest music festival in Australia and the southern hemisphere, and is among the top 10 festivals in the world. 

Following its 1973 debut, the Toyota Country Music Festival, Tamworth has evolved into what is now recognised as “Australia’s largest music festival” and a cornerstone summer celebration, hosting Australian country music’s hottest stars, emerging talent and local favourites along with over 300,000 visitors each year for an unforgettable live music experience. 

What makes the festival remarkable is the thousands of visitors attending free outdoor concerts headlined by country music’s biggest names, Tamworth’s CBD is turned over to pedestrians and transformed into an immersive precinct of buskers, street performers, food stalls and markets. The dynamic FanZone stage gives an opportunity to be up close and personal with performers and artists. Then there’s country music’s night of nights, the Golden Guitar Awards when the stars strut the red carpet and appear on stage as presenters, performers, or join the ranks of more than 400 Golden Guitar winners. The Golden Guitar Awards (similar to the Grammys) are the nation’s longest running music awards and the pinnacle event of the Toyota Country Music Festival, Tamworth each year.

Held in Tamworth over ten days in January, the Tamworth Country Music Festival celebrated a historic 51 years in 2023, a brilliant milestone for this iconic annual event.

This event is unique in the way it is a truly community-owned, non- gated, organic Festival. There are multiple coordinating agencies, several ticketing agencies and multiple promoters. Tamworth Regional Council does play a critical role in the coordination of the festival, but it is the local business community: pubs, clubs, restaurants, transport providers, the Tamworth Business Chamber, who are responsible for arranging their own line-up of artists or event schedule. 

Country music also represents one of Tamworth Regional Council’s top five major tourism segments and the Council places a great importance on the event as a pillar of the local economy. To this end, Tamworth Regional Council works closely with Destination NSW, the County Music Association of Australia (CMAA), County Capital Music Association (CCMA) and the Toyota Country Music Festival Stakeholders Group to promote Tamworth and country music year-round. 

The event is a musical highlight for Australia, and attracts some of the best musicians across a number of genres.  There is strong support for emerging artists with programs such as Star Maker and the Country Music Academy.   Keith Urban, Troy Cassar-Daley, Kasey Chambers, Beccy Cole and Lee Kernaghan are just a few of Australia’s country stars who’ve launched their careers here. Iconic Australians including Slim Dusty and Joy McKean built the Country Music Industry in Australia and the Toyota Tamworth Country Music Festival into the landmark event it is today.

Link: https://www.tcmf.com.au/

Article by Paul Iannuzzelli, Spaghetti Music Publishing, Music2Deal Representative for Australia and New Zealand.