A Brand new look at Tamworth

A trip to Tamworth with all-round good guy Adam Brand is music to my ears

AT 7AM I walked out of my house, bag in hand, to be greeted by my driver. It was early and my eyes were still in focus mode but this bloke looked familiar.

“Hi. I’m Adam and I’ll take you to the airport.”

It is not every day a lover of country music like me gets chauffeur-driven by one of Australia’s biggest country music stars, Adam Brand.

I knew I was going to Tamworth to spend a few days with Brand to see Australia’s home of country music but I had no idea he’d be picking me up from my home. Thankfully, my wife had no idea, either, or she would have been out the front in her Peter Alexander PJs, cowgirl boots and hat to say hello.

Now I know that the Life of Brian is pretty good but when it comes to airports and flying, the Life of Adam is not too shabby. When we arrived at the Gold Coast Airport, the queue was longer than an Alan Jackson-inspired line dance but we didn’t have to join it when one of the ground crew staff recognised Brand either from his music career, his ute-racing career, his Great Outdoors presenting or his Dancing with the Stars stint and escorted us to the front of the queue. At check-in, our seats were upgraded to the exit row.

The life of Adam

At the coffee shop, Brand ordered a piece of banana bread. “How about I give you the two ends instead of one piece?”

And so on, and so on. The further we travelled, the better the seats got. By the time we flew home, we were in the front row. Had there been another flight, I suspect they might have asked Brand if he wanted to take the controls.

The thing about Adam Brand is people love him. They come up to him and say g’day. They thrust their children into his arms for photographs and all the while he smiles and chats. Nothing is too much of a problem.

He has more than 60,000 followers on Facebook, he won Dancing with the Stars (which is rare for anyone who is not already a Channel 7 personality), he has a ute-load of Golden Guitar awards and he has won five consecutive CMC Oz Artist of the Year awards.

Last year, he opened for one of the world’s biggest artists, Taylor Swift, at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“She was such a sweetie,” Brand says. “She made me pumpkin bread and left it in my dressing room before the first show with a note welcoming me to the tour.”

Tamworth traditions

Brand, who has just moved back to the Gold Coast and is looking for a house to renovate, missed this year’s Tamworth Country Music Festival because he was in the US, but he will be back next January (he is one of the festival ambassadors) for his traditional midnight show at Wests.

For those who don’t know, the festival runs from January 18-27. Tamworth is less than an hour’s flight from Sydney and just over an hour’s flight from Brisbane. If you are driving, it will take you five hours from Sydney or seven hours from Brisbane.

The back end of the festival is usually the busiest time, so if you want to be there for the awards night, book now. It is much easier to get accommodation for the first week and the festival committee is set to make some big announcements about international acts to drive interest in that period.

The committee also visited Nashville this year for its CMC music festival and will introduce some innovations from there aimed at getting fans and stars closer together. While Tamworth’s country music credentials are beyond question, the NSW country town really a city, at 60,000 people can also boast an emerging foodie culture.

A culinary treat

Brand, a former restaurant owner and cookbook author, and I were treated to a meal by chef Ben Davies.

You usually have to book a table at Monty’s at the Powerhouse in Tamworth to taste the Welshman’s cooking but we were lucky enough to have him cook for us at the Lavanda Bed & Breakfast, where I was staying.

Davies has three Michelin stars metaphorically pinned to his chest one for a restaurant in Avignon in France when he was 22; one for Calcot Manor in Gloucestershire; and one in Wales at Llangoed Hall, while working for Bernard Ashley, fashion designer Laura Ashley’s widower.
Davies has cooked for Pavarotti, King Hussein of Jordan, Prince Charles and U2.

Meal fit for a king

But none of them would have been lucky enough to taste a meal like this. Davies is an advocate of local produce and he showcased the best the region had to offer.

From the trout from the Arc-en-ciel trout farm at nearby Hanging Rock, to the trio of lamb and the lavender-infused dessert, it was a New England gastronomic masterpiece. Even the Rebel Ant beer and Ironbark Creek wines were from the region. Lavanda is owned and run by Karen Hanlan, who moved back to Tamworth after spending many years in the city. During the early 1840s, the building, which is at Calala, just outside Tamworth, was the headquarters for the Australian Agricultural Company.

In 1996, the house was renovated by the O’Connor family and it morphed into a B&B on the October long weekend in 2008.

It is a beautiful B&B, with enough privacy and comfort for guests to feel at home but still on holiday. From the crisp linen sheets to the bountiful breakfast, Hanlan has created a welcoming environment.

Earlier in the day, I’d dined at Le Pruneau, a French restaurant in West Tamworth that also goes to great lengths to foster local produce. On weekends the owner, Phillippe, turns his carpark into an organic market and fills the air with the smell of smoking bacon and freshly ground coffee.

Tamworth is fast becoming a regional hub for sporting and cultural events.

The Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre is a stunning example of the Kevin Costner philosophy of “build it and they will come”. This centre is second to none in Australia and the reason Tamworth is quickly becoming the most important equine facility in the country.

Driving tourism

But country music is still the biggest tourism driver and at the peak of the festival it will boost the local population by about 55,000 people a day. Brand spent his time in Tamworth spreading the festival gospel in interviews with local radio, newspapers and television stations. He took time to visit the Golden Guitar and do a little busking in the spot that kicked off his Tamworth career many moons ago.

He did three other things that made the trip special for me. After that magnificent dinner, he pulled out the guitar and sang a few songs from his new CD, There Will be Love. He even sang Way Out West as a duet with me. Last, he introduced me to Sophie one of the Sunny Cowgirls. I can tell you days don’t get much better than that.

Thanks Adam. Thanks Tamworth.