All roads lead to Tamworth Country Music Festival

The Tamworth Country Music Festival stole our bass player. I’m not sure if it happened on Friday at the Court House Hotel or Saturday night at the Family Hotel.

Perhaps it was the Sunday session at the front bar of The Longyard. But we knew he was lost to us as we boarded the Apollo Euro Deluxe campervans for the eight-hour drive back to Brisbane.

He stood at the side of the van and proclaimed: “I might have to get a property guide. I reckon this is the place I want to live.’’

It had taken only four nights staying at the BIG4 Paradise Tourist Park at the top end of Peel St – and his first taste of the Tamworth Country Music Festival – to convince Bernie that Tamworth was worth more than just one weekend.

Apart from me, none of our band, The Deadliners, had been to the Tamworth Country Music Festival.

Now everyone wants to go back – even Chris, our lead singer, who is a recent convert to the church of Kenny, Dolly, Tim and Slim.

Toe tappers always head to Tamworth

Tamworth, despite almost 40C heat in January, still manages to heave at festival time when the 55,000 locals welcome a swarm of toe-tapping tourists from every corner of the country.

Take a quick look around the well-equipped and welcoming Paradise Tourist Park and you can see number plates from every state. Col, from just south of Fremantle in WA, told me he’d driven across just for the 10 days of the festival. He arrived a week early to make sure he got a camp spot at the first come-first served tourist park.

It’s the first Saturday morning of the festival and Peel St is already in full swing with people taking shade under wide-brimmed cowboy hats, trucker caps, and the odd umbrella.

Buskers line both sides of the street. There’s one every 10m. All have amplifiers and portable sound systems. All play something country. There’s a quintet of female fiddlers under 10 bowing and plucking next to somebody’s grandparents who are warbling the tunes of Hank Williams. An indigenous fella is bringing the blues harp to life across the street while Keith Urban look-alikes try desperately to be discovered.

Market stalls run down the barricaded Peel St with traders selling belts, buckles and boots. Tamworth is scootin’. It’s boom time. Every eatery is filled with people eager to tackle steaks that completely cover the plate.

There’s no doubt steak tastes better in the country. And in Tamworth you will never hear a complaint about portion sizes.

Not the best place for vegetarians

You have to eat your way through the rump to get to the salad and chips. Heaven help any vegetarians in town.

Step into an airconditioned pub and two things strike you. The beer is sensibly priced (and cold) and the music goes on and on. It starts at 11am and finishes when the last punter has had his, or her, fill.

Our Tamworth debut was in the front bar at the Court House Hotel. We followed the fabulous Whiskey Mountain Boys, who looked like hillbillies, but harmonised like angels. A tough act to follow.

We played for three hours. People danced. Some sang. Most were sober – at the start. And thankfully no one booed.

Tamworth is not just about country music. That was never more obvious than when you looked at the line-up at The Longyard on Sunday afternoon.

Outrageous rockabilly band Lonesome Train opened the day followed by former rugby league legend Eric Grothe and his four-piece outfit, The Gurus. Eric didn’t play a lot of country music but he did fill the bar and he had the place jumping when he combined with Mike Vee for a Creedence show.

The Viper Creek Band ended the night with plenty of bite. In my opinion they are the hottest live young act in country music at the moment.

As the band finished, and Bernie finished his sixth steak in three days, he looked up from his empty plate and said: “Look, Bernie isn’t going anywhere.”

THE APOLLO VAN

We hired two six-berth Euro Deluxe campervans to take the five of us from Brisbane to Tamworth and back.

Bernie and Greg (drummer) had most of the gear in their van as we had to drive it to the gigs. We used the other van for late-night social gatherings where we would tend to the health of our throats by slowly sipping Wild Turkey Honey Bourbon – the official tipple of The Deadliners. OK I lied, we didn’t sip slowly.

Thankfully the vans were air-conditioned, had fully equipped kitchens, a combined toilet-shower area, dining table, lounge and could sleep six.

They are easy to drive and manoeuvre through traffic and we used about $330 worth of fuel each for the round trip. If you are hiring one allow about two hours for the pick up process. We arrived at the Nundah office at 8.10am and didn’t get on the road until after 10am. That’s something you certainly need to factor into your schedule.

BIG4 PARADISE TOURIST PARK

Sitting at the top end of Peel St near the Tourist Information Office, the park is within easy walking distance of the main festival action.

The staff are friendly and helpful. The park itself is clean and tidy and offers camp sites as well as cabins overlooking the Peel River. There’s a pool and children’s playground area.

The shower and other amenity blocks are modern and clean. The barbecue area is spotless and there’s a large common area with a kitchen and TV room. The park even hosted a series of free small gigs for guests during the festival.

The park gets a big tick of approval from me.