Music
Dolly Parton once described them as “the greatest people on Earth”.
And alongside her adoring message to the people of Tamworth from her 2014 visit to the city’s world-famous country music festival Parton added: “Thanks for loving country music and me.”
Dolly’s hand-written message, now carefully kept behind glass at the National Guitar Museum in Tamworth, sums up the town and its people perfectly.
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Every January, usually when the sun is at its highest and the only place to hide from the sweltering heat is a pub, the Tamworth Country Music Festival is held.
The festival is Australia at its best.
Incredible up-and-coming singers busk in the streets just metres from each other, there’s free entertainment everywhere you look and everyone from children to the elderly come to try and make their biggest dreams come true — or watch them do it.
The best part of the festival are the buskers who fight to outplay each other as spectators stand just metres from the performers to hear their entertainment of choice.
Pubs fill with Australians coming from all walks of life and all parts of the country and hotel rooms house some of the best musicians in the country with the twangs of violins and guitars reverberating through the doors and walls.
At the heart of so much of the festival is Toyota.
The car company is deeply ingrained in country life and has sponsored the festival for years.
Toyota’s Starmaker Grand Final concert — always held towards the start of the festival — lines up some of the best young country music hopefuls.
Ten finalists fight for the crown of being Toyota’s Star Maker winner, a title that comes with a free car of their choice as well as a trip to the home of country music — Nashville, Tennessee — alongside perks worth upwards of $100,000.
The winner this year, former Farmer Wants A Wife contestant Jarrad Wrigley, was speechless after beating the nine other finalists for the crown, thanking the crowd and Tamworth for its unwavering support.
Over the past 45 years more than 500 artists have performed as finalists at the Toyota Star Maker competition with the concert now regarded as Australia’s longest running and most respected country music talent search.
There’s also the Toyota Fun Zone — set up in the middle of the city’s park — where revellers can jump in a Toyota of their choice and be driven around a 4WD track by Australian rally driving legend Rick Bates.
Bates puts the cars through their paces, cruising over jagged rocks and tracks set at 45-degree angles all without breaking a sweat.
And of course there’s the cult Toyota hats and pins with all proceeds from sales going to charity.
The initiative, among others, has seen Toyota help raise around half-a-million dollars for various charities around Australia since 2008.
The Tamworth Country Music Festival isn’t a secret.
If hotels aren’t already booked out, the few spots that aren’t already snapped up charge premium rates with many families opting for camping or caravan parks.
And while experiencing the festival yourself is something all Australians need to do at least once in their life, it’s the city itself that brings the extra magic.
Take Tamworth Kootingal Horse Riding Adventures, just a short drive out of the main town.
The family behind the business are decorated Australian riders with national titles to their name but started the horse riding tours as a way of building resilience into their farm in a land that knows drought all too well.
The family takes you to explore their 560 hectares of rolling land on trail and pony rides, just in the shadows of Cockburn Range.
Back in the city, a short drive up a small hill, sits the Tamworth Regional Astronomy and Science Centre.
The centre boasts the historic 34-inch Hewitt Camera — one of only two in the world — but speaks most proudly about its crew of dedicated volunteers who make sure everyone from school groups to country music festival tourists come to learn about and fall in love with space.
The centre runs regular astronomy tours and steps out clearly on its own website when night sky viewing is at its best.
There’s a luxurious side to Tamworth too.
Less than an hour out of town is Wilderluxe Lake Keepit — a luxury glamping experience with high-end tents perched on the hill and stunning views across the water.
The nearby sail club has signs up along the road on the drive to Lake Keepit encouraging everyone to come and try, regardless of experience level.
And it’s exactly that — the warmth of a city happy to wrap its arms around you as long as you lean in, the community spirit and of course the world-class music no matter where you turn that has kept Tamworth Country Music Festival firmly at the top of so many Aussies’ bucketlists.
This writer was a guest of Toyota.