While in Tamworth, Bryan will help make a documentary on the festival with the Deep Down South Tour which entails seven singer-songwriters travelling up in a bus together from Melbourne.

He plays the Family Hotel tonight, then The DAG in Nundle and Deep Down South performs at the Tudor Hotel on tomorrow and the DAG on Thursday.

The documentary came about because he had been talking to a lot of people about Tamworth after he came in 2010.

"It was a pretty life-changing experience for me," Bryan said.

"If I hadn't come to Tamworth, I wouldn't be making my life as a musician and it's a living doing what I love. I am so grateful to Tamworth for that. It has also introduced me to our core fan base, some really nice people and the most talented musicians I know."

They will launch the film mid-year and, Bryan said, it would be a more "rock'n'roll" portrayal of the festival, not the terrible portrayal it often had in the metro media.

"Tamworth's cool points are going to increase significantly," he said.

Yesterday, he played the Songwriter Sessions with Kevin Bennett, Kim Cheshire, Dana Hassall and Imogen Clark and has a Wildes show at the Tamworth Hotel on Friday afternoon.

The Wildes return to the US this year for shows and Bryan said they planned to release plenty of singles.

Bryan and The Wildes are again finalists in the CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia this year in Alternative Country Album of the Year with The Mountain.

"It's great to be a finalist," he said.

"I wasn't sure whether our record had had enough time for people to hear it because it came out close to the deadline, but I'm really glad people listened and liked it.

"This year, Alternative Country Album is such a strong category and I'm so proud to be there. We have been making this kind of music for five or so years, but you could argue, people have been making this music for 70 years because alt-country has more in common with traditional country."