The duo are up for the Vocal Collaboration of the Year accolade for the hit Back in 92, with Blundell finding out the good news via a phone call in November.

The song takes a nostalgic look at the good old days when the duo were on tour after Kernaghan was rising to stardom  Blundell at the time was making waves after one of his greatest hits - Way Out West.

“It would be good fun with Lee to collect that,” he said of the duo's Golden Guitar finalist spot.

“We have been friendly rivals for a long time so it would be nice to get one together.”

It’s been a busy year for the country veteran. In 2017 he celebrated 30 years since taking out Toyota Star Maker and also released his latest album Campfire.

In 2018 he will celebrate the 30th anniversary of his first Golden Guitar win and a James Blundell tribute album-  30-years of Pride - A Tribute to James Blundell -  with covers of his greatest hits from his musical mates is expected to be released at the festival.

“Life is fantastic, music is good and we haven’t had a lot of sleep,” he said.

“This is probably going to be my busiest festival schedule in years.”

Blundell’s big Tamworth Country Music Festival concert is at Wests’ League Club on Thursday, January 25 from 1.30pm.

He’ll also perform at the Tamworth Opry on Saturday, January 20.

Blundell said one of his highlights of the festival this year would be his son, Briar, coming along for the ride with him.

"I took great delight in taking my two oldest boys to Tamworth when they were nine and six years old," he said.

"Now he's going back in his own right, he made a conscious decision to pursue music as a career.

"He's really enjoying it at the moment and we've been playing a lot together."