AT A time when most of his friends were saving their money for other things, this young Aussie was scraping together his silver coins in a frantic bid to chase down his musical dream.
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Iconic country music legend Travis Collins would scramble each year for enough money to buy a tank of fuel to get to Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Years later and six Golden Guitars down, Mr Collins still credits the festival he first visited as a young boy for launching his fruitful musical career.
As the 2017 festival was officially launched in Tamworth on Wednesday, the industry’s elite paid homage to the very event responsible for their careers in the spotlight.
Mr Collins is just one of many stars who credit their success to our festival.
We only need to look at the likes of Lee Kernaghan, Keith Urban and Beccy Cole, who have all won the coveted Toyota Star Maker award, to realise just how important the festival is to establishing artists.
Wednesday’s launch came just hours after our very own Keith Urban revealed his desire to return to Tamworth where his stellar career began.
In Australia for his Ripcord tour, Mr Urban made mention to Tamworth, telling media he would love to return with his family because the festival played such a huge part of his youth.
Not only is the festival a huge part in musicians’ lives, but it also helps build Tamworth’s profile.
Our city is the country music capital of Australia.
And it’s a title we should wear with pride.
While most kids are now counting down the days to Christmas, the country music fraternity from across the country and the world have a different big day in their sights.
Less than 50 days remain until the city’s population triples and the spotlight shines on Australia’s country musical capital for the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Organisers are spruiking next year’s festival as the best yet.
It will boast 2471 events and more than 700 artists on the official guide, as well as countless other activities associated with the festival. The 2017 festival is shaping up to be another show-stopping 10 days, culminating in the Golden Guitar winners being announced on January 28. If the city is already abuzz with excitement, we can only imagine what’s in store for us in January.
Tamworth, it’s our time to shine.