“I’m filled with an enormous sense of gratitude whenever I get out on stage and see a whole bunch of people that have come out to see the show and sing along to the songs,” Lee said yesterday after landing in Tamworth.

“It’s a long, long way from sing Quando, Quando, Quando at the Bullring Bistro in Lavington.”

This festival marks 25 years since Lee Kernaghan first performed Boys From The Bush live, at the 1992 festival.

The song which kick-started his success, had been written with producer Garth Porter and would go on to be Song of the Year at the 1993 Golden Guitars.

“It was written in late 1991, Garth Porter and I put pen to paper, and it was first performed here in Tamworth, at the Tamworth Services Club,” Lee recalled.

Prior to recording Boys From the Bush, and The Outback Club album, Lee admits his career was struggling.

“My music career had dovetailed,” Lee recalled. “I was struggling to earn a living playing in piano bars and on the pub circuit, and I had actually moved back home with mum and dad, they were living at Lavington.

“I remember the winter’s day when the phone rang, and it was Garth Porter saying ‘come to Sydney, let’s make an album’ and little did I know that less than a year later I would have an album called The Outback Club.” 

Kernaghan said winning his first Golden Guitar in 1993 for Boys From the Bush, was one of his most treasured memories of the festival.

“I went from playing for 15 to 20 people, to filling up halls, then theatres and it kept growing after that.”

He had been coming since the late 1970s when he won best male vocal at the CCMA talent quest at his first festival.

He went on to win Star Maker in 1983.

Kernaghan landed in Tamworth on Wednesday and headed straight to a video shoot for the first clip from the upcoming album.

The 25th Anniversary Album features duets with artists such as James Blundell, Kasey Chambers, Adam Harvey and Troy Cassar-Daley.

Lee said the new album was a salute to everyone who had been part of his incredible ride.

“We have a epic night planned for Australia Day with the very first show of the 25th Anniversary tour taking place,” Lee said about Thursday’s concert. 

Following Tamworth, the tour will head to Western Australia, then onto Victoria.

“It’s pretty momentous when I look back on the last quarter of a century, touring Australia and writing songs about our country, our people and our way of life,” he said.