Kate Ceberano's signature style may not be "country" but the well-loved Australian performer will be bringing a hint of her Hawaiian roots to Tamworth for the iconic music festival.
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The legendary singer, whose successful career spans 40 years in the entertainment industry, will be performing with her band at the Longyard Hotel on January 19, and the show is expected to be a sell-out.
"Tamworth is an important gig to me because it is one place in all my 40 years where I have never played," she said.
"The tragedy of it is that I come from Hawaii, like I'm half Hawaiian, and all of our cultural music is country-based.
"When my dad travelled to Australia, he came with a ukulele and an autoharp, two of the most primary instruments of country music... actually, add a surfboard!"
Although the prolific artist said she was "raised on a diet of great singer songwriters, including Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt", her vocal range and performance style has been described by UK-based lyricist Sir Tim Rice as one "that defies description".
Classical, soul, pop, rock, the Melbourne-based musician has a wide-sweeping musical finesse that kicked-off in the 1980s with early successes such as Brave.
"Brave has grown up with me. I wrote it at 16. It travelled with me as I was coming out of being a young pop artist into a singer songwriter in my 20s," she said.
"It travelled with me when I became a mum. It's travelled with me now that I'm in my 50s.
"And suddenly, this one single song has meant so many different things to me and my audience because they've grown up with me and Brave."
Ms Ceberano said when she was on stage performing, she tried to build deep and long lasting conversations with her audience.
"I always let them in on my secrets. I always take whatever is my burden and I kind of fix what is broken on the stage in front of people," she said.
"And I think that's a real key, if you expose your heart to your audience, you get to have fans for a lifetime."
It is her song Brave among others that Ms Ceberano will be singing in Tamworth, with a troupe of top quality musicians that includes famed Australian guitarist Kathleen Halloran.
"If I was to try to brand Australian music, it would really have everything to do with authenticity," Ms Ceberano said.
"With my pop music in my early years, maybe people thought it was less authentic. But in my later years, as a singer-songwriter, I feel I've really earned my stripes.
"I feel proud to come to Tamworth because I know that's what's rated highly among the artists who perform there."
In 2013, she became the first female inducted into the Australian Songwriters Associations (ASA) Hall of Fame, among her many other lifetime achievements, not limited to 11 platinum albums and 10 top 10 singles.
Most recently, she was awarded an ARIA for the Best Independent Jazz Album.
Entertainment manager for the Pub Group - which includes The Longyard, The Pub, Southgate Inn, and The Family Hotel - Sarah Caskey, said they were looking forward to welcoming Ms Ceberano as their headline act.
"With the country music festival, and all the other music festivals across the country at the moment, it's good to have something different," Ms Caskey said.
The 52nd Tamworth Country Music Festival (TCMF) kicks off on January 19, 2024, and will feature a variety of big name artists, including Kasey Chambers, Troy Cassar-Daley, Lee Kernaghan and many up-and-coming musicians.
