The 52nd Tamworth Country Music Festival is well underway

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Tamworth Country Music Festival presents a variety of sounds of music including country, rock, and folk. Workshops are taking place during the festival which allow artists to collaborate and inspire each other to find new sounds.

Transcript

00:00 Well, down here at the Country Music Festival, one of those workshops you've mentioned has

00:05 just finished Music with Soul workshop.

00:08 I'm joined by one of the people who ran that workshop, Jen Mize, who's a musician herself.

00:13 Jen, combining country music with soul, is it?

00:16 How exactly do the two mix?

00:18 Well, they mix fairly easily.

00:20 They've been coming together a long time.

00:22 So today, here at the press, in Tamworth, got together with two of my friends, Kelly

00:28 Bruhaha and Link Phelps, and we just did a songwriters round, songwriters with soul.

00:34 So it's a country, soul and blues mix.

00:38 Sometimes that's called Americana music, and you can throw in a little rock and roll in

00:41 there sometimes too.

00:42 So yeah, Tamworth offers a little bit more than just straight up and down country music

00:47 these days.

00:48 There's a little variety here.

00:50 We've heard plenty of genres going around, rock and roll as well.

00:53 What does it mean to see so many styles of music being presented at the Country Music

00:57 Festival?

00:58 Well, I think country music is essentially roots music, and roots music is anything that

01:03 comes from a place of the heart and soul, and that doesn't necessarily mean it's just

01:08 country.

01:09 So here at Tamworth Country Music Festival, there's a little bit for everyone.

01:13 Yeah.

01:14 So what is it about soul music then that sort of gave you the spark to try and combine it

01:18 with country?

01:19 Well, I guess country music and gospel music both come from the same place, really.

01:24 They cross over a lot.

01:25 And gospel music and soul music are cousins.

01:28 So we're only cousins once removed, country and soul, I think.

01:32 Yeah.

01:33 And you had an absolutely packed out facility here.

01:35 What does it mean to see so many people engaging with this kind of music?

01:38 Well, it's really special.

01:40 Here at the Press, it's a really beautiful listening room, and that's the songwriters

01:44 round.

01:45 So the audience is really kind of pulled in.

01:49 We're telling stories, laughing, telling tales.

01:52 It gets a little bawdy sometimes, and we're all having a good time, and the cocktails

01:56 here are great.

01:57 So, you know, it could be worse.

01:59 So what is it just about music in general that, no matter what sound it is, it just

02:03 seems to somehow bring people together?

02:05 Well, I think music is like a language that we all share.

02:11 It's something that, no matter who you are or where you are, where you're from, what

02:14 language you speak, it's universal.

02:17 And I think Tamworth Country Music Festival has a long, long life ahead of it.

02:22 Jen, thank you so much for joining us.

02:24 Jen Myers there with the Sounds of Soul Music Workshop here at the Tamworth Country Music

02:29 Festival.

02:30 But Peter, we don't get to hear Jen sing.

02:32 Anything to sing us out?

02:34 Oh, you didn't get any of the overlay.

02:37 She sent through an entire amazing performance just beforehand.

02:41 It was a fantastic show on, as you just presented.

02:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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