​Twenty years of Supper Club delight for Andrew Clermont

The longtime show highlights the best musicians around, with themes such guitar night, fiddle night or piano night.

Up to 100 musicians travel from across Australia and the world to play on the shows at the festival.

“We’ve got people like The Bees coming back from Germany, and we’ve got several people coming from places like North Carolina to play some serious, authentic bluegrass,” Clermont said.

He said David Hoffman, an old-time fiddle player from New York, would be back, along with the award-winning String Loaded Band.

The Supper Club took its name from the idea of music being served as food late at night.

“It’s the smorgasbord of music. It’s music, fresh, right in front of your eyes. It’s like someone’s cooking for you,” Clermont said, while describing musicians who have played on the show.

“It’s that sort of sensation, the musical food is being cooked right there in front of you, and you get the first serving. In fact, you’re the only people to experience that culinary delight, and for me, music is food, and the best therapy.”

Asked to select a highlight from the two decades at the festival, Clermont said the piano theme night in its first year was a fond memory.

“Tom Donald, one of the young legends of piano from Tamworth who has spent 15 years over in England, he’s coming back this time. But there was a time we had four incredible pianists from four completely different worlds.

“There was Earl Poole Ball, who was Johnny Cash’s piano player for 14 years, he was on stage right and kicking in a real boogie feel. We had Tom, he would have been barely 18 but an incredible virtuosic pianist. Garry Steel - he could play everything you’d least expect, then love forever - and we had a jazz pianist there as well.

“Those four pianists, so mighty divergent, but they all came together for the piano night, and that particular night was mammoth.

“One girl came up to sing Don’t Cry For Me Argentina - and Tom, who had done a lot of theatre work, said ‘Sure’.”

The Supper Club will have 15 shows over eight days during the festival, and to mark the milestone a 140-page book will be released of photographs taken at the shows over the years.

“We’ve had stunning photographers at Tamworth through the years,” Clermont said. “And those photographers didn’t just take snaps, they took artworks.”