AS Golden Guitar finalist Darren Coggan insists, fans are the backbone of the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
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The country music icon told the crowd at the Star Maker concert in Bicentennial Park last Sunday that the TCMF is nothing without its fans.
And no one knows that better than Bluey Crouch.
Mr Crouch said it was the lure of country music and the festival atmosphere that keeps him coming back each year.
“Might have something to do with country music,” he chuckled.
“I love bush balladeers more than anything; the storytelling.”
And then there’s festival second-timer Garry Dittmar.
The Bargo man might have a fair way to go to beat Mr Crouch’s 46-year TCMF run, but he is, by his own admission, a country music tragic.
“It’s my first festival in over 20 years,” Mr Dittmar told The Leader.
“I’m here to see nobody in particular, I just love country music.
“Every CD I own except for one or two is country music.”
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Many people are born into country music.
Their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents’ love for the genre leaves them with little choice.
But it’s a different story for Rhonda and Rod Owen.
The Victorian couple only took up country music in their retirement less than a decade ago.
“It’s our first time here,” Mrs Owen said as they busked along Peel Street this week.
“It’s our first time busking too.
“We’ve wanted to come up for years. We took up playing when we retired, and have been playing for seven years.”
Joining the couple were their grandchildren, Georgia, 10, and Lochie, 12, McGennisken.
When The Leader asked them what they love most about country music, their answer was simple.
“The people,” Mrs Owen said.
It’s a sentiment shared by Toni and David Gauci, who make the 1000-kilometre round journey from the Gold Coast to the festival every year.
“We just love the people,” Mrs Gauci said.
The 2018 TCMF is shaping up to be one of the best yet.
That number is set to grow as the festival wraps up this weekend with free shows in Bicentennial Park for the Toyota Busking Championships on Saturday and the official closing concert on Sunday.
