Paddy McHugh’s Tamworth Country Musical Festival story started like any other but where it’s at now is unique.
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The Tamworth native’s first memory at TCMF is busking on the street as a seven-year-old alongside his older brother.
Since then, barring a few ‘rebellious’ years when he dabbled in punk music, McHugh has been a mainstay at the festival.
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However, even with over 20 festivals under his belt, McHugh was finding it hard to get booked at the yearly event about five years back.
“We were struggling to get some gigs in town so we booked our own space – which happened to be a church,” McHugh said.
“And they said to us ‘you can’t have any booze’.”
But instead of resisting, McHugh embraced the idea.
“We decided to take the no booze thing and celebrate it, make it child-friendly and thought we’d put on cake and cordial instead which the church was fine with,” he said.
And the Cake and Cordial Sessions were born.
Now going five years strong, it’s a show McHugh gets excited about every festival.
“What we’re offering is a really intimate storytelling experience,” McHugh said.
“You can bring your kids, have a cold glass of cordial, get the sugar in you and as soon as the gig’s over at 1pm you've got the rest of the afternoon to do what you want.”
Playing a gig that’s alcohol-free is a far cry from McHugh’s punk rock days.
But with two kids of his own – Finn and Molly – in tow at TCMF 2019, he’s absolutely loving it.
“I love bringing the kids along because Finn’s keen to get into drumming and I think it's great to normalise to kids that there’s many different ways to live and many different ways to make an income, particularly in the arts,” McHugh said.
“I’m really proud that my kids get to see me working in a creative space and it’ll become normal for them and hopefully it will inspire them to be members of the next generation doing it.”
The Cake and Cordial Sessions are on at the St Paul's Anglican Church Hall on Thursday.
The show starts at 10am and is free for kids under 12.
Alongside McHugh, Michael Waugh, Jenny Mitchell, Megan Cooper, Jess Holland and Ben Leece will all take the stage.
