Tamworth 2025: James Johnston’s 100km charity run to inspire his sons
The singer-songwriter will run into the country music capital on foot, having burned up 100km in the days preceding while aiming to raise $10,000 for Tamworth’s Ronald McDonald House.
Ahead of the annual gathering of country musicians in Tamworth, artistic approaches differ: some are still shaking off the excesses of their summer holidays before meeting their fans in the regional NSW city, while others arrive with a surgeon’s focus.
James Johnston falls into the latter camp, and as a measure of his determination, his entrance to the Tamworth Country Music Festival – which begins this weekend – will have the singer-songwriter literally running into town, trailed by fans, having burned up 100km on foot in the days preceding while aiming to raise $10,000 for the city’s Ronald McDonald House charity.
“Going out and doing this 100k run is going to be a challenge for me, but it’s also something where I get to bring people on the journey with me,” said Johnston, 34.
“I’ve always wanted to do something like this – some kind of big mission in order to raise money and awareness for an organisation that’s close to my heart.”
As well, there’s an aspect of continuing to act as a role model for his two boys, aged three and 10 – a narrative thread that runs through Hell Boy, a single to be released on Thursday.
“The song is all about the advice that my old man gave to me – and now, me passing that down to my boys,” he said.
“The core sentiment is that, if you’re going to go out there, give it everything you’ve got; don’t take the foot off the brake, run with everything you have.
“I thought, this is the opportunity: why not go out there and do something to show my boys that if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish something great?”
Starting Sunday, Johnston will set out from Armidale to Uralla, covering 22km on the first day before hosting the first of four planned pop-up acoustic campfire performances, to be live-streamed online each night.
When he hit Tamworth two years ago, Johnston made history by selling out a debut show at the city’s 1800-capacity entertainment centre, and capped a whirlwind week by winning his first two Golden Guitar Awards.
“I’ve been making a living since I left home at 17, and a lot of it’s been a grind; a thousand-plus pub shows, and all that sort of stuff,” he said.
“I’ve been in the trenches for a long time. Any musician dreams of the day when they get to stand on a big stage and have a whole crowd of people singing their songs back to them. Now I’ve got to experience that, and I’m very thankful for that.”
Johnston’s ascent in recent years came off the back of writing catchy songs that resonated with a large audience on social platforms such as TikTok, where he now has 509,000 followers.
Many of them will be cheering him on the 100km route to the country music capital, where he’s set to arrive on Thursday morning by completing the journey with a 1km community fun run, backed by his fans. That same night, he’ll headline a free concert at Bicentennial Park, ahead of playing a ticketed show at Tamworth Town Hall on Friday.
The annual festival will end next Saturday with the Golden Guitar Awards, wherein Johnston is nominated in four categories – oh, and he’s also hosting the event, alongside fellow musician Max Jackson.
“I’ve definitely got a busy week ahead of me, I’m not going to lie,” said Johnston with a laugh.
“A lot of people said, ‘You’re already doing the Thursday night and Friday night shows, and you’re hosting the awards – why add the run on to it?’ And I said, ‘Well, why not?’ ”
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