Tamworth Golden Guitar Awards 2022: Troy Cassar-Daley, The Wolfe Brothers lead nominations
The 2021 Tamworth Country Music Festival was cancelled due to the pandemic, but organisers are planning for a ‘near-normal’ event from January 14.
As the NSW city of Tamworth prepares to stage a ‘near-normal’ version of its annual country music festival in January, singer-songwriter Troy Cassar-Daley on Tuesday topped the nominations for the 50th Golden Guitar Awards.
Cassar-Daley is a finalist in eight categories for his 13th album The World Today, which was released in March and debuted at No.3 on the ARIA chart.
The Brisbane-based musician is a contender for awards including album of the year, male artist of the year and song of the year for Back On Country, while a duet with Ian Moss named South is a finalist for vocal collaboration of the year.
Also on hand at Tamworth’s Town Hall on Tuesday morning for the live-streamed announcement was fellow country star Adam Harvey – who will co-host the 2022 Golden Guitars with Beccy Cole, and who received three nominations including album of the year – and new talent of the year nominee Cass Hopetoun.
Earlier this month, key members of the local business community met to discuss the return of the Tamworth Country Music Festival, whose 2021 event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
With NSW vaccination rates recently surpassing 90 per cent, though, it looks as though that cancellation will remain a one-off.
The festival usually attracts about 300,000 country music fans to watch live performances in more than 80 venues, including pubs, clubs, halls and parks.
Accommodation providers are happily reporting that their bookings are nearly full across the city during the 10-day event, which begins on January 14.
Although dedicated music venues will operate at 100 per cent capacity, some hospitality venues hosting music during the festival are concerned that NSW Health crowd density restrictions will cut their ability to trade in half.
“As much as we’d like to optimistically think it’s going to be a ‘normal’ festival, there will still be traces of Covid-19 registration in there somewhere,” festival manager Barry Harley told The Australian on Monday.
“Whether that’s QR coding, or crowd management or restrictions, there will be some minor impact — but we believe that the festival could very well be as close to ‘normal’ as humanly possible, and certainly will herald the first major music festival in NSW for 2022,” he said.
The 50th anniversary Golden Guitar Awards will close the festival on January 22, at a live event to be held at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre (TRECC) and live-streamed on the festival’s website.
Also on Tuesday, Tasmanian sibling duo The Wolfe Brothers were nominated in seven categories for their 90s-inspired album Kids on Cassette.
Singer-songwriter Shane Nicholson is up for five awards including album of the year, while Felicity Urquhart and Josh Cunningham are nominated in four categories including group or duo of the year for their album The Song Club.
The finalists across 16 categories were selected from a pool of more than 760 entries.
“These record numbers signal that musicians have had more time to spend at home, so they actually put it into their music – or conversely, they’ve used the opportunity to regain and reset, and come out with all guns firing for a normal year in 2022,” said Harley.
Among the surprises on the nominees list are two performers from the glossy world of pop music who are not ordinarily known for crossing over into country.
Gold Coast-born singer-songwriter Amy Shark is a finalist in two categories – single of the year and song of the year – for Love Songs Ain’t For Us, a single from her second album.
Shark’s co-singer on that track is country veteran Keith Urban, but her co-writer is someone who you’d usually never see in Tamworth: British pop megastar Ed Sheeran, who still has a couple of months to sort out his flights and accommodation for Australian country music’s night of nights.
2022 CMAA GOLDEN GUITAR AWARD NOMINATIONS
Album of the Year
Adam Harvey – Songs from Highway One
Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham – The Song Club
Shane Nicholson – Living In Colour
The Wolfe Brothers – Kids On Cassette
Troy Cassar-Daley – The World Today
Alt Country Album of the Year
Andrew Swift – The Art Of Letting Go
Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham – The Song Club
Michael Waugh – The Cast
Shane Nicholson – Living In Colour
Troy Cassar-Daley – The World Today
Contemporary Country Album of the Year
Brad Cox – My Mind’s Projection
Catherine Britt – Home Truths
Darlinghurst – Darlinghurst
Jayne Denham – Wanted
The Wolfe Brothers – Kids On Cassette
Traditional Country Album of the Year
Adam Harvey – Songs from Highway One
Angus Gill- The Scrapbook
Matt Scullion – Aussie As Vol II
Michael Carpenter and The Banks Brothers – Introducing...
Raechel Whitchurch – Finally Clear
Male Artist of the Year
Andrew Swift
Brad Cox
Casey Barnes
Shane Nicholson
Troy Cassar-Daley
Female Artist of the Year
Amber Lawrence
Ashleigh Dallas
Catherine Britt
Hayley Jensen
Jayne Denham
Group or Duo of the Year
Cornell & Carr
Darlinghurst
Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham
Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes
The Wolfe Brothers
Vocal Collaboration of the Year
Catherine Britt & Lee Kernaghan – Country Fan
Kaylee Bell & The McClymonts – Before I Met You
O’Shea, Kristy Cox, Travis List, Troy Kemp, Camille and Stuie, Jedd Hughes, Katrina Burgoyne and Sam Hawksley – I Still Call Australia Home
The Wolfe Brothers & Locash – Startin’ Something
Troy Cassar-Daley (feat. Ian Moss) – South
Bush Ballad of the Year
Allan Caswell – Don’t Shed A Tear For Me
Angus Gill – The Easy Way
Dean Perrett – My Fire
Dianne Lindsay – Just Let Him Be
Tracy Coster – Common Sense
Heritage Song of the Year
Andrew Farriss – With The Kelly Gang
Matt Scullion – 1868
Michael Waugh – Dirty River
The Wolfe Brothers – Small Town Song
Troy Cassar-Daley – I Hear My River
Instrumental of the Year
Angus Gill & Lindsay Waddington – Musterin’ Season
Davidson Brothers – Golden Plains
Montgomery Church – Little William Brown
Pete Denahy – Bubbles In The Airlock
The Weeping Willows – Southern Gothic
Bluegrass Recording of the Year
Angus Gill – Always on the Run
Kim Cheshire – Looks Like Heaven
Kristy Cox – Person of the Year
Montgomery Church – Flowers On My Doorstep
The Weeping Willows – Black Crow
New Talent of the Year
Camille Trail – I Know I’m Hard To Love
Cass Hopetoun – Who Needs Hawaii
Darlinghurst – Where Do We Go
Raechel Whitchurch – You Ain’t One Of Us
Sammy White – Running Away Tonight
Song of the Year
Adam Harvey – Lindeman Again
Amy Shark (feat. Keith Urban) – Love Songs Ain’t For Us
Shane Nicholson – And You Will Have Your Way
The Wolfe Brothers – Kids On Cassette
Troy Cassar-Daley – Back on Country
Video of the Year
Fanny Lumsden – Dig (directors: Fanny Lumsden and Dan Stanley Freeman, Red Dirt Road Productions)
Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham – Spare Parts (directors: Duncan Toombs, The Filmery)
Luke O’Shea (feat. Ashleigh Dallas) – Long Way ‘Round (directors: Jay Seeney and Luke O’Shea, Blacklist Productions)
The Wolfe Brothers – Kids On Cassette (directors: Gabriel Morrison & Tom Wolfe)
Troy Cassar-Daley – Back On Country (directors: Michael McCartin and Duncan Toombs)
Single of the Year
Amy Shark (feat Keith Urban) – Love Songs Ain’t For Us
Casey Barnes – God Took His Time On You
Morgan Evans – Love Is Real
Shane Nicholson – And You Will Have Your Way
Troy Cassar-Daley – Back on Country