The Wolfe Brothers, Brad Cox lead winners at Golden Guitar Awards 2024
Five years after breaking its Golden Guitar Award drought, Tasmanian country-rock act The Wolfe Brothers has once again led the winners’ pack in Tamworth. | FULL WINNERS LIST
Five years after painting the town gold for the first time, Tasmanian country-rock duo The Wolfe Brothers have once again led the winners’ pack at the Golden Guitar Awards.
Held on Saturday night in Tamworth, the annual celebration of excellence in Australian country music saw Nick and Tom Wolfe chalking up another memorable night together.
Now four albums into a career that has seen them become fan favourites in the growing genre, the two Wolfes have long since broken an awards drought that once saw them nominated for 13 Golden Guitars without a single win.
“Now we’ve won a couple, there’s not that desperation to get one,” Nick Wolfe told The Australian with a grin ahead of the ceremony.
“It’s very stiff competition – which is great, because that means Australian country [music] is really starting to thrive,” he said. “There’s a lot of varied, different stuff, and that’s awesome.”
His sibling concurred. “It’s been our mindset post-Covid: we’re just all about lifting people up,” said Tom. “We’ve got a couple [of awards] – it’s great. We’re part of it, we get to perform, and it’d be lovely to get one more.”
As it happened, the brothers took home three more: album of the year for Livin’ the Dream, vocal collaboration of the year for Runnin’ the Country (with Travis Collins), and group of the year.
All up, their golden tally now stands at nine.
The pair grew up on the family berry farm in Neika, 13km southwest of Hobart, and first travelled to Tamworth with their parents in 2006 to soak up the sights and sounds of the nation’s country music capital.
The former fans are now artists firmly ensconced in the scene: two days earlier, they received the honour of being added to the city’s ‘galaxy of stars’ list, alongside legendary surnames including Dusty, Chambers and Williamson.
Having played two sold-out shows at The Longyard on Friday, to both all-ages and adults-only audiences, another career highlight looms in the near future: a pair of concerts with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, to be held on April 5 in Hobart and April 20 in Launceston.
The other triple award-winners on Saturday night included Brad Cox, whose album Acres won contemporary country album of the year, while the Jindabyne-raised singer-songwriter was also named male artist of the year.
Ahead of the ceremony, Cox’s Acres had also been recognised as the genre’s top-selling album of the year.
As well, country/folk duo Felicity Urquhart and Josh Cunningham were awarded both song of the year and single of the year for Size Up, while their second album Birdsong was named traditional country album of the year.
The writer travelled to Tamworth as a guest of Tamworth Regional Council.
2024 Golden Guitar Award Winners
Album of the Year: LIVIN’ THE DREAM
The Wolfe Brothers | Producers: Rod McCormack, Nick Wolfe, Matt Fell, Johnny Gasparic
Alt Country Album of the Year: HEY DAWN
Fanny Lumsden | Producers: Matt Fell, Fanny Lumsden
Contemporary Country Album of the Year: ACRES
Brad Cox | Producer: Brandon Hood
Traditional Country Album of the Year: BIRDSONG
Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham | Producers: Felicity Urquhart, Josh Cunningham, Matt Fell
Male Artist of the Year:
BRAD COX
Female Artist of the Year:
KAYLEE BELL
Group or Duo of the Year:
THE WOLFE BROTHERS
Vocal Collaboration of the Year: RUNNIN’ THE COUNTRY
Travis Collins & The Wolfe Brothers
Bush Ballad of the Year: DUST KIDS
SToReR | Songwriters: Sara Storer, Greg Storer
Heritage Song of the Year: 1861
Duncan Toombs | Songwriter: Duncan Toombs
Instrumental of the Year: GHOST TRAIN
Wicker Suite
Bluegrass Recording of the Year: OLD PICKUP LINE
Wicker Suite
New Talent of the Year:
MAX JACKSON
Song of the Year: SIZE UP
Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham | Songwriter: Josh Cunningham
Video of the Year: STEEL ON STEEL
Duncan Toombs | Director: Duncan Toombs, The Filmery
Single of the Year: SIZE UP
Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham
Top-Selling Album of the Year: ACRES
Brad Cox | Producer: Brandon Hood
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