Tamworth Country Music Festival reaches 55 years in January with more than 700 artists

TAMWORTH, Australia, 31 October 2026 - The Toyota Tamworth Country Music Festival will mark 55 years when it runs from 15 to 24 January 2027, with more than 700 artists from Australia and overseas expected, according to the festival's launch announcement of 7 July, published by Destination NSW. The theme is “Every Corner. Every Stage. Every Sound.”

The announcement describes the festival as recognised as the largest and longest live country music event in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, and says it sees more than 300,000 people converge on the city in North West New South Wales.

Five artists were named as the 2027 Faces of the Festival: Adam Harvey, Amber Lawrence, Dear Tommie, Max Jackson and Robbie Mortimer. Harvey was inducted into the Australasian Roll of Renown in 2026, and Dear Tommie is new to the role, according to the announcement.

The Toyota 55th Golden Guitar Awards are listed for the final Saturday, 23 January 2027. The announcement describes them as the only industry-affiliated country music awards in Australia. The Wolfe Brothers won five Golden Guitars at the 2026 awards.

Lee Kernaghan and Troy Cassar-Daley are named as headliners at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre, which the announcement gives as the city's largest indoor venue. For the first time, the Toyota Park stage line-up was announced in July, and the park adds two events, Bluegrass Hoedown and Friday Night Lights. Its listed programme runs from an opening night concert with fireworks on Friday 15 January to the Best of the Buskers Championships on Sunday 24 January.

The Toyota Star Maker grand final is listed for Sunday 17 January. The ABCRA National Finals Rodeo returns to the AELEC Arena, where the announcement expects more than 3,000 competitors and upwards of 10,000 spectators.

The 2027 festival is the first led by Festival Manager Joel Ulbricht, who said in the announcement: “Tamworth isn't just a festival, it's where the Australian country music story is written every January.”

The first ticketed line-up went on sale on 9 July, according to the announcement, which said hundreds more free and ticketed shows would follow. The programme is published at tcmf.com.au.