The Tamworth Country Music Festival presents a variety of sounds of music including country, rock, and folk. Workshops are taking place during the festival which allow artists to collaborate and inspire each other to find new sounds.
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00:00 Well, down here at the Country Music Festival, one of those workshops you've mentioned has
00:05 just finished Music with Soul workshop.
00:08 I'm joined by one of the people who ran that workshop, Jen Mize, who's a musician herself.
00:13 Jen, combining country music with soul, is it?
00:16 How exactly do the two mix?
00:18 Well, they mix fairly easily.
00:20 They've been coming together a long time.
00:22 So today, here at the press, in Tamworth, got together with two of my friends, Kelly
00:28 Bruhaha and Link Phelps, and we just did a songwriters round, songwriters with soul.
00:34 So it's a country, soul and blues mix.
00:38 Sometimes that's called Americana music, and you can throw in a little rock and roll in
00:41 there sometimes too.
00:42 So yeah, Tamworth offers a little bit more than just straight up and down country music
00:47 these days.
00:48 There's a little variety here.
00:50 We've heard plenty of genres going around, rock and roll as well.
00:53 What does it mean to see so many styles of music being presented at the Country Music
00:57 Festival?
00:58 Well, I think country music is essentially roots music, and roots music is anything that
01:03 comes from a place of the heart and soul, and that doesn't necessarily mean it's just
01:08 country.
01:09 So here at Tamworth Country Music Festival, there's a little bit for everyone.
01:13 Yeah.
01:14 So what is it about soul music then that sort of gave you the spark to try and combine it
01:18 with country?
01:19 Well, I guess country music and gospel music both come from the same place, really.
01:24 They cross over a lot.
01:25 And gospel music and soul music are cousins.
01:28 So we're only cousins once removed, country and soul, I think.
01:32 Yeah.
01:33 And you had an absolutely packed out facility here.
01:35 What does it mean to see so many people engaging with this kind of music?
01:38 Well, it's really special.
01:40 Here at the Press, it's a really beautiful listening room, and that's the songwriters
01:44 round.
01:45 So the audience is really kind of pulled in.
01:49 We're telling stories, laughing, telling tales.
01:52 It gets a little bawdy sometimes, and we're all having a good time, and the cocktails
01:56 here are great.
01:57 So, you know, it could be worse.
01:59 So what is it just about music in general that, no matter what sound it is, it just
02:03 seems to somehow bring people together?
02:05 Well, I think music is like a language that we all share.
02:11 It's something that, no matter who you are or where you are, where you're from, what
02:14 language you speak, it's universal.
02:17 And I think Tamworth Country Music Festival has a long, long life ahead of it.
02:22 Jen, thank you so much for joining us.
02:24 Jen Myers there with the Sounds of Soul Music Workshop here at the Tamworth Country Music
02:29 Festival.
02:30 But Peter, we don't get to hear Jen sing.
02:32 Anything to sing us out?
02:34 Oh, you didn't get any of the overlay.
02:37 She sent through an entire amazing performance just beforehand.
02:41 It was a fantastic show on, as you just presented.
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