This is a book of photographic portraits and street scenes from the 1992 Tamworth Country Music Festival. It emerged from a visit to the Tamworth Country Music Festival on the Australia Day weekend in 1992 by photographer Spiros Coutroubas and writer Peter Wright. They intended to interview people for an article on the busking scene on Peel Street. The article never happened and their photographs and audio recordings were shelved.
The work was eventually exhibited during the 2022 Tamworth Country Music Festival in partnership with the the Tamworth Regional Gallery. The exhibition, entitled “Working Peel Street”, marked 30 years since the images and sound were created. It also coincided with the 50th anniversary of the inaugural Tamworth Country Music Festival which was held in 1972.
The book incorporates two series of photographs. The first – Working Peel Street – focuses on the buskers, hawkers and punters on Peel Street. Featuring everyday people on Tamworth’s main street, this series contrasts with the scenes at formal venues and awards ceremonies that are often presented as the face of the Festival. In the other series – Messages from Peel Street – people were asked to answer the question ‘What do you think of the Country Music Festival?’ with a few words on a card – and they were then photographed with their responses.
(Soft cover, perfect bound, 280x216mm, 76 pages / $5.95 (AUD) flat rate postage applies, even for multiple books)
