Every 1st Sunday of the month, the Visitor Centre hosts FREE live music…….. Buddy Knox will be playing solo at Banalasta on Sunday 19th April, 12-3pm. 

Buddy Knox is a Tamworth local and his passion is playing the guitar. He has spent a good portion of his time on globe trotting touring adventures around Australia, Canada, London and Nashville. As a result of the amazing tours he was a part of, he has enjoyed enviable traveling and playing experiences, which very few musicians get to have!! This was in his famous father’s band, Roger Knox, “Euraba”.

He also played for the “Warumpi Band” at Festivals and at the Capital City ‘Big Day Out’ tours, as well as backing many other talented artists. For the past 12 months, Buddy has headed up his own rhythm and blues band, which he is really enjoying. This is a very seasoned array of musos.

He has a 14 track CD which is extremely attractive musically, and also in its’ layout.  Buddy’s CD has recently won the 2008 Newcastle Blues Album of the year. The CD is very popular with his audiences when he plays and he is looking forward to performing at the ‘2008 Dreaming Festival’s at Woodford. 

What a great way to see in the New Year! Come along for a relaxing day out on the green, sitting back with a glass of Blickling Estate wine and a BBQ lunch. We look forward to seeing you enjoy yourselves at the Visitor Centre.

Every 1st Sunday of the month, the Visitor Centre hosts free live music….Chris Langston will be playing on Sunday 29th March 2009. 

Hailing from NSW, Chris, from an early age, was exposed to a full range of country people and life. Having parents who valued their boomer upbringing and the pop, folk and rock mosaic of the sixties and seventies, gave Chris a broad base of musical influences. As a result, Chris has developed into a talented singer/songwriter with an eclectic taste in music, reflected in the catalogue of songs he writes and performs.

Chris has been performing as a solo artist since 2003 and has always incorporated a high percentage of his own material into his shows. In the past four years he has developed a powerful collection of his own material, with songs that can move and provoke and others that just sing to your soul.

His rich voice is his first instrument but his beloved Maton and the occasional electric sound of a Fender more than supplement it. Chris also plays a mournful harp.

Chris also plays blues in a duo that is versatile and fits a variety of pub, club, restaurant and support gigs. He also plays in local rock band called Grievance.

Chris has played in most of the major local venues around the area and has played with artist talents including Lawrie Minson, Randall Wilson, Matt Scullion, Daniel Conway, James Craswell, Katrina Burgyone, Sally Anne-Whitten, Matt O’Leary and Jeff Gibson.

His broad spectrum of gigs emphasis his musical aptitude, covering to date: ABC Regional Radio, New England North West, 2005 Country Music Festival, Tamworth Songwriter’s Nights, Rave 4 The Wave Concert, 2005 Toyota Battle of The Bands, Tamworth Country Music Busking Competition (2005) and weddings and parties.

Currently, Chris is building contacts within the music industry. He is enjoying the challenge of song writing and making a definitive mark in the industry.

Come and soak up the atmosphere with a glass of Blickling Estate wine. We look forward to seeing you enjoy yourselves at the Visitor Centre.

The Banalasta Visitor Centre will be hosting FREE live music……..Matt Scullion, Tamworth’s musical genius, will be playing at Banalasta, on Sunday 22nd March, 12-3pm.

Haling originally from Sydney, Matt Scullion has travelled extensively across Australia, USA and India and has written and recorded songs for the likes of American legends in Nashville, USA, for Cathy Louvin, Mark Chestnut and Steve Ford; and in Australia for Tom Curtain and the Davidson Brothers, Tanya Kernaghan, Bobby Cash and Jonahs Road. In December 2006 Matt headed over to the Middle East to perform for the troops to boost morale.

Matt started his musical career at 16 with his first guitar purchase and has made the finals for best new talent at the Victorian country music awards, made the semi-finals and finals in the Music Oz awards at various times and has also been nominated for a Golden Guitar. He has also won various industry awards such as the ICE award (Independent Country Entertainer) for best country rock performance and has received rave reviews throughout his musical career as an independent artist and also with his various bands.

Matt and his band, The Lost Moments, headlined 4 big shows at the 2007 Tamworth Country Music Festival to great success and also signed a record/publishing deal with Rajon Music at the beginning of this year.

We look forward to seeing you enjoy yourselves at the Visitor Centre.

Every 1st Sunday of the month, the Visitor Centre hosts FREE live music……..Lawrie Minson, one of Tamworth’s esteemed musical artists will be playing at Banalasta, on Sunday 8th March 12-3pm.

Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter from Tamworth, Lawrie is a four times Golden Guitar winner and is the son of legendary radio broadcaster ‘Mr Hoedown’, John Minson. Lawrie has recorded and toured with the biggest names in the industry, Buddy Williams, Slim Dusty, Jimmy Barnes, James Blundell, Gina Jeffreys, Sara Storer, Ross Wilson and international superstar Trisha Yearwood, to name a few!

Lawrie has played on all of Lee Kernaghan’s albums and has been a member of his touring band for the past 15 years. Lawrie has also produced two albums for the ‘Indian Cowboy’, Bobby Cash.

Lawrie hosts a monthly songwriter’s night in Tamworth at The Vault and is co-ordinator of the annual Hohner Golden Harmonica championships. He has released several award winning albums including ‘Memories of Home’, ‘Family Tree’ and ‘In Another World’. Lawrie is presently recording a new album titled ‘Loves Journey” at ‘Fat Tracks’ studio in Tamworth.

We look forward to seeing you enjoy yourselves at the Visitor Centre.

NSW Wine Industry growth of $6.6 million for last year.

Key NSW Wine Statistics: (DECEMBER 2008 Nielsen Data)

- NSW accounts for 38.1% ($934m) of Australian Bottled Wine Sales with NSW experiencing 5.8% growth.
- NSW Wine sales in the domestic market are predominantly in NSW with 69.5% ($59m) of indicated NSW Wine sold in the home state, followed by 14.7% Victoria, 11.4% Queensland, 2.9% WA and 1% South Australia. So NSW is the biggest domestic seller of NSW Wine indicating the majority of NSW Wine is exported and not appropriately represented in our home state.
- NSW Wine only represents 6.3% ($59 million) of the total bottled wine sold in NSW. However, NSW Wine representation in the off premise market grew 12.6% or $6.6 million to reach $59 million indicating the NSW Wine Strategy is having an extremely positive impact (Other Regions Share of NSW market: Australia Other 41.5%, South Australia 18.8%, New Zealand 9.7%, Western Australia 8.0%, Victoria 5.9%, Imports other than New Zealand 3%).
- In $AUD dollar terms bottled wines sales in NSW indicated from NSW Wine have grown by $6.6 million on last year.

Things you didn’t know about NSW Wine:

- NSW is home to Australia’s oldest continuous wine region (Hunter Valley), and the newest (New England), which was only declared an official wine region in January 2008.
- Australia’s two most popular wine varieties – Chardonnay and Shiraz, both had their start in NSW. Shiraz was first planted by John Macarthur on his vineyard in Camden in 1833; and Chardonnay was first made by Mudgee pioneer Alf Kurtz in 1862.
- Family businesses dominate the NSW wine industry, accounting for more than 75% of the total crush (only 33% of the national wine crush is from family businesses).
- NSW is Australia’s second largest wine producing state, accounting for 34% of Australia’s $5 billion wine industry.
- NSW is home to two of Australia’s icon varieties namely, Semillon from the Hunter Valley and Botrytis Semillon from the Riverina.
- NSW is home to 9 of Australia’s Top 20 Wine Exporters: Casella, McGuigan, De Bortoli, Nugan Estate, McWilliams, Warburn Estate, Beelgara and Tyrrells with Cumulus this year joining the Top 20 Wine Exporters increasing the NSW tally to 9 wineries.
- NSW is home to 7 of Australia’s Top 20 Vineyard Holders: McGuigan, Warburn, McWilliams, De Bortoli, Nugan Estate, Casella and Cumulus.
- There are 14 official wine regions in NSW: Canberra District, Cowra, Gundagai, Hastings River, Hilltops, Hunter Valley, Mudgee, New England, Orange, Perricoota, Riverina, Shoalhaven Coast, Southern Highlands, Tumbarumba.
- NSW is home to 5 of Australia’s 20 oldest wine companies and/or continuously operating wine brands: Wyndam Estate 1828; Lindemans 1843; Draytons Family Wines 1853; Mudgee Wines 1856 and Tyrrells 1858.
- In 1983 NSW had 76 wine producers, today is has 450+ wine producers.
- NSW is home to over 351 cellar doors.

Source: NSW Wine Industry Association’s (NSW Wine) “NSW Wine Strategy”