COUNTRY music festivals are usually held in places like Tamworth, Mildura and Gympie, but next weekend twanging guitars will echo across a very urban Canberra. The first Canberra Country Music Festival, featuring 50 acts – including Jimmy Little, Danny Mack, Bill Chambers and Ronni Rae Rivers – will be held over three days and across five stages at the Tuggeranong Homestead. Country singer Adam Harvey, who will be in town next weekend both to open the festival and for an appearance at the Songland music store in Tuggeranong, said that, contrary to popular belief, there was a market for country music in the cities. ‘‘What we find is that there’s an audience on the outskirts of the cities. ‘‘

Most of your country fans are blue-collar type folks, and so we play a lot of gigs on the outskirts,’’ he said. He said it was ‘‘fantastic’’ to see a new country music festival, especially with hard economic times closing some down. Festival spokesman Michael Crozier said a highlight of the festival would be an appearance by indigenous country music star Jimmy Little, who will be honoured with the festival’s own Wedgetail award. ‘‘The awards are still being established, and they’ll be very similar to the Golden Guitar award at Tamworth. ‘‘We’re giving Jimmy an award for what he’s done for the country music industry over his lifetime,’’ he said. As well as the performances, the festival will feature workshops ranging from tips on playing pedal steel guitar to a seminar by the National Film and Sound Archives on lost treasures of Australian country music and how they are being preserved.

Mr Crozier said the Country Music Association of Canberra had decided to test the water on a three-day festival after previously holding several singleday and weekend festivals. If the festival drew enough people it would be held at this time each year. He said Canberra had a very healthy country music base, even if some of them were ‘‘closet listeners’’. A sign of the interest was the planned launching at the festival of KIX Country, a Bundaberg country music radio station that will soon be on Canberra’sAM bandwidth. Mr Crozier said Songland music store in Tuggeranong had become a strong promoter of country music, organising instore performances by singers such as Harvey and Amber Lawrence.

*The Canberra Country Music Festival starts Friday at Tuggeranong Homestead, corner of Ashley and Johnson drives, Richardson. Tickets at Moshtix Online.