TWANG! tunes up for York Festival return

The York Festival is back this spring, bringing three days of live music, creative experiences, family activities and community events to the Wheatbelt town from Friday, October 16, to Sunday, October 18, with tickets on sale now. One of the festival’s main highlights this year is set to be TWANG! – York’s Guitar Weekend, which brings together some of Australia’s most acclaimed musicians for intimate performances in venues throughout York. JAMES THORN caught up with Chris Gibbs, the musical curator of TWANG! program, to chat about the festival, the excitement in bringing some of Australia’s best guitarists to a regional location and what the public can look forward to from the event. 

Last year was the first time TWANG! featured at the annual York Festival. Can you share with us what inspired its addition to the program? And what was the reception like for its debut?

The idea really came from wanting to create something with a strong musical identity of its own, something that could sit within The York Festival but also feel like a destination event for music lovers. I’d been sitting on the idea for years, as far back as when I lived in the metro area, but something about living in a smaller community brings ideas to life.

Guitar seemed like the perfect starting point because it crosses so many genres. You can move from blues to folk, rock, country, jazz, roots and experimental music, and yet there’s still this common thread running through it all.

The response last year showed us there was definitely an appetite for it. People really embraced the combination of great musicians, intimate venues and being able to wander around York discovering music across the weekend. That gave us the confidence to make TWANG! much bigger and more ambitious this year.

What’s one thing that’s changed this year, and one thing that’s stayed the same?

The biggest change is probably the scale. This year we’ve been able to build a much deeper program, with artists including Dave Hole, Lucky Oceans and Nathan Cavaleri alongside an incredible lineup of WA musicians.

What hasn’t changed is the spirit of it. TWANG! is still about getting close to great musicians, hearing extraordinary guitar playing and creating those moments where an audience and performer are really sharing something.

We didn’t want it to become a festival where you spend half the weekend queuing or watching somebody on a screen from a hundred metres away. The intimacy is very important.

What’s it been like putting together a program for a Wheatbelt-based festival? What are some of the advantages and challenges of having a regional location?

One of the great advantages is that York itself becomes part of the experience. You’re not just programming a succession of bands into anonymous venues. You can think about where a particular artist will work, what a room feels like, how people move through town and what kind of atmosphere you want to create across the weekend.

There are obviously logistical challenges involved in bringing artists, equipment and audiences into a regional town, but I think those challenges are outweighed by what you get in return.

There’s something wonderful about taking music outside the usual metropolitan circuit. Artists respond differently to it, audiences respond differently, and suddenly the whole town becomes part of the festival.

TWANG! will have performances across multiple iconic buildings in York. Which of these venues is your favourite, and why?

It’s very difficult to go past York Town Hall. It’s such a beautiful and imposing building, and when you put a great guitarist on that stage, it creates a real sense of occasion. I agree with many other industry members who feel that our regional town halls are under-utilised, and I hope to see more music in our amazing hall in the future.

But I also love the smaller spaces because they give us something completely different. There’s a particular magic in seeing an exceptional musician in a room where you’re only a few metres away from them.

That contrast between the grandeur of the Town Hall and the intimacy of some of the smaller venues is one of the things I really like about the program, including the Sound Trail, which places some artists at a few of our amazing community group locations around the town.

Bringing together guitarists, musicians, and festival-goers in York is such a great way to showcase York to those who may not have visited before. What aspects of York do you hope travelling attendees will take away with them?

I hope people discover that York is somewhere worth spending time rather than simply passing through.

It has extraordinary heritage buildings, beautiful streets, the river and surrounding landscape, but it also has a really interesting creative community. During the festival you can have breakfast somewhere, walk to a performance, discover another musician playing around the corner, have a drink or dinner, then head to a major show in the Town Hall.

That ability to slow down, wander and let the weekend unfold is a big part of what makes TWANG! work in York.

We also have the huge advantage of York being a day trip as well as an overnight stay, depending on what visitors would like to do. A genuine farming town less than 100 km from Perth is attractive and unique. Hopefully people drive home thinking, “Why don’t we come here more often?”

It’s also a great way to bring musicians to an audience who may not have the opportunity to travel to metropolitan shows. What was the local community’s response to last year’s event?

That was one of the most rewarding parts of it.

There’s something very different about having musicians of this calibre turn up in your own town. People who might not necessarily drive to Perth for a gig can suddenly walk down the street and experience terrific live music almost on their doorstep.

We also saw locals mixing with people who had travelled specifically for the festival, which creates a really nice atmosphere. It doesn’t feel like an event that has simply been dropped into the town. You start to get conversations between artists, visitors, businesses and the local community.

That’s something we’ve deliberately built on this year, including the booking of some Wheatbelt acts where appropriate.

As you mentioned earlier, The Sound Trail is set to be another highlight this year, running through some of York’s local venues and spaces. What can attendees look forward to?

The Sound Trail is really an invitation to explore.

Throughout the weekend there’ll be music and community activity appearing in different venues and spaces around York, so rather than simply going from one ticketed concert to another, people can wander through town and encounter things along the way.

I love the idea that you might leave one performance, hear something happening nearby and follow the sound.

It also allows local musicians and community groups to be part of TWANG!, which is important. The festival isn’t only about the artists on the main stages. It’s about creating a town full of music for the weekend.

I really like how the program not only has a variety of artists hitting the stage but also a range of guitars too, such as acoustic, electric, and even the pedal steel! What are you most looking forward to in the program, and why?

As curator, I’m probably not allowed to choose a favourite!

What excites me most is actually the contrast between the players. You can hear someone like Dave Hole pushing electric blues guitar to its limits, then experience Lucky Oceans bringing that unmistakable pedal steel sound, or Nathan Cavaleri drawing on blues, rock and roots in a completely different way.

And then throughout the program there are acoustic players, fingerstyle guitarists, slide players, hard rockers, bands and emerging musicians.

That’s really the point of TWANG! for me. The guitar can be incredibly familiar—almost everyone knows what one looks and sounds like—but in the hands of different musicians it becomes a completely different instrument. Over three days, we’re going to hear amazing things from six strings.

I think people are going to come away from the weekend having heard the guitar do things they weren’t expecting and maybe even pick up that guitar they’ve got in the corner and strum a few chords. Music played well should inspire us; seeing it done live and close up may just get some new fingers moving across those fretboards.

The York Festival runs from Friday, October 16, to Sunday, October 18, 2026. The full program and tickets are available at yorkfestival.com.au