Internationally recognised artist and award-winning songwriter Anthony Snape has remembered growing up in Gunnedah as a wonderful experience.
Anthony received a warm welcome home as he took on the Australia Day ambassador role at this year’s festivities and recalled to the crowd about his early life in Gunnedah.
“I didn’t realise it until I left,” he said of his wonderful life in Gunnedah.
“You don’t realise what you have until it’s not in your hands anymore. And, you know, as I’m sure many young people growing up in a small country town, they look outward and they look at all the wonderful things and the bright city lights and all the things that might attract them outside.
“But it’s not until you get there in amongst the city and you kind of realise what value a country town brings, which is all the wonderful people in it. It’s the people that make the
community.
“It’s the people that pat you on the back as a kid when you’re performing in the high school musicals and you’re performing on the street or you’re in the band and the people that come up to you and give you their genuine feelings around how you’ve made them feel.
“And then you see them out in the community because it’s a small enough community to see what everyone does.
“You have farmers and people working down the street and people working on the council, and you see everyone doing their best in the community to make the community better and to be there for each other.”
Anthony told the crowd one of the joys of being part of a small community was having the backing of everyone in it.
“At some point or another, you’ve all had each other’s back here. And I think you miss out on that in the big city or in larger communities,” he said. “And I think that that’s one of the things that I really value and find that is missing in some of the bigger places that I’ve visited.
“I love coming back. I love coming and seeing you guys.”
Anthony was queried about his beginnings in music during a question-and-answer session conducted by Australia Day Working Group chair Cr Rob Hooke.
“Where did that spark come from,” Rob asked Anthony.
“I remember one of my first performances, I was a South school kid, and a teacher heard my voice and I sang in the school talent quest. I sang a song called Ben. I was a boy soprano at the time. And I remember thinking at that moment, ‘oh, this could be a thing’,” Anthony said.
“And then he took me to the CWA meeting … and I sang in that.
“There’s a photograph of me struggling with my shirt, one shirt side out, I remember my knees shaking so much that it gave me this beautiful vibrato. Because I was so nervous.
“But that would have been the beginning for me, and performing in front of you, performing in front of this community.”
Anthony recalled touring Australia with Tommy Emmanuel as being an incredibly special experience.
“I’d been all over the world … I toured Germany and through the rest of Europe and all over America, opening as a solo original artist, which meant that I get to play my original music, the songs that I write, for new audiences all the way around the world.
“But when I was invited back to Australia to play the wonderful venues here, it was really incredibly special. One of the pinnacle moments that I remember in the last couple of years was playing the Opera House and opening for Tommy at the Opera House and holding that audience, which is a completely packed … for the first 40 minutes of the show.
“It was an unbelievable, incredible moment for me.”
Anthony told the gathering he was looking forward to the amazing moments still to come.
“I’ve been teaching at the Academy of Country Music here in Tamworth, and it’s been wonderful to see all the new talent coming through.
“And one of the great things about being a songwriter is that community, that country community that I was born into here in Gunnedah, is extended out into the rest of the music community.
“And so we get to write with each other, and you go to the festival, and you see lots and lots of friends and other artists, and it becomes something that builds upon itself. And it all started here.”
Following his address to the gathering, and the applause from the Australia Day attendees, Anthony was joined by cousin and talented musician Sam Snape, who enjoyed considerable success at this year’s Tamworth Country Music Festival, for a performance. Anthony and Sam joined together to sing their newly-released single Big Love In A Small Town. The song celebrates regional Australian life, specifically Gunnedah and Boggabri, and focuses on community strength, family and friends in small town life.
