Hello, music lovers, and welcome to a look at country music from the viewpoint of another country! Yep, today the beans learn all about Country Music Down Under Style, as the beans visit Tamworth in New South Wales, a city of 50,000 people that is best known as Australia's Country Music Capital. (Sort of like Nashville here in the States, only without the Opry...)

Since we're celebrating country music, it's only fitting that we stop off at Noel and Wendy Bennet's Big Golden Guitar Tourist Centre. In addition to a Paul Bunyan-sized six string, the Tourist Centre also sports a coffee shop, a "Gallery of Stars" wax musuem, and a gift and music shop, where you can pick up your choice of cool Australian momento or a sample of Australian country music on CD or cassette (What? No 8-track???). (Sorry - you won't find Garth or Winona here; it's Aussie musicians only, all with cool names like "Smoky", "Tex", "Buddy", "Pixie", and "Hootenanny".)

The Golden Guitar is the prize given out at the Australian Country Music Award ceremony. The big replica here was unveiled by Australia's "King of Country Music" Slim Dusty (another perfect name!) in 1988, and stands 40-feet tall (12 meters), and weighs in somewhere around 1,000 pounds.

The beans had a wonderful time in Tamworth, and were glad to have a chance to try playing the giant golden guitar. Now, if they only knew how to play something other than "Stairway to Heaven"...