Home where the heart is for the chart-topping Wolfe Brothers

Between almost weekly gigs around the country the Wolfe Brothers retreat to their respective properties and leave their musical success at the farm gate.

When they last graced the front page of Tasmanian Country 15 years ago, they had just put out their first EP, written in a fruit picker’s hut on the farm and recorded in a mobile studio with fellow band members at the time, Casey Kostiuk and Brodie Rainbird. 

Since then, touring the country, playing pubs, clubs and festivals, finding a new platform through Australia’s Got Talent in 2012 and touring with Lee Kernaghan has seen the Wolfe Brothers steadily infiltrate the hearts of new audiences around the country. 

Tom and Nick Wolfe grew up on Wolfe’s Berry Farm at Neika, a property purchased by their great-grandfather George Wolfe in 1899.

Their upbringing was steeped in both farming and music, with their grandfather Ernie Wolfe forming the Wolfe Family Orchestra and their father Malcolm and uncle Tony also musically involved while the berry farm grew and diversified to include loganberries, raspberries, black and red currants, jostenberries, tayberries, kentish cherries, gooseberries and value-added products such as  chocolate-covered berries, jams and jellies. 

Taking over the reins after their parents passed, Tom and Nick co-managed the business until Nick moved on to land at Evandale three years ago with his partner Tani.

They run some first cross Merino/Coopworth sheep and a few horses on the 10ha Nick describes as “nestled among the big boys” with the stunning views of the Ben Lomond mountain range.

This is where the lanky, moustached muso who fronts the band relaxes and unwinds.

It includes fighting a regular battle with the old tractor and the capeweed and it’s a breeze to transit in and out of Launceston Airport next door.

“It was my dream to have something of my own, to be able to come off tour and be surrounded by an amazing community,” he said.

“I can get back to reality with neighbours that are shearers, farmers, agronomists, butchers – they can bring me back down to earth very quickly. It’s good for the soul,” he said.

“If I wasn’t a musician I’d be working in agriculture and that’s the way I was heading back when I was working with Charles Downie at Gretna when I was younger.”

Tom and his wife Ally have renovated the Wolfe Farm homestead and have three girls, Evie, 4, Tilly, 2, and Lennon, 7 months.

“We are the luckiest blokes in the world to be able to do the best job in the world and then we get to come back and do normal hands-on stuff,” Tom said. “Like this week I’ve been getting loganberries and tayberries up on the vines and sorting irrigation out – it’s nice to do that after travelling and doing music – we appreciate both worlds more,” Tom said.

Since buying out Nick’s share in the farm, Tom manages to keep his hand in, running a pared-back operation with his uncle Tony, now 78, while raising a family and performing.

The captivating ringmaster of every show with a trademark mullet and cheeky unbuttoned shirt, Tom’s high energy persona is tempered on the farm.

Like his brother, it’s a sanctuary, even with the chaos of young kids, and while he wishes he “had another week within each week” to get stuff done, there’s no denying that the main job for the Wolfe Brothers is music.

“It’s our focus, and we both feel like we’re just getting good at it after all these years of recording,” Tom said.

“We’re fired up more than we’ve ever been and we’ve got a big back-half of this year with gigs and festivals, and some sold out Tassie shows at our local pub, the Longley International.

“We’ve been playing at Longley since a time when they would take the wood out of the woodshed and we’d set up in there,” Nick said.

“It’s been developed into an amazing live music venue and it’s awesome to see it promote and support a variety of artists.”

Over the years, The Wolfe Brothers have won 10 Golden Guitar Awards and at one stage they signed a record deal in the US and were on the verge of moving to Nashville, when the Covid pandemic struck and they decided to stay put.

They went on to put out the Livin’ the Dream album, which hit number one on the Australian charts and now Australian Made is finding the same success with songs like Beer in a Bar, You Need A Farmer, Hometown Like My Hometown and their cover of I Am Australian drawing on an upbringing in rural Tasmania.

“In Australian Made we even mention the time that Nick bought a WB ute that he fixed up and sold to me for a good price and then, being an idiot, I wrote it off,” Tom laughed.

“It’s those kind of country experiences that really come through in our music.

“Plenty of people said don’t call it Australian Made, it’s too political, but it’s not like that for us – we’re just proud of where we live and to be authentic artists we want to sing about what is important to us.”

For those who follow the Wolfe Brothers’ antics on social media, those includes doing some crazy covers, featuring a kick drum made from a Bunnings bucket that Nick uses to feed his horses.

To the great amusement of passers-by, they can sometimes be seen with homemade drum and guitar making a clip outside Bunnings Kings Meadows or hanging around the welcome sign at Evandale putting their own spin on a classic.

Among almost weekly appearances around the country until the end of the year, the Wolfe Brothers are at Dodges Ferry Hotel on November 5 and Longley International Hotel on November 16.