The group was watching Back to the Future, and Josh said the scene where Michael J. Fox played Johnny B. Goode on the guitar inspired him to take up the instrument.

"I dug out an old guitar my family had and totally absorbed myself in it," he said. "I had mates getting into music at the same time.

"There's a lot of opinion saying music won't pay the bills, and that was the advice I got, but deep down I knew I wanted to do this.

"I deferred my university degree and went travelling with a band for a year. The initial idea was to get music out of my system, but during that year we formed The Waifs, and I'm glad I had that courage to take a year off to follow my passion, because a lot of door shave opened from there."

Now, more than 30 years later, Mr Cunningham has built a successful career in the music industry with The Waifs, and is now returning to the South Coast with his new wife Felicity Urquhart for a series of concerts.

Mr Cunningham, who was "born and bred" in Moruya, said the tour was a "homecoming" for him.

"It almost feels like a homecoming just being able to do gigs again," he said. "We've been deprived of that for a good while, but it's particularly special to be playing in my hometown and the surrounding areas."

The couple will play at the National Theatre in Braidwood on May 13, and the Milton Theatre on May 14. They also play a low-key show in Moruya during the tour.

The tour follows almost directly on the heels of a show he played with The Waifs in Western Australia last weekend.

"Over the years we've kind of settled into a routine where we don't get out and plays as much as we used to (as The Waifs)," he said.

"We're quite condensed with the way we tour, so that gives us a good opportunity to do things outside the band.

"Felicity and I are partners in every sense of the word. I like to say we halve our accommodation costs because we don't have to get separate hotel rooms."

Ms Urquhart is a country superstar in her own right having won multiple Golden Guitars at the Country Music Awards in Tamworth, her home town.

She has also done radio work with ABC National and was a presenter for Sydney Weekender on Channel 7.

She started her journey in music at the tender age of 9, and was already busking by 11.

"I wanted to make people happy, and when I started busking, that was the point where I felt what I gave I got back 10-fold," she said.

"It's an incredible thing to feel, and I've never wanted to stop giving my music to people."

Ms Urquhart and Mr Cunningham were recently in Tamworth for the Golden Guitars, where both were nominated for awards.

"We played a show in Tamworth, and Josh had his first nomination spot which was really exciting," she said.

"People have welcomed our pairing up with open arms, it's been really lovely, and people are genuinely happy for the pair of us having come through our own struggles to find each other."

Ms Urquhart tragically lost her first husband Glen Hannah in 2019. She started dating Josh in late 2020.

"We used to bump into each other at different festivals around the traps," she said.

"We were both invited to partake in Song Club to write a song a week to a prompt. I extended that invitation to Josh, and we he pulled out his banjo I just thought he ticked a lot of boxes.

"We had a lot of things that lined up: our family lives, things we both loved, and I really couldn't believe what was happening.

"I thought I couldn't be this lucky to get another shot and feel so compatible with someone else."

Josh grew up in Moruya, but Felicity said her only experience on the South Coast before marrying Josh was during her time with Sydney Weekender.

"Any time I headed down this way, I thought it was such a beautiful part of the country," she said. "It's been a wonderful being able to experience it now with a local.

"We've already got our favourite spots to get fish and chips, and my girls are the right age for all the bike trips around the area.

"It's just magnificent country, it's such a beautiful spot."