For up and coming country musicians Imogen Clarke and Andrew Swift it took time for them to find the genre and now they're here, they're shining.
Both musicians are nominated for their first ever Golden Guitars on Saturday night at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, including New Talent of the Year.
Clarke, 24, from Bowen Mountain, NSW originally started doing opera and musical theatre before picking up a guitar and finding her path as a singer-songwriter.
"I love the idea if you are so true to yourself in your songwriting other people will inevitably connect with it because it's just honest," Clarke, who fuses rock and folk into her country music, told AAP.
After coming to the festival and performing for 10 years she said the multiple nominations and recognition for her album Collide is the result of hard work.
"To back yourself and say 'no I'm going to be who I am I'm not going to change for anybody' and then to get success from doing that, that is the most wonderful, rewarding feeling," she said.
For Swift of Berwick in Melbourne he never thought he would be a country musician - so much so he resisted the genre when others told him it made sense for him.
"It's bizarre to think how quickly I've gone from denying that I was a country musician to embracing it and becoming a part of the community and achieving what I've achieved," the 35-year-old told AAP, who once played in a pop-punk band.
After coming along to the festival and interviewing artists as part of a radio station in 2015 he realised how much variety there was in the industry.
"It was a real eye opener, I realised just how diverse country music is and how much of a community it's got and I started to feel like I did belong," he said.
With 25 Golden Guitars under his belt John Williamson's advice to young musicians coming up the ranks is to keep it honest and individual.
"Australians like somebody who really speaks from the heart," he told AAP.
He said as much as he appreciates the recognition a Golden Guitar brings, he sees the benefit in passing on the torch to new artists.
"I like to see the up and coming ones get it," he told AAP.
"I don't think we should be grabbing them all the time. It's the first few Golden Guitars that do the most for you really."
Lee Kernahgan, the ambassador for this year's festival, said winning your first Golden Guitar can transform your career.
"I love the fact a golden guitar can change your life. It did for me," he told AAP.
For a red carpet where jeans won't be out of place, award-winning country singer Beccy Cole said she likes to keep it casual, but for others it's a time to go all out.
"It's what we call a BFO - a big, frock, opportunity!" she told AAP.
Country star Kasey Chambers has seven nominations - the most in the awards - followed by Tasmania's The Wolfe Brothers with five and wife and husband duo Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley with four.
Australian Associated Press
