Country music fans descended on a small town in Australia for the Tamworth Country Music Festival last week to celebrate the tradition of bush ballads. Tens of thousands of people busked, sang and line-danced their way through the week-long celebration.

The biggest winner was Luke O'Shea, who won best Male artist, best song of the year and best heritage song of the year.

More than 50-thousand people attended the country music event held every year in the New South Wales town of Tamworth. The festival takes on a carnival atmosphere with hundreds of floats, featuring all sorts of community groups, musicians and cowboy bling.

Guitars and cowboy hats were the order of the day for Australia's biggest country music festival. But the performers had their eyes on one thing only - the coveted Golden Guitar awards for the best artists.

The biggest winner was Luke O'Shea, who won best Male artist, best song of the year and best heritage song of the year.

"Quite humbling but you know I'm so proud of this album, the songs that have been picked up and the fact that the stories and the messages have been adsorbed and appreciated, that's my job as a songwriter done," O'Shea says.

Music can be heard across the town from dusk until dawn, with many fans camping out to enjoy the performances. Hundreds of aspiring performers use the festival to try and make a name for themselves in country music.

"It's great to come and see all the young ones, you know they're just fantastic you know, it's just so good to see, so much talent," says a visitor.

Newcomers Mickey Pye, Gretta Ziller and Dana Hassall entered themselves into the Star Maker competition for best new talent, an award previously won by some big name singers. All three grew up in Australia.

"Keith Urban, Beccy Cole, Lee Kernaghan, so to be on that list I think would just be a bit of a dream come true," Pye says.

The Tamworth Country Music Festival is held in January every year. This year's event wrapped up on January 25th.

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