THE mighty Mildura Country Music Festival is over for another year. Like Tamworth, it's a 10-day event, but it's totally different in so many other ways.

Mildura is an "invitation-only" event, where artists put in a submission to be included in the roll call and if they're accepted, work their bums off to good crowds for the duration of the festival, selling albums to help offset the expense of the journey.

A handful of Tamworth-based artists took part this year, including big winner at the Southern Stars Australian Independent Country Music Awards, Aleyce Simmonds; Werris Creek pocket rocket Marie Hodson, who was invited to perform at the awards concert; new Tamworth resident Johanna Hemara; bush balladeer Tom Maxwell and some others.

Paringa-based photojournalist Robyn McIntosh was on hand to take photos of the event, which she happily shares with Leader readers. Enjoy this gallery of Flash's fabulous photos.