Prolific songwriter Allan Caswell has been inducted into the Galaxy of Stars, with the announcement made at FanZone at the Tamworth Country Music Festival today.
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His image on a plaque will be added to the forecourt of the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre.
A surprised Caswell was called to the FanZone stage where he thanked Tamworth Regional Council, who award the Galaxy of Stars.
Reflecting on his 40 years of coming to Tamworth, Caswell said he remembered the first time he watched the Golden Guitars, from the alleyway outside the Town Hall.
“They didn’t have air-conditioning in those days, and they had to leave the doors open so we got into the awards free, and the first year I came up when I had my first record out, I did an interview with 2TM, and they said here’s some tickets to the awards.
“They didn’t announce the finalists, and I get to the big circus tent and they lead me down the front, and I thought ‘we’ve got good tickets’ and then they announced that I’d won new talent,” he said. “That was back in 1980.”
Caswell has had more than 600 songs recorded by artists such as Slim Dusty, James Blundell, Chad Morgan, Anne Kirkpatrick, Graeme Connors and Jasmine Rae.
Caswell has won seven Golden Guitars over the years, picking up three for APRA Song of the Year in the 1980s.
His first Golden Guitar win came in 1980 when he was awarded New Talent of the Year with his song King of the Rodeo, and the following year he collected the first APRA Song of the Year award for One Armed Bandit.
In 1983 he won another Golden Guitar for APRA Song of the Year for Used To Be A Gold Song, then his third Song of the Year trophy in 1986 for The Garden.
His fifth Golden Guitar came in 1988, when he was named Male Vocalist of the Year, and it was almost 20 years later when he won his sixth, taking home Vocal Collaboration of the Year in 2007 for a duet with Drew McAlister, A Little Bit Of Country In Us All.
Despite the awards, Caswell’s best-known composition was On The Inside, which was used as the theme song for the television series Prisoner, which was screened from 1979 to 1986.
“When I wrote On The Inside I quit my job, and I haven’t had a real job since,” Caswell said.
“So I owe this industry and I particularly owe country music fans for their support over the years.”
The Galaxy of Stars was introduced in 2000, when Slim Dusty was the first inductee, and two years later he was joined by John Williamson and Arthur Blanch.
In 2005, Lee and Tania Kernaghan were inducted, and since then at least once country artist has been added each festival.
