WHEN Joy McKean walked on stage in Tamworth all those years ago to accept country music's first ever major award for a woman, one thing changed.

Female songwriters started to be taken seriously.

It was 1973 and the Golden Guitar awards were a small affair at the town hall when McKean won the gong for writing Lights on the Hill, one of her late husband Slim Dusty's most iconic songs.

"You weren't taken much notice of as a woman," she told the Leader.

"And of course, not only was it the fact that I got the very first Golden Guitar, but I also was the first woman to win a Golden Guitar - that was absolutely precious.

"It was a big step forward for women songwriters."

Even as the industry progressed and widened, for a long time it remained male dominated, according to McKean, but now that's all changed.

And, she puts much of that change down to Tamworth creating a platform for country artists.

With the industry's future in mind, Joy and Slim knew they had to be a part of the festival right from its inception.

"Tamworth made a base for the music. It made country music a respected genre," she said.

"What Slim and I could do was get out on the road and tell Australia what was happening for country music in Tamworth.

"The group that started it were looking at it from simply a business point of view to begin with, but what they did was create a festival that has been the keystone of raising the profile of country music."

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Even now in the Tamworth Country Music Festival's and Golden Guitar Awards 50^th year, she believes the iconic events still hold the same weight.

"I think the Golden Guitars still have a great big lot to do with how an artist can be seen, and how an artist can actually have a chance to be listened to," she said.

"I think that every winner takes great pride in them."

And, her heart sings with pride when she sees the talented women making a name for themselves in the country music industry today.

"Of course once women got going, they've been roaring along ever since," she said.

"I think the women that are coming through now are not expecting their gender to have anything to do with it.

"They're coming through on their abilities, and for that I'm very proud of all these women coming through."

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