Melanie Dyer nominated for two Golden Guitars at Tamworth Country Music Festival

"This is the first time I've been nominated and it is really exciting off the back of my most recent album," Melanie said.

Melanie is up for Female Artist of the Year and Vocal Collaboration of the Year at the Tamworth Country Music Festival night of nights on Saturday.

"It is just a nice little encouragement after working hard for the last 15 years in the industry," Melanie said of the nominations.

"And it's a good little recognition that I'm on the right path."

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Melanie shares the Vocal Collaboration of the Year nomination with her good friend Caitlyn Shadbolt, for their duet Dumb Decisions.

"It's just a fun song we wrote one afternoon together," Melanie said.

"It's about reminiscing on a few of the funny stories that we've encountered while touring over the last five years."

Melanie said her songs usually are a "time capsule of her own experiences", but that she has fun with the lyrics and embellishes the stories a bit.

Her latest album Between You and Me, released last year, has a variety of numbers, some that will have "you dancing on your feet" while others will "remind you of emotional heartbreak".

Melanie counts playing at the Tamworth Country Music Festival as a highlight of her career, as she reminisces about attending the event since she was 12 years old.

Her other highlight was her nomination in 2021 for her crossover hit song Memphis T-Shirt, which spent six weeks at number one on the Australian Country Hot 50 chart.

"It was a really big moment as well because it recognises songwriters and that's something I've done since I was a little kid," Melanie said.

"As much as I love being on a big stage performing, I've really ticked some exciting goals on the songwriting bucket list."

Melanie gave the example of a song she co-wrote with this year's Toyota Starmaker, Lauren Ryan, called Suddenly, which is about the emerging artist's young daughter.

"That was a really special moment," Melanie said.

Melanie released her first EP Lifetime in 2015, taking influences from megastars such as Katy Perry, Shania Twain and Taylor Swift.

In 2017, she released her debut album Fresh, with her own song Save My Cents being among the top 10 in the International Songwriting Competition.

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