It’s fair to say that gender diversity in the Australian music scene has been spreading like wildfire over the last 5-10 years. The number of solo female and non-male performers has really exploded.

Women are no longer “with the band” with a range of Australian female songwriters such as Courtney Barnett, Jen Cloher, Sarah Blasko obtaining audience and critical approval to prove they can utilise their own songwriting talents to provide a unique perspective for audiences to enjoy.

This would continue the tradition of female artists like Chrissie Amphlett finding their own voice and way of standing out in the very masculine “pub rock” on which Australian music originated, which we hope is slowly changing.

Vicki Gordon, the organiser of the Australian Women in Music Awards talked to Mick about the celebration of women in music in anticipation of next week’s event.