Bendigo musician Shann Lions is hoping to tap into Bendigo's musical roots with a new alt-country music festival.
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Lions will unveil Gold Roses in February, which will feature Americana, alt-country, roots, folk, honky tonk and western swing music.
He hopes the free day of music at Handle Bar on February 1 will be successful enough to encourage a second year where the event can grow further.
"This is something I thought Bendigo needed - another music event that was quite diverse," he said.
"Alt-country borders on being rock music. It's a real mix of the different types of country. This will be a bit more grass roots festival that will hopefully grow.
"The idea is to do the first event for free and then in the second year maybe put a $10 dollar cover on and put that into getting bigger acts."
As well as Bendigo band Four Lions, Gold Roses will feature James Ellis and the Jealous Guys, Katie Bates, Kate Alexander and Hana Brenecki, and Nathan Seeckts.
"We wanted to start with a bang, so we have Nashville acts who have been touring Australia," Lions said.
"I also wanted to make sure there was a high portion of female performers. (A lot of) events are very male centric and it needs to change.
"A lot of my favourite acts are female. They're producing better music than males, so I wanted to make sure I curated the best possible acts we could get."
Mr Lions said there was room in Bendigo for more diverse festivals.
"We are known as a blues town but there is so much other music going on," he said. "Some people want different sounds in the town.
"Blues music is great but with 112,000 people in Bendigo, there's scope for all different types of music..
"If people support this and we have the numbers there, it gives us scope to do it next year. But it's also about enjoyment."
Gold Roses will be staged at Handle Bar on Saturday, February 1, from 3pm. Entry is free.