David Baird and Patsy Toop’s music career has been given a boost by winning an award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
By Vanessa Chircop
A WILLIAMSTOWN band has won an award at the largest music festival in the southern hemisphere.
Patsy Toop and David Baird of The Long and Short of It, won the Daryl Kirkup award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival last week.
The duo, who met at the Pirates Tavern almost four years ago, have been attending the festival since 2010 but never imagined they would be one of the award winners.
“We are so gobsmacked,” Patsy said.
“I just about choked on my piece of steak when I heard our names get called out.
“We’re completely and utterly over the moon – it inspires you to keep writing.”
The award aims to give exposure to independent artists on the mainstream radio.
“We will be distributed Australia-wide,” she said.
“Hopefully this will give our careers a great boost.”
The pair has certainly come a long way since busking at the festival three years ago.
David is the ‘short’ of the duo. He is a shy person until he is performing, where his talent takes over and he becomes an entertainer.
Patsy is the ‘long’ side of the duo, getting into entertainment at an early age by learning classical piano. But by day the pair lead very different lives.
Patsy is a lawyer and David a sign writer.
Despite her passion for the law, Patsy said music keeps her sane.
“I just love doing it,” she said.
“We’ve come at this fairly late in our lives – we’re not teenagers… so we practice a lot and really do work hard at it.”
The duo often play locally at the Pirates Tavern and across the western suburbs and will be playing at the Avoca Indie Music Festival in March.
For more information about the band visit www.thelongandshortofit.com.au.
