The Long And Short Of It - Requested Favourites (2017)

The Long and Short of It’s David Baird (the short) with his smooth tenor voice sings, "It Circles the whole wide world from China to Peru, so many lovers and Just One Moon", one of the many stunning tracks from the duo’s album "You Made Me Stronger". But, the same line could be used to describe the happenstance surrounding how David met his songwriting partner, a lawyer by day and vocalist by night named Patsy Toop (the long), who eight years ago summoned the courage to approach David at a charity gig he was performing and ask him if she might be able to sing along. The rest is history.

Interestingly enough, though both are classically trained musicians, it was their joining of forces that gave each the audacity to take what had previously only been a hobby and make it a profession. It was the right move. In the years since their meeting with fate, The Long and Short of It has taken the Australian country music scene by storm with their smart, non-formulaic songwriting, honest lyricism, “honey coated chocolate” harmonies, and the wide range of new and old country musical styles they’re capable of playing. Validating this claim is the fact that they’ve played multiple big-name festivals and won numerous prestigious awards, including the SCALA FOOM award for "You Made Me Stronger" (2016); SOUTHERN STAR AWARDS FOR BEST DUO (2016); TICMA (Tasmanian) for best duo (2016); ICMA AWARDS (Tamworth) 2017, for most popular duo.
Having produced four records full of original material in four years, David and Patsy took their act to the next level in 2013 by heading to Nashville, Tennessee, to record what would become their 5th album, "You Made Me Stronger". Working with Emmy winning producer Kenny Royster and a slew of high profile session musicians (including Keith Urban’s keyboardist and Patsy Cline’s acoustic guitarist) for 3 weeks worth of 14-hour days at Kenny’s Direct Image Studios, David and Patsy painstakingly assembled what would become an amazing album.
Critics have been heavy handed with praise for the record, with Nashville music reviewer Alexander W. Sims saying, “…The Long and Short of It have created a record that uniquely salutes the sounds of past and present artists. Every aspect of this album bleeds country flair from the rhythm section to the harmonized vocals.” The band has received kind press from local outlets in Australia as well.
However, it's their latest Album co-written with Kenny Royster via Skype over 14 months and released in October 2016, which has propelled this duo to new heights! As independent singer/songwriter's they jumped into the ARIA charts giving the elite (Keith urban/and other luminaries) a polite shove!. They charted in the Hottest Hits at #3, and remained in the charts for over 20 weeks! Singles released from that album have charted at #1 in the Australian Country Tracks Charts which affirms their popularity and unique style.

Given the hard work each has put into their art and the high caliber of that art itself, one can only hope that The Long and Short of It continue climbing the country music ranks and are embraced en masse by fans of new country music worldwide.