Pat Drummond - 2016 Songmaker of The Year
2017 brings the release of Pat Drummond's 22nd album, "Late Final Extra." This Double Live Cd features all previously unrecorded original material from his travels and marks another milestone on Pat's groundbreaking career as a fulltime singer songwriter. It has been an amazing journey
As Luke O'shea states "It will take generations for most of us, as writers, to catch up to where Pat Drummond has been. No matter which course you take through this wild music industry, at the end of every path you will find Pat's mark on the tree."
"The Sao Song" was probably the track which first brought Pat Drummond to national prominence.
The song, which was catchy enough to make airplay lists all over the country, and thoughtful enough to impress critics of the ilk of Ian Macnamara, Philip Adams and Bruce Elder, was, however, only a small glimpse of this truly remarkable Australian talent.
Although well known for his comic repertoire, and his work with the multi - Award Winning Bush Poetry/ Comedy troupe, the 'Naked Poets', it has been the 'power punch' lyric writing in songs such as "Who Is that Refugee?", "The Road To Damascus", "The Blessing", "Vertelli's Wire", " Who Are These People?" and "Somebody Else's Slides" which has so profoundly impressed both the critics and his peers since then. (See Quote sheet)
Awarded the 2016 Songmaker Award at The Tamworth Country Music Festival for lifetime achievement in Songwriting he is also an inductee into the Hands Of Fame, recipient of The Australian Independent Country Music Artist of The Year , former board member for the Country Music Association of Australia, Joint Winner of Male Vocal of the Year at the Australian Bush Music Festival and former Grand Finalist in Four Categories (including Album of the Year, Heritage Award and Country Song of the Year and Producer of the Year) in the Toyota CMAA Country Music Awards, the past 20 years have been tremendously rewarding for Pat Drummond. International tours to New Zealand and Japan, representing Australia, and a National tour with England's premier songwriter Ralph McTell, have further enhanced his reputation as a formidable writer and entertainer. For those who have seen Pat on stage the reasons are obvious. He is first and foremost a communicator who writes songs about characters that are instantly recognisable; characters whose experiences reflect the lives of just about every Australian, from the sophisticated city-dwellers of the Double Bay social set to the no-nonsense bush people of The Outback.
Perhaps it's this common touch, this sense of what it is to be an Australian which runs through all his work, that makes Pat's songs so accessible. He is, at the same time, a performer with an innate sense of fun and an astonishing capacity to entertain and involve an audience, and a songwriter, whose passionate commitment to this country and its people, has produced songs which are often more like one-act plays, concise and self contained; detailed social snapshots of ordinary Australians caught in the act of living.
From the young Sydney bloke who's always chosen last on the football team and who finds a way to beat the odds, to the factory worker made redundant by the vagaries of economic policy; from the hilarious escapades of the Hay RTA road gang to the courageous battle of a Cowra couple for the life of their five-year old daughter. From Gove Peninsula to the wild sea coast of Southern Victoria, the songs are word portraits of actual people whose courage, humour and endurance have formed the basis of our elusive national character. Old friends who meet by chance, lovers who have lost their keys to each other, highway patrolmen, hitch hikers, politicians, pensioners, prisoners, taxi drivers, timber workers, teachers and bushmen give us a brief glimpse of Australasia through their eyes.
Add all of that to lots of irresistible audience participation songs like "The Philip Song", "40 into 24," and "Marilyn Monroe was a size 14" and "If I Die Before Keith Richards I'll Be Pissed Off To The Max" you have a show that leaves people humming for weeks after it's over. Neither a country or city performer in the traditional sense; Pat Drummond's appeal seems to cross these sorts of petty barriers fairly easily. As his success at Folk festivals; Country Festivals, Arts Festivals, pubs, clubs and Community Concerts has demonstrated, he draws his fans from people of very different ages and social backgrounds. His songs, which deal with fundamental human values like Integrity, Honesty, Fortitude, Independence, and Enterprise are often funny, sometimes angry, but always hopeful and they are mirrors in which your audiences will see at least a little of themselves. An Evening with Pat Drummond is not one you will easily forget.
Pat is available through Shoestring Productions email patdrum@lisp.com.au or by Phone on 02 4788 1157 or mobile 0407 89 1466
N.B. International callers should replace 02 with 61 2
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