Winning awards is nothing new for the Davidson Brothers, who are multiple nominees and three-time winners at Tamworth but, with last year's Wanderlust album, they are also winning a swag of new fans around the country.

Hamish, 31, and Lachlan, 30, first busked on the streets of Tamworth in their early teens and were soon spotted by country musician Bill Chambers, father of Kasey Chambers and a man well known around the country music capital of Australia.

"I remember Bill Chambers invited us to play that first year after he saw us busking," says Lachlan. "He did a hillbilly jam every day at one of the well-known pubs in town and that's a memory that stands out in our minds."

Before long the Davidson Brothers had their own regular shows at Tamworth's annual festival, which this year celebrates its 42nd year, playing a breakfast gig every morning on top of their other shows around town.

"We played the bluegrass breakfast for six years, 10 days in a row from 8am to 10.30 and there'd be 400 people there because it got too hot in the tents ... we built up a solid following doing those shows," says Lachlan. "The town loves the event but it's not a traditional festival, Tamworth is a bunch of events that run in town at the same time."

Having "a bunch of events" at the same time doesn't mean there are any shortcuts to winning over country music fans, and the Davidson Brothers, like everybody else who plays at Tamworth, had to earn their stripes.

For many years Lachlan and Hamish pitched their own tent alongside fellow festival goers, many of whom still recall seeing the young brothers in the late '90s, long before they recorded four albums in Nashville or won their first Golden Guitar award.

"I remember that first year so well because Slim Dusty was performing and Charlie Daniels - they were around town and that was big – people always talk about Tamworth and it was pretty mind-blowing back then. It's re-inventing itself these days, but early on it just felt enormous to us."

More recently the brothers have made a significant crossover in Australia's strong independent music scene, playing regularly across Melbourne and also working with more widely recognised musicians, including Dan Sultan, Joe Camilleri and Jimmy Barnes. Three years ago they also established the Australian Youth Bluegrass Scholarship to encourage and nurture singers and musicians.

Originally from the central Gippsland township of Yinnar, which has a population of 500, the Davidson Brothers have toured extensively overseas and with Wanderlust - the album they recorded locally - they might just win a few more Golden Guitars along with their new fans.