The Stetson Family- The Stars, If You Look Closely review

The Stetson Family The Stars, If You Look Closely TheStetsonFamily.com

Surprises.

After more than twenty years exploring roots music—the good, the indifferent, and the ugly—I remain open to surprises. Most recently, a predominately blue-enveloped CD provided the most pleasing of musical wonders.

Having not previously encountered The Stetson Family, I approached their CD as I typically do the unfamiliar. To prevent myself from prejudice or outside influence, rather than reading the accompanying press material and packaging I simply slipped the disc into the machine late one night.

I was transported to a world where country music sounds little like what is now played on the radio. The songs were structured differently, the lead vocals were unlike those I had recently experienced, the instrumentation was expansive and far-reaching.

I played the album repeatedly over the next several days, looking for insight to explain how this music impressed me. Finally, after four or five listens, I examined the one-sheet and the disc package.

And I had at least part of my answer.

The Stetson Family is a well-established group from Melbourne, Australia. Perhaps that explains why they sound so different from even my favourite non-commercial country bands—they originate far from the various North American rootsicana circuits.

Having now lived with the album for several weeks while also exploring the group’s previous albums via streaming, I am confident in describing The Stars, If You Look Closely as an exceptional album of roots music, closer to ‘classic country’ than what currently passes as contemporary country. Still, this is a modern-sounding recording that should appeal to all who take the time to seek out its charm.

In my opinion, lead vocalist Nadine Budge is the star. While her voice contains elements that remind me of folks familiar such as Connie Smith, her style is completely her own: dramatically powerful—forceful, even—without betraying her bandmates by distracting from their significant instrumental foundation.

Budge (rhythm and resophonic guitar, co-producer with Ern Rose) is the writer or co-writer of many of these artfully crafted songs. As example, within “Better Left Unsaid,” she strikes to the heart of the collection:

“I wish you never said those things to me,
those notions in my head;
made me open up my heart to you,
they were better left unsaid.”

Most apparently country, but without forced rhymes in search of an elusive hook, these are songs true and honest, genuine in expression and execution. Her “Brother” is another standout number.

Each song offers strength within its insights without feeling heavy or didactic. John Bartholomeusz (guitar and harmony vocals) is the band’s other key songwriter, and his “Lonesome Valley” is pure country, but again far from cookie cutter. As they have on previous songs (notably “Hey Sister Mary, Where’d You Get That Gun?”) the band utilizes what North Americans would identify as ‘western’ imagery and situations on Bartholomeusz’s “The Other Side.”

Finally, the band has completed two songs left unfinished by The Stetson Family’s co-founding member Andy Carswell who passed in 2016. The title track and “Angel’s Hand” further the mystical elements of the album, perhaps religious but for me more a spiritual embracing of the wonderous forces of the natural world. This theme continues within Budge’s “Make Me Ashes” (“and cast me to the deep blue sea…”).

There may not be a more hopeful and inspiring roots song in 2024 than the title track: “The stars, if you look closely, can guide you to your journey’s end…” The instrumental “Nightfall” is simply lovely, a reso-rich piece that goes places I didn’t anticipate—it is a trippy tune.

Greg Field’s fiddle (he also plays mandolin and sings harmony) is an essential component of these songs including “Dollar in My Hand,” another song that recalls a previous time while highlighting current conditions. Colin Swan (banjo and harmonies) and Luke Richardson (double bass and harmonies) round out The Stetson Family.

‘Unpredictable’ is actually a fine description for this recording—unlike on many albums, both mainstream and otherwise, one doesn’t anticipate many of the rhymes, lyrical paths, and instrumental changes. There is always something fresh around the corner.

With “Mama’s Gonna Take You Home” pleasingly reminiscent of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” The Stetson Family’s The Stars, If You Look Closely comes to a thoroughly satisfying conclusion, one rich in surprising turns and insightful lyrical choices.