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Taken from - COUNTRY MUSIC CAPITAL NEWS MARCH 2005
BRAND NEW STEPS
The title of JEAN STAFFORD's first studio album in over a decade, Let The Dance Begin, is a poignant re-introduction to one of Australian country music's first ladies of song.
There has been a discernable excitement amongst the legion of JEAN STAFFORD fans in the last year. After a prolonged absence from live performance, she has made an occasional return to the stage, eliciting whispers about a new album in the wind. And from the other end of the scale, the recent re-release through the new Bellbird Music label of Jean's first two albums for Hadley Records, Flowers For Mama and Jean Stafford, has further reignited interest.
In many ways, Let The Dance Begin really is a new beginning, or certainly a new and exciting phase in a career that has not always been choreographed as perfectly as Jean would have wanted.
Following an enormously successful period that started with her debut Hadley album Flowers For Mama in 1975, and encompassing ten popular albums and three Golden Guitars, Jean really was at a pinnacle in her professional life.
In the early 90s she recorded what many consider her finest album, That Says It All. Jean continued to tour relentlessly, but in the midnineties, the steps began to falter.
"It was 1996," Jean recollects. "Things weren't working quite as I planned on the road - it was getting to me mentally, so I stopped and took a complete look at everything that was going on around me and said 'that's it - I can't do it. After this tour, it's over'.
"I was mentally tired, physically run down - I could hardly walk - and went through a six month rebuilding period." But during that time, Jean discovered new strengths through an avenue that really surfaced through that tough time - her songwriting.
"I found that there was so much inside me to come out in my music," said Jean. "I needed to get away, work on it, and cultivate it and bring it to where it is today."
Over her 25 year career, Jean Stafford had recorded some wonderful songs by great songwriters, but this new phase was intensely personal.
"What makes it different is it that you can really express yourself," explains Jean "I've recorded some beautifully written songs especially on That Says It All.
"But the songs that I'm writing myself now are so much the heart and soul of me. They're a part of my history, my family, my friends and my life.
"There are parts of me I can't explain in words, but can write them in a song."
And write them she has. Jean arrived in Nashville last year with a final selection of songs for her new album that represented "six or seven years of heart and soul".
?I initially had well over 30 of my own songs to pick from," remembers Jean. "Choosing the ten to record was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
The final selection is a wonderful window into the new Jean Stafford - songs that are pure country, honest, emotive, and often elegant in their simplicity, but also with some very strong messages.
"They are basically songs about everyday life," says Jean.
But everyday life has its tougher sides, and Jean delves into that on cuts like the opening track I'm Goin' Crazy, and She's Not A Fallen Angel.
There are some real heart wrenchers on the album, but just when you think all hope is lost, along comes a gem like the perfect wedding song, Let The Dance Begin, or the powerful God's Creations.
"There was one song that absolutely had to be on the album, and in some ways a statement about these last ten years.
"God's Creations is a song that's deep within my heart. It talks about things that are going on in the world, and a lot of things that we miss in our everyday life. So many natural experiences that God provides are free - and we so easily forget that there is a simple life and to be part of it."
Musically the album is excellent - Jean's vocals retain that distinctive quality that positions her still as one of our greatest country voices - and the studio musicians are a who's who from the Nashville A-list.
Guitarist BRENT MASON, pedal steel virtuosos LLOYD GREEN and JOHN HUGHEY, fiddle player STUART DUNCAN, pianist "PIG" ROBBINS - all legendary musicians in their own right - and just melding perfectly throughout the album.
And nowhere do they click better than on the first radio single Steelin' The 2 Step. Vintage Jean Stafford vocals underlaid by some of the best playing you'll ever hear - these pickers are having a great time and it shows.
Jean gives a lot of credit to producer and Pedal Steel Hall of Fame member JIMMIE CRAWFORD.
"I owe a lot to Jimmie's belief in me and his continued support over the years since we first worked together on the Slim Whitman show in Australia back in the 80s," says Jean.
The whole album has a real freshness and spontaneity to it, and technically Jean can take plenty of credit for that as well. Part way through the recording, producer Jimmie fell ill, and Jean was thrust headlong into the production role.
"I hated Jimmie not being there, and frankly I was scared," says Jean.
"But it brought out a side of me I never thought I was capable of," she added. "It gave me a chance also to express myself in a way I never dreamed.
"These were my songs and I knew what I wanted - I'd lived with these songs for two or three years. It's like having your first child - you're there from the beginning, and suddenly it all seems very natural."
"I'm so happy with this album, and proud of it. This is the real Jean Stafford - every bit a part of me. The break did me the world of good."
So let the dance begin.
MIKE SMITH
FOOTNOTE: Sadly the last waltz played for producer Jimmie Crawford who passed away on 2 February, 2005. See page 42 for his farewell.
COUNTRY MUSIC CAPITAL NEWS MARCH 2005
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