In Partnership with Wild Turkey

Having emerged from a makeshift recording studio in their parents’ living room to become multi-platinum recording artists, Angus & Julia Stone know the importance of trusting one’s spirit better than anyone. Over the last 20 years (yes, it’s been that long), the sibling duo have reset the landscape of Australian music, re-establishing the folk sound in the country’s musical mainstream while pursuing a sound that’s unapologetically, unmistakably theirs. 

Now, onstage at Sydney’s Abercrombie Hotel in front of an intimate crowd for Wild Turkey Bourbon’s House of  Music 101, Angus & Julia reflect on the lessons two decades of working their way to the very upper echelons of the music industry have taught them. The son and daughter of aspiring entertainers, the Stones had the creative backing of their parents, but had to scrap their way to the top in an era where folk music’s mainstream appeal was, as hard as it is to believe today, almost non-existent. 

“We had to move over to London to find our audience,” recalls Julia. “It ended up being that the first places that worked for us were France and England. We just loved making music and writing songs, and it always felt like if we just kept writing, it would work out somehow, whatever that looked like.”

“We had to earn our reps,” says Angus. “We used to ride the bus to shows – guitars, drum kit and double bass in tow. Then we bought a 600 pound minivan that got broken into twice. We experienced some true grit in that time, but it got us ready to come back to Australia feeling prepared to take the next step.”

Hard knocks tend to define the career of every budding musician, regardless of background. House of Music 101 is a celebration not just of perseverance through the challenges of those precarious few years pursuing a creative career, but the conviction and courage it takes to trust your vision as forces beyond you seek to remold it. It’s this lesson that the Stones have, among other precious pieces of advice, given to 10 hand-picked mentees as part of Wild Turkey’s music mentorship programme for 2024. 

“Something that we were relaying to the guys today is that we were fortunate when we started that we had people around us that really believed in our music. Our parents were very much in that space of supporting us with whatever creative pursuits we embarked upon. It gave us a real natural confidence when we started. So for us, trusting our spirit was trusting that how we were making music was good enough.”

Alongside the siblings, we watched as five of these mentees took the stage on night one to perform new and old material in front of a handpicked crowd of media, musicians, and Rolling Stone AU/NZ competition winners. First on the stage is Tanya George, whose electric vocals, lyrical candour, and knack for creating infectious vocal loops has earned her adulation on the global busking scene. “They [Angus & Julia] taught me to lean into the contrast of my work,” says George, “and to really embrace who I am.”

Next up is Newcastle-based singer-songwriter Angela Rose, whose crooning country voice and razor sharp lyrics take on personal trauma and life as an emerging artist in a hostile landscape. She’s followed by Whiskey Jack – an old soul in a young man’s body whose songcraft takes in the finest, most poetic details of country life.

As people settle in with a Wild Turkey cocktail, Matt Boylan Smith arrives onstage, proving, even after a decade of performing his signature brand of grunge-y indie folk around the world, you’re never too old to take that next step, learn new lessons, and trust your spirit. “To have two people as successful as they are say that they went through the same doubt as us, it’s refreshing. It normalises how I feel.”

Trusting your spirit is often about having the courage to shake things up and embark on a new journey – something final performer Boleyn has learned in launching a solo project away from his up-and-coming indie band False London. Even so, his vulnerable songwriting, stage presence, and pop-inflected flair has caught the attention not just of the Stone siblings, but Troye Sivan, who invited him to a songwriting camp last year.

There’s an undeniable sense in the room that all five performers are destined for big things in their chosen fields, even as they come to embrace different styles of songcraft. Whether making soulful pop or crooning folk, what binds them all is authenticity. The lesson they all harken back to is trusting your spirit, embodied by the story of two mentors held on to a creative vision through thick and thin, eventually becoming icons. After all, if they can do it, why shouldn’t anyone else?

Wild Turkey Trust Your Spirit.

Remember to drinkwise.