Country music just sounds better when a family sings it. That’s where it all began: mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, all huddled together, picking and singing on a porch in the twilight.
That’s why when The French Family launch into the bittersweet ache of a classic or the startling tenderness of one of their self-penned original songs, the hairs on country music loving necks stand up, and we instinctively––sometimes tearfully––recognize this father, mother, and son as the real thing.
“We’ve just got to stay true to who we are and what we do,” mother Camille French says. “We’ve always done that––and we won’t change.” Camille is reflecting on a two-decade long career with her husband Stuie at the family’s new home in Nashville, oceans away from their childhood worlds where they both fell in love with country music and ultimately, mastered it.
Touring over the last almost 20 years as Camille and Stuie, the duo became beloved in Australia. They earned three Australian Golden Guitar Awards––that country’s equivalent to the CMAs. The Golden Guitars have recognized both their singing and playing: In 2013, the couple earned their first trophy together for Best Alternative Country Album of the Year, while in 2017, Stuie received Best Instrumental Album honors for his stunning Axe to Swing. Now as the French Family Band they earned their first Golden Guitar Award for Instrumental of the Year from their album "Me and Dad". Two of the pair’s original songs––“Gone for All Money” and “Pretty Katalina”––were also featured on the wildly popular Australian television drama A Place to Call Home and in 2022 the French Family were featured in a National Holiday Season television campaign for the JC Penney Department store chain.
Nashville noticed. Grammy-winning Western Swing maestros The Time Jumpers invited Stuie and Camille to sit in at the group’s 3rd & Lindsley residency. That night, grinning widely and dazzling both a crowd already accustomed to greatness and their fellow musicians on stage, Stuie and Camille realized dreams that had begun in grade school.
Stuie grew up in Tasmania. He felt drawn to the guitar and his father and big brother’s old Johnny Cash records. “The guitar was so prominent and dominant on those records that I just wanted to learn it,” Stuie says. “We had an old Yahama acoustic guitar. Then in the mid-70s, my brother went and bought me an electric. He was a mechanic and didn’t have much money, but he bought me a guitar.”
Stuie became a monster player with chops that sublimely meld the virtuosity and instinct of jazz with the clear tone and restraint of American hillbilly roots music. Also a fine singer, his vocals nod to the gentle ease of Western swing greats such as Tommy Duncan. Stuie’s prodigious skill led to high-profile sideman gigs with Australia’s top touring artists, as well as recognition from his own heroes including Tommy Emmanuel, who asked Stuie to serve as a tutor at the Tommy Emmanuel Guitar Camp Australia, and Les Paul, who invited Stuie on stage to play with him in New York. Stuie also toured and jammed with his idol Merle Haggard on the latter’s Australian tour as a member of the opening band.
Camille, née Camille Te Nahu, was raised in New Zealand. A Maori whose mother was also part Samoan, Camille grew up immersed in a tight-knit familial culture that encouraged singing and dancing. Her voice, somehow both crisply expressive and immeasurably rich and smooth, can sit back to soothe in a pocket before jumping out to thrill. “I fell in love with country music,” Camille says. “From a very early age, I just knew it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.” Camille made her way to Australia, where gigs as a backup vocalist for established greats including Kasey Chambers family soon followed. She never forgot her roots––and they never forgot her. Years later, New Zealand television series Unsung Heroes of Maori Musicwould devote an entire episode to Camille.
Stuie and Camile toured as sidemen for top Australian acts and often opened those shows together for two years before deciding to go out on their own, as a pair. “Once we got together, I always thought he was too good to be in the background––and he thought I was too good to be in the background,” Camille says with a laugh. “So we joined forces just to see where it took us.”
“It’s hard to do on your own,” Stuie adds. “But together, you can.”
While Camille and Stuie first turned heads delivering unforgettable renditions of others’ songs, they found even broader acclaim when they decided to write their own. The first song they wrote together, “Beverly Joy,” pays moving tribute to Stuie’s mother––and instantaneously established them as a songwriting force. They performed the song the same week they wrote it at an intimate show. “Of all the songs we did that night––and we did our best covers––that was the one that brought tears to people’s eyes,” Stuie says. “We didn’t tell anyone it was our song. Afterwards, we said to each other, ‘Wow. We wrote that song. We didn’t tell anyone––they just understood.’” He pauses. “It made me realize that we could write songs.”
Stuie and Camille were right. They were both too good to be buried behind anyone, and together, they’ve proven artistically unstoppable. They’re also parents to three children, but it’s been 16-year-old Sonny who transformed a successful duo into The French Family. “He was about three when he first started singing, and even from that early age, he could sing in pitch,” Camille says. “His timing and pitch were just too good to be true. Then, by the time he was six or seven, he was doing harmony. I’ve made my living as a harmony singer, but I’ve never had anybody who locks in with me quite like he does.”
Camille and Sonny singing together is a joy––a gorgeous throwback to early country’s familial harmonies that also pulses with youth and new energy. Sonny has picked up the guitar as well, and twinning on stage with his father has become the norm. “I love the melodies and the songwriting––and the guitar playing, especially,” Sonny says of classic country music. When asked for a list of his favorite artists, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, George Jones, and Glen Campbell come to his mind first. The industry has begun to take note: USA Gibson Guitars recently invited Sonny to be part of an international mix of promising young musicians dubbed the Gibson Generation Group (G3).
2023 is off to a great start for The French Family Band with an invitation to make their debut at the Grand Ole Opry this coming spring.
Now performing as The French Family, Camille, Stuie, and Sonny are acclimating to life stateside––deep roots in tow. “I love being able to share our family music with people,” says Camille. “I think people crave it. They come up and tell me how much they love seeing the love among our family and what we do––and I love being able to share that with everybody.”
Stuie agrees, adding, “We hope our music takes people back to a time when the essence of country music was twangy guitars, honest songs, and vocals that tear your heart out.”
