Name: Brother Elsey
Members: Brady Stabelin (vocals, guitar), Beau Stabelin (bass), Jack Stablein (lead guitar), Dalton Thomas (drums)
Interviewee: Brady Stabelin
Nationality: American
Current release: Brother Elsey's self-titled debut album is out January 31st 2025 via River House.

If you enjoyed this Brother Elsey interview and would like to know more about the band and their music, visit their official homepage. They are also on Instagram, and Facebook.  



Do you think that some of your earliest musical experiences planted a seed for your interest in writing lyrics or poetry? How and when did you start writing?

The earliest memory we have of songwriting being “something,” we were riding in our dad's car and listening to “Jungleland” by Bruce Springsteen.



He told us, “Close your eyes, listen to the picture he’s painting” - barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a dodge, drinking a warm beer in the soft summer rain - visualizing that I think is burned in all of our brains and sparked some curiosity in writing anything close to that.

Maybe a few years later, we all wrote a song together (Dad included) for a talent show in 5th grade and from then on we knew we wanted to be in a band and make music together.

Obviously, the songs were not great back then, but we tried like we were phenoms. We spent hours and hours writing, fighting and learning with each other.

Entering new worlds and escapism through music and literature have always exerted a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to writing?

We have an opportunity to patch together moments in music (paint the picture), and that ability seems to be a real magic we all have the opportunity to possess, or at the very least, enjoy. It’s about as close to a true cornerstone of living as anything.

And the coolest part to me is the mystery of it all. Maybe there are some studies that show the chemical release in our minds and how that relates to the patterns of melody and our emotions, but to really feel something in music is purely human. There's no way to explain it away with words and that's wild and mysterious and just so damn cool.    

What were some of the artists and albums which inspired you early on purely on the strength of their lyrics? What moves you in the lyrics of other artists?

The earliest would definitely be Springsteen, and that worked its way into more vaguely poetic lyrics from bands like Wilco and then on to the raw and visceral stuff written by Jason Isbell.



These artists I think had a massive impact on us all when we were trying to figure out who we are and where to go.

When I hear a melody with a string of effortlessly honest words, and it feels like there's never been another way to sing them and there never will be, that's moving to me.

Have there been song lyrics which actually made you change (aspects of) your life? If so, what do you think, leant them that power?

Went to see Noah Gundersen and Ruston Kelly last night in Nashville. I think hearing artists that have “gone through it” in a way puts things into perspective.

How can I heed others' warnings, learn from the people around me to do better than I am right now? Can anybody do better by listening to others? I’m not sure but it made me want to try at least.  

What are areas/themes/topics that you keep returning to in your lyrics?

Love and loss, self-sabotage, death, getting older. These topics change, I think, with the seasons of your life.

It's exciting to see what might come up in contrast to what we’ve written in the past. The more you live the more these thematic fixations change.    

Do you tend to start writing with what will be the first line of the finished lyrics? The chorus? At a random point? What are the words that set the process in motion?

It usually just starts randomly, if something is compelling enough it's worth the chase to where it’ll end up. It all just depends on the initial idea I guess?

Melody usually comes first and in most cases, it's accompanied by a broken English mumble that hopefully will lead to something special. It's almost like a big cube of clay, throw it enough times on the floor and something is bound to inspire a starting point.  

When you're writing song lyrics, do you sense or see a connection between your voice and the text? Does it need to feel and sound “good” or “right” to sing certain words? What's your perspective in this regard of singing someone else's songs versus your own?

There's definitely a connection to the words and the voice. I think there's a massive difference in the way Jeff Tweedy would sing a song about a breakup versus how Ray Charles would.

Both incredible and rightfully respected, but their voices and their words are what make them who they are.