The dynamic trio will be strutting their stuff on Independence Day at Houston’s Freedom Over Texas event.
Country artists Chapel Hart — sisters Danica and Devyn Hart, first cousin Trea Swindle — will be adding their own brand of fireworks to the party when they’re showcased on stage July 4 at Houston’s outdoor Freedom Over Texas celebration.
It’s the latest item on their bucket list that the rising stars first started checking off since their salad days as buskers on the streets of New Orleans. The down-home dynamos have continued to wow audiences with appearances on America’s Got Talent, where they received the show’s second ever “Group Golden Buzzer,” and at the Grand Ole Opry, where they received multiple four standing ovations for their debut performance.
Among Chapel Hart’s admirers: Dolly Parton, who was amused and approving when Chapel Hart released “You Can Have Him Jolene,” an answer song to the country music queen’s classic “Jolene,” and the late Loretta Lynn, who personally reached out to the ladies from Poplarville, Mississippi to request a similar response to her own hit, “Fist City.”
We caught up with Chapel Hart shortly after their June appearance at the CMA Fest in Nashville. Here are some highlights from our conversation, edited for brevity and clarity.
Cowboys & Indians: Is it true you ladies started out by busking on Bourbon Street in New Orleans?
Trea Swindle: You’re right, we literally got our start with what I like to call the most honest crowd you’ll ever play in front of. Because when you’re busking, 100 percent of the people are either headed somewhere or coming from somewhere. So the fact that we were able to set up with an old raggedy keyboard and start singing, and have the streets literally fill up to the point where the cops have to shoo people out of the way — I think that was our first little notion that we might have something going here.
C&I: Did you find the New Orleans crowds preferred country or pop/rock?
Danica Hart: I imagine if we had better sense, we would’ve gone to Nashville to do country music at the start. But I think we cracked the code a bit in New Orleans. I didn't find too many [locals] who were interested in country music, but we would always get people from South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee who would come to New Orleans on vacation. We would set up the keyboard outside and sing “Islands In the Stream,” and people would stop and clap and sing along. So we were able to sing our country songs and people were drawn to the music.
C&I: And for the locals?
Danica: [Laughs] We ended up just doing an iPod shuffle of songs. Just a lot of the songs that we liked and grew up on that we fell in love with.
“That’s why I always say, people can tell us we suck every day of the week, but Dolly and Loretta think that we’re great.” — Trea Swindle
C&I: Who would you say are your major influences in terms of not only singing individually, but harmonizing?
Trea: I’ll start it off because I think that might be a three-part question. But I have to say, as individual singers, I’m a little more old school. Like I say, give me Hank, give me Willie, give me Johnny. But as far as the harmonies go, well, you can also give me the Highwaymen. But there’s absolutely no denying groups like Alabama. We grew up on them, listening to them, singing all their songs. And we even got a chance to sing with Alabama last year at June Jam. That was definitely one of those bucket list moments. Because there’s just something about those southern bands and those sweet, tight harmonies.
Devynn Hart: With Danica being my sister, I listened to a lot of the same things she listened to, so I learned to love me some Gretchen Wilson. I love everything about her. I love her music. We also got to see her at CMA Fest in June. We got to sit down and talk with her for a while, and just catch up and chat. I know she plays a huge role in a lot of our songwriting styles.
Danica: I always liked late ‘90s, early 2000s country. I loved Garth, Tricia, Shania. And Rascal Flatts — always intrigued by group harmonies. First of all, I could never have imagined I was going to be a singer. And I definitely couldn’t imagine that I was going to have a career being able to sing those types of harmonies.
C&I: Dolly Parton emphatically approved of “You Can Have Him, Jolene,” the “answer song” to her classic hit. But were you surprised when Loretta Lynn asked you to take her “Fist City” and do something similar?
Devynn: We were so shocked. Because earlier that day we got the tweet from Dolly, and that alone sent us into this screaming fit for about an hour. And not even an hour later, Loretta turned around and she said, “I love what you did with Dolly’s song. I would love if you girls did it to one of my songs.” That was such a moment that we did not expect whatsoever. Not only did she give us the big ups, but she also challenged us to do the same thing to one of her songs, which I thought was just the coolest thing in the world.
C&I: And that’s how “Welcome to Fist City” came about?
Devynn: Well, you couldn’t really tell Loretta no.
Trea: I think it doesn’t get more epic than that to us. The two biggest female names in country music reached out, accepting who are. I believe the reason that women thrive in country music like they do is because of those two, together. And the fact that both of them were like, “Girls, come on. We love this.” Wow. That’s why I always say, people can tell us we suck every day of the week, but Dolly and Loretta think that we’re great.
