NASHVILLE SPECIAL 2024: THE CASTELLOWS' SISTERLY BOND CONJURES POWERFUL MUSIC
Not since The Judds or The Chicks has “family harmony” had the kind of punch delivered by The Castellows, three sisters from Georgetown, Georgia. Homeschooled and raised on a cattle farm, they sang and played as a hobby, mostly at church, family gatherings and local events. But the wispy harmonies, the acoustic-forward arrangements, the small-town values create a sound for wide-open hearts living beyond the urban rush.
The Balkcom sisters—guitarist Ellie, banjoist Powell and lead singer Lily—found deep individualism musically and personally in their homeschooling. Twenty-year-old Ellie and Powell, triplets with their brother Henry, attended the University of Georgia. Powell, who has a degree in agriculture, can artificially inseminate a cow, while Ellie, who studied management information systems, can speak Korean. Youngest sister Lily, 19, took to the skies and earned her pilot’s license. All were on separate paths to different dreams, until their celestial covers exploded online.
A Little Goes a Long Way, their seven-song Warner Music Nashville/Warner Records debut, shows the sweetness of blood harmonies, the stirring nature of picking-driven tracks and songs culled from these young women’s lives. Produced by Trina Shoemaker, known for her work with Sheryl Crow, Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile, Long Way has a freshness that draws listeners to it. Never mind the three sisters are supermodel pretty and eschew the high-glam, sex-slam looks that so many young females flex, the proof is in the music.
Taking their great-grandmother’s maiden name, The Castellows grew up on Alan Jackson, folk music and hard rock. But their sound derives as much from Gillian Welch, Patty Griffin or Alison Krauss’ take on Southern acoustic music as anything.
Beyond a cover of the Louisiana-strong “Hurricane,” made Americana-famous by Levon Helm but written by Jackson producer Keith Stegall, Nashville Songwriter Hall of Famer Thom Schuyler and the late Stewart Harris, the Castellows took a strong hand in writing their EP. Recognizing that not just their sound, but their life experience, was unique, “No. 7 Road” is literally an homage to walking the dirt road to their grandmother’s home, offering moments and images of a family that’s been on the land, around the kitchen table and on a back-porch swing for generations.
Whether the cowboy-tinged electric guitar and percolating tempo of “Heartline Hill,” the sweeping minor-key metaphor for life, love and the road “I Know It’ll Never End” or the misty realism of the almost-whispered “The Part Where You Break My Heart” that erupts into full tempest force, The Castellows know folk/country doesn’t mean meek or mild. They create tension and urgency with adroit delivery.
Even more thrilling is seeing the ground-up build beyond social media. Signing with Make Wake Artist’s Chris Kappy for management, they planned a solid roots tour, which included 21 headlining dates in rock, roots and college rooms across the country. There were two flash sellouts at Atlanta’s Eddie’s Attic and Raleigh’s The Pour House Music Hall & Record Shop, as well as imminent sell-outs at Ann Arbor’s The Blind Pig, House of Blues Cleveland, Birmingham’s Zydeco, Oxford, Miss.’s Proud Larry’s and Athens’ 40 Watt Club.
As the genre is tacking back towards its roots and more authentic-to-the artist writing, The Castellows are poised to capitalize on it all. Beyond having spent the time to be able to genuinely play their instruments, they’re washed in the same kind of life experience as Lainey Wilson and bring it to their writing, often with the crème du femmes of Music Row, Hillary Lindsey and Natalie Hemby.
Certainly “No. 7 Road,” at radio now, suggests a new world for country music to inhabit. Beyond the truck beds, bonfire parties and drunk boys chasing girls in Daisy Dukes, The Castellows—with the banjo forward, a classic country guitar part, fiddle in all the right places and their winsome harmonies—have created a place to settle in and stay a while.
