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Loretta lynn

Country trio Chapel Hart — sisters Danica and Devynn Hart and their cousin Trea Swindle — have spent so much time on the road lately that they jokingly say they have added a new member to their family act: their tour bus. They’ve affectionately named it “Ruby.”

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“Fans will come to our shows and our meet-and-greet lines and show us photos of themselves standing in front of Ruby,” lead singer Danica tells Billboard. “I don’t know what we’re gonna do when it’s time for us to upgrade from this bus. I don’t know if our fans will allow that. We might have to tell them Ruby’s getting a makeover,” she jokes.

“Or we’ll have to be like, ‘This is Ruby’s Fam Damily, this is her son,’” adds Devynn, nodding to the act’s upcoming album track of the same name.

The New Orleans-based, Mississippi-born trio’s third studio album, Glory Days, out May 19, blends tightly-woven, family harmonies with straight-from-the-heart lyrics. “It’s not a dressed up, painted up perception of anything that we’re going through — it just is what it is,” Trea says. “Like in our song ‘Fam Damily,’ everybody’s got family members they don’t want to talk about.”

Glory Days brings fans deeper into the trio’s story and Southern roots, with songs such as “Home Is Where the Hart Is,” which namechecks several of their childhood friends, as well as a favorite Poplarville, Miss. restaurant Ward’s, known for its chili cheeseburgers and root beer.

“It’s a Mississippi thing right now, but we’re trying to make this a global situation,” Trea adds of their aim.

Chapel Hart’s new album follows its 2019 debut Out the Mud and 2021’s The Girls Are Back in Town. That same year, they were named to CMT’s Next Women of Country class.

Their breakthrough came in July 2022, when Chapel Hart performed on America’s Got Talent, offering their original song, “You Can Have Him Jolene,” an answer to Dolly Parton’s 1973 classic, “Jolene.” The electrifying rendition landed the trio a spot in the AGT finals. After the performance, accolades rolled in from not only Parton herself, but Tanya Tucker and Darius Rucker, the latter of whom invited Chapel Hart to record “Ol’ Church Hymn” with him on his upcoming album.

But that wasn’t all. Loretta Lynn also offered praise — and laid down a challenge for the trio.

“I love it, ladies,” Lynn wrote on Twitter. “Now I’m wondering what you might be able to do with one of my songs!”

The trio took the charge seriously, penning Glory Days’ “Welcome to Fist City,” an homage to and an extension of Lynn’s 1968 song “Fist City.” Less than three months following Chapel Hart’s AGT performance, Lynn died at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, at the age of 90. Though Lynn never got to hear “Welcome to Fist City,” Chapel Hart wanted to pay homage to Lynn’s legacy.

With “Fist City,” “Loretta was like, ‘Girl, I’m gonna grab you by the hair of your head. Don’t play with me.’ We thought, ‘Okay, how are we going to flip this?’ So we decided to extend the story,” Danica says. “It’s great because some of Loretta’s fans are showing up to shows or saying things like, ‘She would be so proud.’ It’s hard to not be emotional when you read things like that because you’re introducing a new generation to her music who probably had not heard it.”

In the short while since that breakthrough AGT performance, the trio has kept momentum, making its Grand Ole Opry debut last year and in April performing on the CMT Music Awards.

As the sole writers on approximately half of the new album, Devynn, Trea and Danica were less concerned with cramming the set with radio-friendly hits and more focused on creating a cohesive album that brings fans deeper into their journey.

“After performing a completely original song [on America’s Got Talent] and being received like that — not just nationally, but globally — it let us know that our writing is enough,” says Devynn. “Our experiences are translating with other people.”

Taking influence from the unvarnished, story-centric writing styles of Parton and Lynn, the trio began writing Glory Days with one audience in mind: their fans.

“Even with The Girls Are Back in Town, it was authentically Chapel Hart, but we were also like, ‘Do we think this sound would be good for radio?’ We were really trying to fit in,” says Danica. “But with this record, we just want to tell our stories, tell our experiences. We want to let the wall down and let them in a bit more.”

On “Perfect For Me,” written with Leslie Satcher, they pay homage to a lover who may not be flashy, but is hardworking and dependable. “If You Ain’t Wearing Boots” — the result of an “eight-hour write” between the trio and Steve O’Brien — takes listeners to Pop Hill, a towering hill in their hometown where they’ve often slowed things down and taken in life while watching the sun set.

“We went through like, 50 concepts before we landed on this song,” says Danica. “It paints a picture of how we were raised. It is one of our favorites on the album — it’s like the difference in how you can cook a meal in 20 minutes and it’d be good, but it’s those Sunday dinners that grandma started on Saturday night. That’s the kind of difference this is.”

In addition to the trio’s whirlwind album release schedule, they continue adding new performance dates, including CMA Fest in Nashville, Alabama’s June Jam in Fort Payne, Ala., and Nashville’s Concert for Love and Acceptance. To date, Chapel Hart’s catalog has tallied 9.6 million on-demand official U.S. streams, according to Luminate.

“Everything feels like a pinch-me moment,” Devin says. “Every time we start processing something amazing that has happened in our career, something else incredible will happen. We’re just super blessed and honored for all the doors that have been opened and it’s awesome to be in the conversation.”

The 56th annual CMA Awards took over Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (Nov. 9), and the country music celebration kicked off with a special tribute to the late Loretta Lynn, who died Oct. 4 at age 90.

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The commemoration began with video footage of Lynn at the Ryman Auditorium in 1972, where she accepted her CMA entertainer of the year award, becoming the first woman to take home the Country Music Association’s highest honor.

Carrie Underwood then stepped onstage to honor the Country Music Hall of Fame member with a performance of her 1966 hit “You Ain’t Woman Enough,” before Miranda Lambert sang “Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’.” Reba McEntire then took over by performing Lynn’s 1971 track “You’re Lookin’ at Country,” sweetly switching up the lyrics at one point to sing, “If you’re looking at Loretta, you’re looking at country.”

The superstar trio then came together to wrap up the tribute with a powerful performance of one of Lynn’s most beloved hits, 1971’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” as photos of Lynn with a variety of artists, including Dolly Parton, Lambert, Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson flashed across the screen.

The 2022 CMA Awards will feature a number of other major collaborations, including Elle King joining the Black Keys to perform “Great Balls of Fire” in honor of the late Country Music Hall of Fame member Jerry Lee Lewis. Thomas Rhett will pair with Katy Perry for their collaboration “Where We Started,” while Chris Stapleton will share the stage with Patty Loveless for a rendition of “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.”

See our list of CMA winners here.

George Strait, Brandi Carlile, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Little Big Town and Wynonna are among the artists who will pay tribute to Loretta Lynn on Oct. 30 during Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Celebration of the Life and Music of Loretta Lynn.
The event, helmed by CMT and Sandbox Productions in partnership with the late legend’s family, will air live and commercial-free on CMT at 7 p.m. ET from Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. Lynn, 90, died at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tenn., on Oct. 4.

Hosted by NBC’s Today show co-host and family friend Jenna Bush Hager, the evening will also include performances and appearances from Barbara Mandrell, Lynn’s sister Crystal Gayle, Darius Rucker, Emmy Russell & Lukas Nelson, Faith Hill, Margo Price, Martina McBride, Sheryl Crow, Tanya Tucker, The Highwomen (Carlile, Amanda Shires, Natalie Hemby and Brittney Spencer) and more artists to be announced later. 

“We are truly honored to work closely alongside Loretta’s family to create a celebration of life fit for a true queen of country music, Loretta Lynn,” said CMT’s senior vp of production, music & events Margaret Comeaux and senior vp of music strategy and talent Leslie Fram, who serve as executive producers along with Sandbox’s Jason Owen, Ladypants Productions’ Patrizia DiMaria, Lynn’s daughter and manager Patsy Lynn Russell and Essential Broadcast Media’s Ebie McFarland. “She was a true original, a woman who always sang from her heart, never shied away from challenging the status quo and blazed the path forward for her fellow female artists. From her firecracker spirit and signature musicality to her unmistakable country style and unparalleled authenticity, we look forward to honoring her in the best way we know how: sharing stories and songs with her family, friends and the legions of fans she loved dearly.”

Lynn, whose hardscrabble life story was turned into the 1980 Oscar-winning biopic Coal Miner’s Daughter, recorded 16 No. 1 singles and was among country music’s pioneering female artists. 

The memorial service comes five months after CMT and Sandbox joined together to honor the life and career of another Nashville icon, Naomi Judd, for a similar televised live event. Judd died April 30 at age 76. 

Also coming from CMT is Nov. 8’s Next Women of Country: Celebrating the Songs of Loretta Lynn showcase at City Winery Nashville. Fram and Wendy Moten will co-host the evening, featuring performances in the round from Bowen + Young, Brooke Eden, Caylee Hammack, Erin Enderlin, Miko Marks, Sacha, Stephanie Quayle and Tiera Kennedy.

CMT dedicated its Oct. 14 broadcast of the 2022 CMT Artists of the Year celebration to Lynn’s memory, with her sisters Gayle and Peggy Sue Wright delivering an emotional performance of “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” and with special presentations from McBride and Tucker.

Two additional commercial-free encores of the Oct. 30 celebration will air on CMT on Nov. 2 at 8 p.m. ET and Nov. 6 at 11 a.m. ET.  The special will also be made available on Paramount+ in early 2023.