Sisters Natalia, Christina and Hannah Morris make up the talented country trio Southern Halo. Originally from the small town of Cleveland, Mississippi, the sisters have now relocated to Nashville where we had a chance to meet up with them at CMA Fest.
On their move to Nashville, Hannah says, “Nashville’s such a big city, but really it’s a small town. Because you know everyone really. Once you know somebody, you know everybody.” With a full schedule ahead of them at CMA Fest with performances on the CMA Spotlight Stage and at Tin Roof, autograph signings, and interviews, the sisters were excited about connecting with fans. Hannah added, “We just can’t wait to meet everybody and play. We just love to play. It’s our favorite time of the year.”
With Natalia as the principal songwriter and on guitar and piano, Christina on drums, and Hannah on bass, these sisters are all things Southern. The write catchy Country pop songs about the South spreading positive messages through songs like “Anything is Possible” and “Getting Back Up.” Their latest album Just Like In The Movies was released features 14 songs about love, loneliness, “tom girls,” and not giving up.
We sat down the girls at CMA Fest to talk about their new music, sisterhood, and Southern hospitality.
Tell us about your single, “Anything is Possible.”
Hannah: Anything is possible. It’s literally plain and simple, but we love it so much. We wanted to send out a good message that was fun and positive. We needed it personally. We think our fans will enjoy it. It’s a good message to spread to them as well.
Natalia: It means the world to us. We released it early in the year, and it is still going well right now. We’ve been on the road every single week since we released it. We are heading to New York next week for more radio tours, and to the Radio Disney Music Awards the week after that, so, we’re just staying busy.
What about your latest album?
Natalia: So, we actually just released the second new album called Just Like in the Movies and it’s a month old and we are so excited about it so far. We just love every single song in the album like a child.
Christina: We have 14 original tracks, 10 of which Natalia co-wrote or wrote by herself. We are so proud of her for that.
Natalia: It’s actually a concept album. We’ve been obsessed with the concept ideas since we were really babies because we were brought up listening to all the classics on vinyl. So, I actually had a dream one night and I told my sisters about it. Long story short, right after that, we started writing a movie script with dialogue and everything. Then days later, we were like, ‘why don’t we just make the new album?’ A soundtrack to the movie script, hence Just Like in the Movies was born.
Will you be making any music videos to go along with it?
Christina: Actually, yes. We’ve done one, so we have 13 more to go.
Natalia: Yes, we are. We are doing a whole 14 series of music videos that we want our fans to be able to follow from the beginning to the end and be able to watch a whole strung out movie.
Hannah: Yes, we just finished the first one, “Anything is Possible.”
How long do you think it will take before they’re all done.?
Christina: Wow. A while.
Natalia: We’re thinking by the end of this year or early 2019 everything will be said and done. The crazy thing is, not only do we have a lot of music videos to film, we are also a band staying on the road.
Christina: But that’s plan.
Are you releasing this on YouTube or …
Natalia: Yes, they will be on YouTube. You will be able to watch the videos as they are done. When they’re all said and done, they will be strung together and just be one movie, or you can still watch them separately.
That’s great. What a cool concept. Should be a lot of fun.
Natalia: We’re very excited about it. It’s definitely something new that we’re doing along with traveling.
Tell us about your endorsements.
Natalia: We’re endorsed by Gibson guitars, which is awesome because Hannah loves her Gibson bass.
Hannah: Yes, it’s my favorite.
Natalia: I have a fun little sunburst, beautiful J45 Gibson guitar. It has actual koa wood on the back, so-
Christina: It’s her baby.
Natalia: Yeah, I love it.
Hannah: And it’s very convenient having an endorsement with Gibson because anytime we travel, like when we went to perform in London, we went to the Gibson factory, and they just gave us instruments. They’re so helpful. We love them.
Christina: They just lent us their equipment. It’s just so easy working with Gibson. We love them.
Natalia: They’re the coolest. They’ll ship us some guitars and basses for photo shoots, too. And when we played in L.A. for the Grammy Rooftop Party, they let us borrow some guitars. It’s a great sponsorship.
That’s right, I remember when we spoke last year, you were heading to the British County Music Association Awards.
Natalia: That’s right! Because we had just released the first album, Southern Halo.
Yes. How was the trip?
Natalia: So much fun. We’ve been there three times now.
You must have a big fan base over there?
Hannah: Oh yeah. They love country music over there. It’s so cool.
Christina: It’s crazy.
So, tell me, what it’s like to be a southern girl.
Natalia: It is so much fun.
Christina: It’s so good to be a southern girl. True grit right here.
Natalia: We were born and raised on sweet tea and mud, you know, being able to dress up a bit and put some pearls on. And then, have some southern hospitality. So, we just love it.
Pearls and cowboy boots, right?
Hannah: That’s right. We actually have a song on our new album called “Southern Halo” and it’s basically talking about southern women. So you guys should check it out.
Christina: Yeah, guys!
Any road stories that you’d like to share?
Natalia: Oh, my goodness! There are so many fun things that happen on the road. Okay, so, when we do radio tours, we love breaking it up a little since there’s the three of us. Mom and Dad also come with us. Mom drives the bus and handles the merch. Dad works, and then we like trying to find food, hotels, and fun facts about wherever we go.
Hannah: Yeah, like the history of wherever we are. Animals on the side of the road that we jump out and take a picture with, or take in. So, it’s just great.
Natalia: It’s just so much fun. When we’re on the road, we’re always trying to find the coolest thing about each place that we visit. And, it’s just like a constant family road trip, every show. We just love it. There are so many Halos!
Hannah: The best part about Southern Halo is we’re just a big family business. I wouldn’t wanna do it with anybody else.
That brings me to my final question. Being sisters and working together so closely, what does sisterhood mean to you.
Hannah: Literally everything. It’s just great to have someone always there for you.
Natalia: Absolutely. Sisterhood is definitely like having a built-in best friend. And you know that you always have somebody right there who’s always got your back.
Christina: Yeah, we’re always together. We literally do everything together, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Because, I don’t know about you guys, but I would probably not do so well on my own. You guys are like my built-in system.
Hannah: I know! Same with me.
Christina: Sisterhood is great. We don’t know what we would do without each other. And we all anchor each other down as well.
Hannah: Yeah, definitely.
Natalia: Built-in best friend.
That’s beautiful. I know you’re on a tight schedule and have to run. Have a great time at CMA Fest!
Natalia: Thank you, Tara. We love Guitar Girl magazine, but the way.
Oh, thank you. We love Southern Halo, too!
