Chapel Hart Talks Secret Tattoos and Their 'Amazingly Large and Crazy' Family
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Chapel Hart, the harmonizing country trio comprising sisters Danica and Devynn Hart and first cousin Trea Swindle, recently returned to the America's Got Talent stage—this time not as competitors but as guests to perform their original song “Fam Damily” from their album Glory Days, released in May.
A lot has happened since the band captured America's hearts last summer with their Golden Buzzer-earning AGT audition, a twist on Dolly Parton's “Jolene.” That fall, they made their four-ovation Grand Ole Opry debut and, in 2023, embarked on a 60-plus-stop Glory Days headlining tour. This spring, they performed at the CMT Awards and, along with their third album, released the single “Welcome to Fist City,” making good on a promise to the late Loretta Lynn, who requested that the trio remake one of her songs before her death.
Returning to AGT “was definitely a full circle moment for us,” says Devynn. Looking out from the stage, Trea says she noticed the judges beaming like “four proud parents.” And the judges should be proud because, as Danica notes, “AGT has given us the confidence to go out in the world with NO record label and no sponsors and just be authentically CHAPEL HART!”
The song that Chapel Hart performed on AGT this September, “Fam Damily,” got us wondering about their family—and those secret tattoos mentioned in the chorus. Luckily, we were able to catch up with the three to find out about their family roots in their hometown of Poplarville, Mississippi.
Q&A with Chapel Hart
Everybody can relate to the sentiment behind "Fam Damily," but it must have special meaning to you because your family is huge—your grandparents had 17 children, and there are 108 cousins. What was it like growing up in a family that big?
Danica: “One of the reasons I love this song so much is that it’s a true depiction of our family. It’s upbeat and kind of crazy. It feels like there’s a lot of things going on. People are talking loud. There are secret tattoos. It’s exactly what an evening with our family feels like. I tell people all the time, in The Glory Days album, we just went back to our roots, and we wrote songs about growing up. In the song ‘Home Is Where the Heart Is,’ we introduce you to our best friends from high school. ‘Fam Damily’ is the best picture of our amazingly large and crazy family.”
How did your family influence your music?
Danica: “We were always surrounded by singing, and then every blue moon, there would be a cousin who would play the drums and a cousin who would play piano and a cousin would pick up this and that. So we had a couple of instrumentalists in the family, mostly self-taught, and they played to add a little to the vocalizations. People always say, ‘Your harmonies are so amazing,’ I think it’s because when we were growing up, everything was surrounded by singing and music.”
Many fans have always known Chapel Hart as a family trio, but it didn't start that way. Devynn joined after another member left. Is that when things really clicked for you as a group?
Trea: “There was definitely a difference, and it’s mostly because, like Danica said, we all grew up singing together and you really can’t beat blood harmonies. At the end of the day, you look at some groups who were put together or who came together, lots of things may happen throughout a career, but there’s really nothing tying them together. But we’re related and we’re going to be together win, lose, or draw. But I really think when Dev joined the band, it was like the cherry on top—the piece that was missing that you didn’t even know that you needed until it was there.”
So about that lyric about the secret tattoos. What can you tell us about them?
Danica: "We have a pact that when we win our first Grammy or CMA that we’re all going to go get matching tattoos—we’ll let you know what those are when we win. But when I was a senior in high school, I was like, ‘This is it. I’m 18. I can go and get a tattoo.’ I got the smallest one they had on the wall. It was so small that once when a guy stepped on my foot, he said, ‘Oh, did I scratch your foot?’ I said, ‘Oh no, that’s a tattoo.’ My dad found it my senior year on homecoming court, and he just lost it. And so, it’s a very small tattoo, but it’s making a big impact in the world right now. That is our tattoo story.”
You also recently performed on Today with Hoda & Jenna. Were you excited to be on the show?
Devynn: "We were so excited. Growing up, we used to watch all the talk shows and news with our grandmother. Being able to be on the show that you watched a lot growing up is truly a blessing.”
Speaking of your late grandmother Beatrice Hart, what do you think it meant to her to see your breakthrough success before her death? Do you still feel like she's with you?
Trea: “Abso-freakin-lutely. Growing up in Mississippi, going to the Grand Ole Opry is like the pinnacle of music. Our grandmother always had the dream to go there, and she was able to watch her own grandchildren make their debut there. It’s kind of like our journey as a whole. It’s not really for us, and it wasn’t just our Grand Ole Opry debut, it was her Grand Ole Opry debut as well. Then, throughout The Glory Days tour, there have been some nights we go out on stage and—we talk about it after—it's like she's in the building. She’s been a part of this journey every step of the way. I don’t think God made her miss a beat.”
Chapel Hart’s Weekend Essentials for the Road
Trea Swindle Recalls the Time Chapel Hart Met Randy Travis
Chapel Hart's Loretta Lynn Tribute 'Welcome to Fist City'
Chapel Hart Joins Darius Rucker on "Ol' Church Hymn"
Carrie Underwood Reacts to Chapel Hart’s "Flawless" Birthday Tribute
'You Can Have Him Jolene': Chapel Hart's Breakthrough AGT Audition
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