Meet Chapel Hart | CMT’s Next Women Of Country

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chapel Hart and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chapel, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
We are all from a small town in Mississippi called Poplarville but all of our family lives in a community called Hart’s Chapel. Growing up there taught us so much about life and what it’s like to be able to survive in the country with what you have. Those lessons are the things that have cultivated us into the women we are today.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What sets us, Chapel Hart, apart from a lot of artist today is that we don’t focus much on what the industry is doing we mostly put our focus into what makes us happy, and what feeds & drives our passion! We are so proud that we have been able to stay focused on pleasing our fans and loving on them, that it hasn’t seemed like so much pressure to compete in this very competitive industry, that seems to get lost in comparison and competition. We are currently CMT’s Next Women of Country and we kind of took the old school boots to the ground approach! We played nursing homes, honky tonks, weddings, funerals, schools, etc… you name it we were there! Truthfully we love making new friends and meeting new people so what was really WORK, seemed more like fun most of the time! It wasn’t always easy. We often times have people look at us (before they even hear what we sound like) and say “They ain’t country!” And we know people have to break the stereotype of what country “looks like” so that’s been a bit of a challenge but seems to get a little easier as people are learning more about Chapel Hart. We learned that a little patience, love, & understanding goes a long way! We have built this world/space where our fans can be open & honest with us and there is A LOT of Love in that space and there’s soooo much room for people from ALL kinds, creeds, & walks of life! If that sounds like a family you’d like to be apart of then follow us, find us, & Join us! There’s room on the Chapel Hart train and we are headed around the world spreading all of this love and joy and hope to grab as many folks as we can to help us do just that!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If I had a friend visiting me, first thing’s first: there’s gonna be a WHOLE lot of eating so pace yourself! Now I would personally never recommend an actual itinerary for New Orleans because you never know where the day might take you. If I had any advice, it would be “make list of a few hot spots then let that lovely lady named Nola show you where you need to go next!

I’d definitely have to start the morning out with an early morning run through the Quarter. Although most Nola natives tend to avoid the French Quarter like the plague, it’s almost like a completely different world. Instead of the nonstop debauchery and smell of alcohol and shame, for about 2-4 hours in the wee hours there’s an overwhelmingly delightful lemony scent (thanks to the city’s street cleaning teams) that permeates even the most hidden alleyways. It’s like an olfactory excursion as you pass balconies dripping with ferns and flowers, and fences with jasmine that seemingly reaches out to give you a high five as you make your way. On especially windy mornings, it’s like the scent from the Bunny Bread factory as well as the Luzianne & Foldger’s coffee mill is carried down the Mississippi; giving you an extra boost of energy without even taking a sip. Of course it’s short lived as the rest of the city starts to wake up and sweet scent of the day is swept up in the cacophony of a million people trying to make the most of the day.

For lunch we would head over to the little minimart-esque shop on the corner of Rampart and St. Bernard. By this point I’m sure to have reminded my guest—multiple times—that the best food in the City comes from the most unassuming and unconventional places. This corner store is simply named the Orange Store, because of the unmistakably N.O. paint job of bright orange that slowly fades into an almost pastel coral over the years until they decide it needs a fresh coat…about every ten years or so. This is by far the best shrimp po-boy in ENTIRE city in my opinion. It’s not the typical po-boy with the classic a.k.a. boring Leidenheimer French bread. Thanks to the delicious fusion of Vietnamese and Southern comfort foods that just refer to as “Cajasian” their po-boy’s foundation is an almost Bahn Mi type bread that has a soft yet crispy consistency that puts you in the mind of biting into a deep fried cloud. Now the real star of the show though, is the shrimp! It’s not just regular old fresh jumbo shrimp straight from the gulf. Their shrimp is butterflied and then panko breaded to give the overall texture of the sandwich something of juicy crunch that’s hard to find anywhere else. Although I prefer mine fully dressed, at this point, it doesn’t matter what else you put on it because I e tried every possible combination of fixin’s and let me tell you that IT. WILL. BE. DELICIOUS!

After lunchtime we would have to head to City Park. It’s by far one of my favorite places in New Orleans with some of the best giant oak trees with what I used to call “come hither branches” that you can literally just walk up, pick a spot and have the best nap of your life!!

Following the post lunch nap, the next spot to hit would have to be Stop Jockin’ Sno-Balls on St. Bernard just past the I-610 overpass. Over tried to explain it a million times that although you may have THOUGHT that you’ve had a Sno-ball before but the way they’re prepared in New Orleans (especially Stop Jockin‘) will make you question everything you thought you knew about Sno-Balls. The closest thing I can compare the consistency to a Nola Sno-ball is when you take a water bottle from the freezer just before it freezes and the slightest force or friction causes it to create a cascade of smoky color indicating that magical state somewhere between solid and liquid. They have THE BEST flavors and somehow, even after pressing a spoonful together in your mouth, the ice doesn’t converge into a hard block of ice that you have to chew…but you do it anyway and love every minute of it. And no, this is not just Sno-balls, we’ll just call this the “Linner“ stop because the crawfish nachos and shrimp sandwich (on a bun, not a po-boy) is to die for! Actually their entire menu is crazy good, but remember it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

After “Linner” we’d pop in to almost any bar for some afternoon drinks. In a city know for good food, good folks and a party that never ends there is no shortage of great bartenders. Luckily in the Big Easy great music is never far away so a couple hours of bar hopping jamming out to almost any kind of music you can imagine from some of the most effortlessly talented musicians goes by in the blink of an eye. If you want a really fun drinking experience I’d suggest Cuñada on Conti St. They have a Mezcal selection that will blow your mind! The owner, Eddie, will take his time to explain the processes, flavors and origins of different mezcals, agaves, and tequilas that you’ve never heard of but will be sure to google before leaving. You might as well add a torta to the bill to soak up all that goodness because the night is still young!

After day drinking and LOTS of music, the first place for dinner I would recommend would HAVE to be Turtle Bay. This 24 hour dive bar that puts you in the mind of a quaint English pub that was overtaken by pirates. I’ve eaten steak from almost every notable establishment in the city and none of them hold a candle to the steak at Turtle Bay. You wouldn’t imagine “bar food” to be able to stand up against the best restaurants in New Orleans, but just trust me on this. Their steaks are always cooked to perfection according to how you like it. From the almost charred to those that seem like it could be resuscitated by a vet, they never miss the mark. For me it’s the cut, the quality, and Oh my goodness THE BUTTER!! They cover the steak in a garlic butter that I’m sure is made from cloves of garlic that grow right outside the pearly gates. At first we thought that maybe it was just us that felt this way but I’ve seen countless times when customers request a few ramekins of just their steak butter for the road. It took a couple of years, literally, to find out that the rest of the menu was just as amazing! From the fried button mushrooms, pizza, and loaded baked potato skins to the spinach + artichoke dip—that’s pretty awesome on their burgers—I have yet to find a single menu item that disappoints. It’ll be hard to leave here but, alas, we’ve gotta keep it moving.

Finally I’d wrap up the night (or early morning more likely) at the “End of the World”. It’s the bend of the Mississippi not far from the bridge to the 9th ward. There’s something absolutely magical about this place. Sometimes way the fog lingers on the river makes it seem more comparable to the view of clouds from an airplane window. My favorite part about the End of the World is that around 3-5 am you can witness the most amazing ballet of lights dancing and maneuvering around each other as tug boats, barges, shrimpers and all come down the industrial canal to the sound foghorns and sirens in the distance. On Sunday mornings, or Saturday nights depending on how hard you partied, there’s sure to be at least one or two giant cruise ships that look like a swarm of fireflies in the distance that slowly organize into neat little rows bringing in the next batch of travelers from all over the world. On most days it looks like an average industrial canal but when the tide is out, an entire secret beach is exposed on the southeastern side of the river bend.

It really doesn’t matter what you fill the evening with because, again, Nola has a mind of her own! I can just guarantee that you’ll make new friends, have adventures and get some much needed practice in “going with the flow.” It goes without saying that New Orleans is surely a place that new memories will be made that you will look back on for years to come!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We would like to dedicate our shoutout to our fans! They have truly played such a major role in our career. There is no way that we would be as far as we are without God and the support of each of our fans. They are who we do it for and it’s only right to have this shoutout dedicated to them.

Website: https://www.chapelhart.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/chapelhartband?utm_medium=copy_link

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chapelhartband?s=21

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/chapelhartband

Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/ChapelHart

Other: Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/chapel-hart/1483315116 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Xc3WbacoW8ISqReb7Hjpj

Image Credits
Black shirts pic : Aubree Holder White outfits : Urban Bay Photography All black dresses : Jeremy Cowart Flag picture : David Abbot