Southern Halo – Just Like In The Movies

CD Review: Southern Halo

by Roque Lazarus for Country Music News International

 

  1. Southern Halo 2:44
  2. My Girls & Me 3:15
  3. Notice Me 3:07
  4. I Think Too Much 2:51
  5. Tom Girl 3:04
  6. Anything Is Possible 3:22
  7. Not Today 3:30
  8. Missing Mississippi 4:16
  9. Famous 2:52
  10. Gettin’ Back Up 3:17
  11. Hey Boy 2:59
  12. Coming Home 3:43
  13. It’s Always Been You 4:01
  14. Just Like In The Movies 3:22

THE SOUTHERN HALO SINGERS: Natalia, Hannah and Christina Morris, the three sisters from the Mississippi Delta. Drummer Christina and bassist Hannah are almost out of their late teens, and Guitarist/lead-vocalist-Natalia just recently crossed over into her early 22s this year.

Lyric/Tunes are collaborations with Industry greats and the best Studio-writers.

Produced by: Catt Gravitt and Gerald O’Brien

  1. SOUTHERN HALO- This title track opens in a no-nonsense Flammed-drum roll with a catchy 8 Beat Rock in traditional style. The catchy chorus claims that every southern girl has a southern jaw, southern charm, southern boy hangin’ on her arm and big blue eyes and a southern halo. As the song looped automatically for the 4th time in succession I am surprised at the lyric stating if you are on Highway 55 on a job you will experience surprises. Daddy’s lil’ angel but don’t be fooled by her innocence.

 

Lots of guitars backing the voices and subtle-pads…the track has full-bodied music lavishly spread in a stereophonic spectrum. Makes you go on and on but let’s listen to the next one.

 

  1. My Girls and me- An intense guitar riff in clean and saturated coupling. A different kind of ‘Roxett-Bon Jovi’ feel, filled in tiny licks on bluesy guitar. The track again is heavily laden with distorted guitars and here comes a lick-solo with a mad-ostinato going ‘wow-wow-wow-wow-wow’ and on and on with a finger bend. Natalia, Hannah and Christina Morris, the three sisters from the Mississippi Delta win your hearts with their angelic voices.

 

You might be humming already the ‘My my my girls and me refrain…there is no stopping her and them. These songs get over faster than you can begin to love them madly.

 

  1. Beautifully three-part harmony opens a yearning for a relationship, a proposal and advice to reject the other-girl who just might break his heart. The guy obviously doesn’t notice her but we can’t help noticing the sweetness and desire in the vocal followed by the beautiful jazzy-toned solo on the electric. The break-down leaves the spectrum open for 8 bars to breathe and refresh the senses. The chorus pleads for recognition and saying she’s the only girl and she’s the one he needs. The outro fades with the beautiful guitar riff in a sad melancholy.

 

  1. I think too much- A classic guitar power-chord riff holds up the outpour of the lonely girl’s heart who tries too hard doing everything she does and every time she thinks she is in love, she obviously thinks tooooo much! A half-time pattern on the Electric-drum and bass arm in arm a pocket-radio emulated two lines special-effect surprises us. What’s she gonna wear and is her perfume just right she wonders…everything that a young girl wonders about when the need arises to wonder about the ONE… The chorus makes way for the simple guitar solo PHRASED in dotted crotchets and ends with the title of the song.

 

  1. Tom Girl- Really soothing country guitar riff opens the song as she asks for a google map to traverse her chosen destination. The style of rock is consistently uniform so far with tiny variations here and there. This album strongly stands in its genre and holding it strong. You can dance all night or day to it. If you notice, the guitars tone seems the same for all solos but actually is smartly engineered to be different timbered, every song with a signature and character worth appreciating. “Christina loves fishing while Hannah rides horses and I enjoy building projects in our backyard, but we love to get prettied up for a night out”- says Natalia. We’re all ‘Tom girls’!! SHE COINED THE PHRASE I GUESS!

 

The Electric-Bass is doing what is does best, subtly holding the skeleton up with the power-drums. Ending the song is a brief accapela. One muses, maybe either time is running faster or the songs are really short but sweeet! Eitherway-a worm hole through time is what we all need to wade through the quantum-physics of life’s everyday equations.

 

  1. Anything is possible- Like a new-age intro flowing into hard-rock. The disappearance of distortion into the verse makes you sit up on this Epic-country rock ballad but with a quick dance groove almost like 16 beat. Anything is possible she says. Flawless intoned harmony along with super vocals takes away your breath and your life altogether to another realm beyond 9D. The warmth of the Mississippi Delta comes to mind where the three beauties have magically emerged from. Like tiny bubbles in the water the arpeggios on higher-frets chime stressing the need to believe in the title. A big prize for guessing the Orchestral Chord strummed at the end?! Write to CMNI for it!

 

  1. Not Today- This seems a slow track but just in time to give the ear some rest and the pounding heart too. All the song have a common-theme of unrequited love it seems and is evident now. This is a very popular theme but these Gals make it real good to say they take the hurt with a pinch and half of salt. The golden-haired youthful divas outshine themselves in this rock-ballad saying and crooning-” Please not today”. A piano appears clearly to my great surprise and I’d just said I’d like a piano there. It would be a difficult feat to accomplish for another live band to copy this band as it would need a lot of live musicians.

 

  1. Missing Mississippi- The drum has made way for this small-town girl making way to the city with a backbeat of exotic organic percussion. The chorus brings back the characteristic tom-tom rolling rhythms. Nicely spaced phrasing where I would have been tempted to fill the gaps with interludes, surprisingly the gaps suffice as if for meditation. There are the evading piano notes again in minimalistic-brilliance. The memories of me and you will never be known as it’s not forever; it’s just goodbye in Mississippi. You will definitely love this journey through the numbered seconds of bliss in this track. As dual crash cymbals rant through the cool October night air in my village as I sit writing this to you while listening to the music of the small town girl who isn’t small anymore. The lyric will hit you like a ton of mud-bricks  in a second or after many listens so brace yourself for the impact!

 

  1. Famous- Like a sitar-distorted riff in a power-drum backed beat. I wish now and then the voice could be a decibel louder but then it’s just a different reference every time. The signature riff briefly flashes like she runs to the photo shoot, her everyday routine. The chord progression is ‘six-One-five-four ‘in the diatonic scale, Bpm-andante-moderato, Time-signature-commontime 4/4, Genre-Glam-Rock. A steady acoustic guitar rhythm pattern forms the backbone of the double-speed worded lyric. Limousines and diamond-rings for a Beauty Queen is a forever thing. I have cautiously avoided musical lingo in other songs to make this write-up readable to all.

 

  1. Gettin’ Back up- Someday you might get a chance to catch them live and so don’t you forget to know their names. This song is of valor and of getting back up when knocked down. Perseverance through troubles and tears. This is the perfect CD for your road trip and before you know it you would have reached the end of the album so make sure the LOOP switch is set to on, you just can’t have enough. The hole in your soul can be filled just with the light and love of their brilliant music. A mesmerizing chime sound fades you into Oblivion.

 

  1. Hey Boy- One wonders if you are on the battle-field with the sound of muskets and rifles booming in the distance as a wall of sound in the background. This is tongue-in-cheek sarcasm tinged allegation at the boys. “Hey boy didn’t your mama teach you how to treat you like a lady”…why drag poor mama in I wonder-sigh! As you nod your head hypnotically to their chant regardless to the accusation belted out in red-ember coals; the mischievous musical notes. The end is like a slap that stings and you need it again!

 

  1. Coming Home- I was looking out for violins and I heard slide guitars without attack they resembled in the intro. A power-floor tom stroke brings you to the chorus. I need your love and touch croon the singers as they insist on coming home. A genius-acoustic guitar filler here and there makes you wanna rewind but you can’t as the pull-of the sirens is strong to render you immobile. Every girl might find this a great song to sing. I’m surprised how mediocre music is shoved upon us by the industry when great songs like these haven’t reached my ears till today! More power to the artists here and the fantastic band and the production team. An unfinished imperfect sounding cadence makes a perfect ending in the harmonic structure.

 

  1. It’s always been you- If this title doesn’t knock the door of your conscience, I dunno what else will! Any cold-hearted mortal will melt to this confession full of pleading and truthful recognition. But now he is standing at her door and she is speechless, a proposal but don’t let it go awry…I’d bet my vegetarian-hat and the last last last coin in my golden-box, if you are silent and not humming through this ‘you you you….always been you’. The thick solo knocks at the thick-skulled guy’s head hammering the point of reckoning home! It’s always been him!

 

  1. Just like in the movies (revised) – A modern groove opens with a similar lyrical message and a vocoder in the replying voice. There is a rap too. Rap-Rock genre? Amusing and amazing! You could be my king; I could be your queen says she. They kept this surprise finale for you to really smile and for the modern generation to love them…smart-move. A beautiful synth surfaces at the end. A VST synth that is really artistic and rare in this great combo!

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ABOUT ‘SOUTHERN HALO’- THE THREE MUSICAL MAGICAL SISTERS:

Their Country radio debut, “Little White Dress,” caught the attention of U.S. radio and press (spending eight weeks at #1 on the International Hotdisc Chart) this sibling trio has broken down doors and shattered glass ceilings.  Their sophomore single, “Rewind,” was a U.S. Top 40 MusicRow CountryBreakout™ Chart hit that also held the #1 spot on the Hotdisc Chart for two weeks.  Their third single, “Living Like That,” discovered  success on their own, and encouraged the power-trio’s profile.  It’s been a fast ride to the big stage for these Delta-Damsels.  Since reaching  the National Finals of the 2014 Texaco Country Showdown as the youngest competitors ever, the band has opened for Maren Morris, Deana Carter, Love and Theft, Brantley Gilbert, Eric Paslay, Tyler Farr, Parmalee, Old Dominion, American Young, Blues immortal B.B. King and legendary chanteuse Dionne Warwick, among many others.  The Cleveland, Mississippi natives have performed at the CMA Music Festival, at a pre-show on the rooftop terrace of the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles and launched Townsquare Media’s “Say It With Pepsi” Concert Series.

 

 Contact them: Website:  www.southernhalo.net

FB: https://www.facebook.com/SouthernHalo

Twitter: @3halos   https://twitter.com/3halos

Instagram:  officialsouthernhalo

YouTube: southernhalorocks

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2az4Pcio1xkwpvaFIM19ZB

 

I greatly enjoyed listening to the music of SOUTHERN HALO and recommend all music-lovers to buy their music and appreciate the hard-work put in by their whole team.

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