Darius Rucker previously said he had already included Chapel Hart on his next album, and now we have more details on the collaboration. The Grand Ole Opry member announces the release of “Ol’ Church Hymn,” featuring Chapel Hart. The song, from Rucker’s forthcoming new album, will be out on September 30.
“Like so many people, I was blown away when I saw Chapel Hart’s original response to ‘Jolene,’” Rucker says. “I was recording ‘Ol’ Church Hymn’ at the time and instantly had this vision of it becoming a duet once I heard their voices. I’m so thankful they said yes to singing on it with me, and I can’t wait to see the huge career they’re going to have.”
Chapel Hart earned a golden buzzer on America’s Got Talent landing in the Top 5 in the finale. The trio, made up of Danica and Devynn Hart and their cousin, Trea Swindle, heard from Rucker soon after their AGT debut, but didn’t think it was him, at least at first.
“First of all, you get a message from Darius Rucker on social media and you think, ‘These darn spam folks,’ but then you see there’s a blue checkmark!” Swindle recalls to Billboard. “He said, ‘I have this song and I think I hear you guys doing the harmonies. Y’all just take it and do Chapel Hart. I’d love to work with you.’ So we took it and Chapel Hart-ed it right up, put down the vocals and sent it to the producer. We were waiting for the response and the producer just goes, ‘Got it, thanks.’
Although it took a while, when Rucker did respond, he had nothing but praise for how Chapel Hart enhanced his next single.
“We were like, ‘Oh, maybe he didn’t like it as much as we thought,’ but then two weeks later, we get a message from Darius and he’s like, ‘OMG, what in the world?! I just heard this,'” Swindle recalls. “He didn’t change a thing and said, ‘I want this to be a feature, a collaboration.’ Just to see him be so excited about that, when for so long we’ve just wanted to show people who we are — he definitely gave us an opportunity and championed us as artists.”
Rucker joined Chapel Hart to perform “Something to Talk About” during the America’s Got Talent finale, joined also by Drake Milligan and Jon Pardi.
Chapel Hart recently made their Grand Ole Opry debut, and has already been invited to return again, this time on October 8. Find all of Chapel Hart’s music and tour dates at ChapelHart.com. All of Rucker’s music and tour dates can be found at DariusRucker.com.