On Chapel Hart Announcing a Hiatus
Whenever discussions of race and country music come up, Chapel Hart is one of the acts that actual country music fans cite as one of their favorites. The trio of two sisters and a cousin from Mississippi is traditional, but sensible and fun, and are perhaps some of the hardest working women in the business. They’re always showing up to functions and award shows, making big impressions at places like the Grand Ole Opry, yet they’ve always been on the outside looking in when it comes to breaking out into bigger country stardom.
As Black performers who became stars before entering the country space such as Beyoncé, Shaboozey, or BigXthaPlug siphon up so much of the attention in country these days, it’s country’s native Black performers like Chapel Hart that feel undeservedly overshadowed and under-appreciated.
When Chapel Hart received a “Golden Buzzer” on America’s Got Talent in 2022, they’d already developed a grassroots fan base. But when even this national attention didn’t result in significant industry support—despite their song “You Can Have Him Jolene” becoming a smash—the trio decided in November of 2023 to stop playing the industry game, and to focus more on just being musicians moving forward.
Now Chapel Hart has announced they’re officially going on hiatus, with two of the members forming a separate duo.
“Over the last few years, Chapel Hart has taken us places we never could have imagined. We have laughed, cried, grown, and stood on stages we used to dream about. More than anything, we have shared a bond that goes deeper than music, and that part will always remain,” the group said in a statement. “As we each step into new seasons in life, we have decided to press pause on Chapel Hart so we can explore other passions and dreams that have been calling to us individually. This is not a goodbye. It is a celebration of everything we have built and a step toward everything still to come.”
Members Trea Swindle and Devynn Hart are starting the duo called Magnolia Rising, while Danica Hart will also continue on, potentially as a solo artist.
Though the lack of industry support for the act certainly didn’t help their prospects, there was also some behind-the-scenes drama that likely led to the hiatus statement posted on Monday night, August 25th.
In now deleted Facebook posts from early July, Danica Hart claimed she had been abused by her bandmates and management for the band, while also claiming she was being forced out.
“Over the past several months, I have remained silent, but I can no longer stay quiet about what has happened,” Danica said. “I am being pushed out of my band and my company, and throughout this time, I and other members of our team have been subjected to physical violence and abuse. I am at the point of breaking.”
Danica continued, “I received a message tonight stating that if I didn’t sign a document typed up by Jeff Glixman and Trea Swindle and Devynn Hart saying, if I didn’t sign it by 12 a.m., they would be continuing their career in Chapel Hart without me! And my question is how???”
Though it’s obvious from the now deleted posts that infighting and drama definitely lent to this hiatus for Chapel Hart, the stress and trauma of trying to make it in the country music business likely also played a factor in that drama. The band had spoken openly about their frustrations over the years.
As Beyoncé wins Grammy awards, and Shaboozey and BigXthaPlug land #1 songs, the Black performers who started in country music, committed themselves to country music, and have spent their lives in pursuit of country music still face uphill battles. Only when these performers who are born and raised in country can find similar success to the genre’s top stars will we be able to celebrate the successes of Black performers.
If we’re to support Black artists in country music, those artists must be Black. But they also must be country.
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August 27, 2025 @ 4:25 am
Don’t let this break you, you’re so much stronger than this storm. I look forward to what you bring us in the future, your talent is absolutely amazing. God bless ❤️
August 27, 2025 @ 5:48 am
Hopefully those talented ladies will soon return.
August 27, 2025 @ 5:51 am
Besides,none of the ladies has been in legal trouble,another reason apart from their obvious talent Country should embrace them.
August 27, 2025 @ 6:31 am
The ol’ Kristen Hall treatment.
August 27, 2025 @ 8:03 am
Ah man this sucks.
August 27, 2025 @ 8:21 am
Y’all are family. Come on now, get it together
August 27, 2025 @ 8:30 am
I’m very sad to hear about this. Really looked like they were going to blow up after the TV appearances.
Ironically one thing that I haven’t seen a lot of people say is that some of the earliest artists that started doing neotraditional music during the bro country era were all black folks.
Aaron Vance, Coffey Anderson, and these ladies were super early to the neotraditional party. I’ve listened to interviews with all of them and they were all the right age to grow up with it in the ’90s and just never did anything else. It’s unfortunate that now that neotraditional is all the rage, those folks are kind of on the sidelines. I’m not sure what happened with Aaron Vance but he’s a killer artist. Coffey Anderson had some family issues with his wife having cancer, which will definitely derail your career. But there’s absolutely no good excuse for how Chapel Hart didn’t break out more.
August 27, 2025 @ 10:34 am
We my heart is broken. This is so sad, one of my favorite groups, now no more. Just like in 1987 when the oak boys fired William Lee Golden over his long hair and beard, I think one of the reasons is they are fat shaming her. The group is worried about their image. I think this is one of the reasons she was pushed out
Face it when Taylor Swift gained a few pounds, Taylor Swift got called a cow, a pig, and a hippo, by some people on social media.
It’s so damn sad that this society still today is so obsessed over body image, not everyone does it, but those who do make damn sure their voices are the loudest. Looks mean nothing to me, it’s all about the talent. It’s so sad that we judge alot of people on how they look instead of the talent they have.
Not the biggest fan of lady GAGA, but she said it best when she called alot of social media a toilet, she is so right. I will never judge someone on their appearance alone, it’s their talent and personality that are the most important things to me .
August 27, 2025 @ 2:47 pm
“I think one of the reasons is they are fat shaming her. The group is worried about their image. I think this is one of the reasons she was pushed out.”
I agree with you. These ladies are terrific performers, and I enjoy them. Unfortunately, when a woman in the music biz is that heavy, that ends up being the focal point. When Heart was on their second run of chart success, Ann Wilson’s weight went up and that became the focus even though she sounded great and the sales were healthy.
This situation doesn’t surprise me, and I think that Danica Hart just won’t get traction as a solo act, even though she can sing and has charisma. As to Devynn and Trea, I’m not sure they’ll break through either. It’s a sad situation.
August 27, 2025 @ 7:28 pm
@O-C-F–William Lee Golden’s long hair and beard and Sterban’s “Oom Papa Mau Mau” / “Bah Bah Bah Bobbie Sue” bass licks were the Oak Ridge Boys’ two trademarks then and to this day. I’m sure the group’s reasons for pushing Golden out at the time were complex, but mostly revolved around his doing individual projects and a perceived lack of commitment to the group, as evidenced by his reluctance to learn and sing new material (which his replacement, Steve Sanders was ready to do on a dime). Not his iconic beard.
Anyway, Golden’s been back for near 20 years and it looks like he and Ace are the last two standing, as Joe is gone and Richard’s been ill and on hiatus for weeks and who knows if he’ll ever be back on the road.
August 27, 2025 @ 11:39 pm
Read William Lee Golden’s biography, behind the beard. Chapter 12, page 136 and I quote, ” In 1982 I received a letter from my partners. They made it very clear that they didn’t think the new William Lee Golden was good for the group.
They said my long hair and beard were not good for the group’s image. The letter also stated their dislike of my long finger nails and even the way I walked out on stage. Much too slow!
They were also upset because I wore a ” dead animal” a ( coyote skin ) on the tonight show.
I thought the letter was petty. But I was glad to know how they felt .
But I just knew where my heart was , and I knew I never had any ill intentions against anyone, I just ignored the letter. I didn’t respond at all. Unquote.
And they stopped communicating with each other, and things just got worse from there.
So yes it was the way he looked that started it all and everything just went down hill.
Not complicated at all, the other oaks were just being jerks, and as William Lee said petty.
If they never would have wrote that letter about his appearance, and accepted him , then their would have never been a split.
August 28, 2025 @ 2:33 pm
In 1987, the Oaks sales and relevance were declining, so things that one might let slide when things are going well are more likely to cause friction. Also, William Lee was getting a divorce from a woman whom he married only three years earlier. His personal life was not settled or stable.
Recording the solo album caused some friction. When you’re in a big time group, doing a solo album can be a wedge between the members because the group should be the core of everything with everyone pulling in the same direction. Joe or Ace could have recorded a quality solo album, but that wasn’t the goal. After they left the gospel scene totally, getting a foothold in country was far from a certain thing. I can see how the rest of the group could be put off by William Lee following his own path.
Also when they got inducted into the Hall of Fame, William Lee sort of apologized for some of his behaviors that may have reflected badly on the group and possibly deterred voters in prior years. Whether that was true or not is open for debate. The Oaks are the Oaks and they’re Hall of Fame timber.
Things got sideways with the Oaks being dominant in two genres become rich and famous in the process. With Chapel Hart not getting a deal or radio airplay despite getting some exposure and acclaim on network TV, it looks like frustration just led them to the breaking point. It’s a shame because they’re truly good together.
August 29, 2025 @ 7:18 am
Joe did drugs and was part of a gang before he joined the oaks. Joe cheated on his wife, Richard cheated on his wife, so William Lee said in his biography, that they all tried to pretend they were squeaky clean and they where not
William also said the night he got fired, that a fan came up to him crying and said I heard the oaks fired you. They didn’t even tell him
Sorry make all the excuses you want , everything all goes back to that letter, six pages of insults, not for his partying ways or his unfaithfulness, no it was his appearance, that caused him to be fired.
You really need to buy and read William Lee’s biography for yourself.
They were jerks. They could have accepted him for the way he looked, but no they hated it and wanted him out, then the other stuff just kept piling on, till they fired him with out even telling him
Yes both sides apologized and made up and they got back together. I have been an avid oaks fan since the early 70s. I have all their albums, bios and everything.
Stop acting like they were saints and didn’t have faults. They should have communicated more and talked things out, but because of the letter, William Lee said he stopped taking to them for five years. The american vagabond album and his wild ways were just added baggage.
They couldn’t fire him from 1982 Thur 1986, that was their cooking tour, they were selling out stadiums and selling gold albums,
But in late 86, the big money and hits stopped coming in, their seasons album was a disappointment, and the money wasn’t coming in like they wanted, and they blamed William Lee.
So in mid 87 they fired him. They said they wanted to go in a different direction with the group.
Just because you are a fan of someone, doesn’t mean their poop doesn’t stink.
William Lee was the one who joined in 1965, and he was the one who brought Duane, Joe and Richard all into the group. And this is how they treated him? Sorry it was dirty.
You really need to get William Lee Golden’s biography. It was written a few years ago and read it.
I am still a huge fan of the oaks, it devastated me when Joe died but guess what? They all did some uncool things.
George Jones was and alcoholic, Waylen Jennings was a drug addict,
But they over came their bad habits and continued to make great music
What the oaks did to William Lee was wrong, and it all started with that six page letter in 1982 about his appearance.
If you don’t want to believe that then fine, but William Lee is not a liar, he said in a dvd I have the William did called my life’s work. And he said he was still a little hurt about the letter and being kicked out
No one is perfect, not me , not you, not William Lee and not the oaks
Every body does bad things, but if you are a real person, then acknowledge what both sides did, make up and move on. And that is what they did
I highly suggest you get Golden’s biography and read it. It’s a great read about a great person who is not so perfect.
August 29, 2025 @ 2:54 pm
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to tell you that you’re all wrong about this and I’m 100% right. I brought the Oaks up as an example of a group that reached the top and ended up having someone get booted just like Chapel Hart did without having cashed in.
I know that William Lee was the first on board with the Oaks. The guys sending a long, nit-picking letter to him is not good in any light. The fact that they just ended up not communicating for years afterwards was pathetic. When a tour ends or before starting a new album, the four of them should have holed up and tried to work it out. Maybe they thought they could just keep cashing checks without talking for years. In any case, it failed.
Steve Saunders was a terrific singer whose drama made William Lee look like a Boy Scout and that ended as badly as it could have. Perhaps that trauma from that situation could have gotten the surviving three Oaks to reconsider things. Steve didn’t get honored by the Hall of Fame even though they had big hits with him on lead.
I actually DO like William Lee a lot and I don’t think the rest of the guys are/were perfect. The fact that they stayed together for decades after burying the hatchet speaks well of all of them. Willian Lee is an accomplished painter as well as a singer. We’re not on opposite sides of this issue.
August 29, 2025 @ 3:29 pm
@O-C-F–No need to go nuts.
Nice of you to be William Lee Golden’s volunteer book agent. I hope he appreciates it.
I didn’t know that Joe Bonsall was a one-time gang-banger and drug user or that he and Sterban cheated on their wives. I don’t know how that’s relevant, but it seems to debunk your idea that Golden was not fired from of the Oak Ridge Boys in the mid-’80s simply for his looks. I mean would long-time gospel singer Duane Allen have pushed out fellow southern boy William Lee and run off with South Philly and Jersey boys Bonsall and Sterban because he liked keeping company with these philandering cads? I think he only did it because he felt that Golden was not committed to the group at the time and it needed to be done to keep the group going.
Anyway, that’s all ancient history by now. Golden’s been back with the Oaks for coming on 30 years (not 20, as I mistakenly wrote above) and they’ve all gotten along. Joe has sadly died, and Richard is off the road, so it’s really down to William Lee and Ace, the southern boys who are the link to the group’s gospel days.
August 30, 2025 @ 7:09 am
I dont know, seems like a rolling stonrs situation to me which is kind of sleazy but may not be exactly the same since i dont know whose idea the band is. Still i enjoyed their music. Somehow i dont envision a happy reunion but who knows.