Meet The Castellows: The Breakout Country Music Trio of Sisters to Watch

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Three sisters from Georgia are headed for massive success as a part of a neo-traditional country music trio, The Castellows. The group is made up of Ellie on lead guitar, Powell on the banjo, and Lily on lead vocals and bass.

Ellie and Powell (21) make up two-thirds of a set of triplets, while Lily, the baby of the group, is 18 months younger than her two older sisters. The close-knit siblings grew up on a farm in Georgetown, Georgia, where they were homeschooled, leaving plenty of time for spontaneous horseback rides, learning musical instruments, singing in their church choir, and plenty of sisterly bonding.

Pursuing a career in country music was never the plan for the sisters, who all started down different career paths at the University of Georgia, but as their following on social media took off, so did their music. In July 2023, The Castellows packed up and moved to Nashville, signing with Warner Music Nashville. In February, the trio released their first album, A Little Goes a Long Way, and the ultimate catalyst for their success today. This year, The Castellows will join country powerhouses Little Big Town and Sugarland on tour, performing original songs from their new chart-topping album.

Country Living sat down with The Castellows to get all the details on their journey thus far and find out what's next for these country rising stars including their new "Everything for the Ride Campaign" with Farnam.

a group of women posing for a photo — EB Combs

CL: What was the moment for each of you when you were like, ok I want to pursue a career in music?

Ellie: "I think it maybe all happened at different times, but we kind of realized it all at the same time, in a way. It was really whenever we started writing songs, because we always played together and always had fun, but that gap doesn't close itself unless you're actually writing. So, I think whenever we played original music for the first time live, we were like 'oh', that's when we kind of looking at each other and being like, 'wait.'"

Powell: "That was when the switch flipped for me, when we started playing our own music live."

CL: As far as your songwriting process, is every song a collaborative effort between the three of your or do you have one person taking the lead on certain songs?

Ellie: "I think the cool thing about writing songs is obviously everyone has their own way of doing it, but I think that at least I have, and I think y'all would agree with me, is that there's no really wrong way to write a song. Every method of writing a song is valid, and great songs can come out of it. So, I think for us being really open-mined, just allowing the air to be collaborative with whoever you're with."

Lily: "And it's not like, oh I contributed the most lines, or Ellie contributed the most lines, or I didn't contribute any line to that song, what was I doing in that room? We have days where some of us are stronger writers than others."

Powell: "But it's also cool to see our different music tastes."

CL: I must know, as a girl with a sister myself, what has it been like working so closely as sisters? Have you always been close?

Lily: "We definitely have fights. But I think because we grew up homeschooled and we were so close in age, we've always been each other's best friends. And we might not have had hordes and hordes of friends growing up, but we always had each other. And so, I think that's translated into us working together so well, because we've kind of just been together our whole lives. I think if we weren't, if we didn't grow up that way and we weren't together all the time, working together would be a lot harder. And that's not to say that we don't have our arguments and our, you know, skirmishes."

Powell: "I think we respect each other a lot. We know we each have our own strengths and weaknesses and where I'm strong in something, Ellie's not really strong, you know, one of us is lacking. But I think we know we can't do it alone and we need each other."

CL: As a part of your "Everything for the Ride" campaign with Farnam, you wrote three original songs, highlighting your love for horses, on a farm outside of Nashville. Where did you draw inspiration for these new songs?

Ellie: "We love to write about how we grew up and where we come from, and that's super important to us. So, I feel like all these songs came super easy because we grew up riding [horses], we grew up on a farm, and really the things that inspire those songs were just part of our lives, like riding, being on the farm, riding together, having responsibilities of taking care of an animal, taking care of horses and cows, and that just came super naturally."

Lily: "We like to write about things we know. We also like making up stories and having fun with it, but I think where we really have fun is where we write about personal things."

CL: The "Everything for the Ride" campaign is tied to horses in a big way, and riding has always been a big part of your lives. Can you describe when your love for horses began and how the passion has evolved over the years?

Lily: "I remember being, like, 17 months old and looking at a picture of me sitting on the back of a horse. And then I think we were all crammed up together."

Powell: "Our grandmother had horses growing up. She loved to ride, still loves to ride. Our mom grew up with horses and she wanted to make sure that we all grew up with horses. And we grew up homeschooled. So we had a lot of time to be on the farm in Georgia, and I remember being, like, 12 and 13 and going on trail rides with just the three of us. And mom would be like, 'Okay, y'all have fun, be safe.' And we would, you know, run the entire day. And we broke some bones, which is, you know."

Ellie: "We broke a lot of bones."

Powell: "There's five of us in total. Mama was like, okay, little break. Y'all go ride y'all's horses and have fun. But it taught us a lot about independence and how to handle something that's bigger than you. Situations that are bigger than you. Those animals are huge. And we were, you know, 11, 12, and 13 going on our own and figuring it out and breaking bones and having fun. And, yeah, I remember from an early age, we've had horses all growing up."

The Castellows found the perfect partnership for their budding music career in Farnam, combining their love for horses to create the perfect soundtrack for horse lovers like themselves.