The Castellows—the trio of sisters Lily, Ellie, and Powell—consider themselves quadruplets. Even though Ellie and Powell are triplets alongside their brother Henry, they used to tell people that Lily was the third triplet before they were famous. “People can fact-check us now, so we have to sit and tell the story,” Lily confesses to American Songwriter. “We’ve got to tell the truth,” adds Ellie. Though they’re not triplets, the three sisters have a special connection through music that makes their bond even stronger.
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Named in honor of their great-grandmother, The Castellows grew up on a cattle and timber farm in South Georgia, where they were homeschooled. In between school and farm work, they learned to play various instruments. Ellie learned how to play piano from their grandmother and taught their sister Lily how to play guitar, while Powell picked up the banjo. “We had a lot of free time to explore music, not with any dreams of it being a professional thing,” lead singer Lily says, adding that they played live shows around town and led worship in their church. “We were pretty much the only live music in our hometown. So if you wanted to pay somebody for a gig, it was us girls and country music.”
Though they didn’t set their sights on being in the spotlight, The Castellows started gaining attention with their cover videos on TikTok in 2022, which led to them signing a record deal with Warner Music Nashville in 2023. Their debut EP, A Little Goes a Long Way, released in February 2024, found them in the writing room with heavy hitters such as Thomas Rhett, Natalie Hemby, and Hillary Lindsey. Fans got another taste of their songwriting prowess and stunning three-part harmonies on Alabama Stone, a three-song EP released in December 2024. The sisters note that Alabama Stone was more “moody” and “dark” in comparison to the “vibrant” new EP Homecoming, which dropped in May.
Describing their sound as neo-traditional country, the sisters agree that their vastly different musical tastes create a unique sound. “We want to have one foot in traditional country and one foot outside of the general Nashville sound,” says Lily, noting how the red dirt music of Oklahoma and the Texas country scene inspires them. “We get something magical when we all come together and write a song and record it and go, ‘We all love this and feel the same way about it,’” Powell says.“There’s a lot of give-and-take,” Ellie says of the writing process. “We listen to each other.”
Across the seven-track Homecoming, the trio explores a variety of heartfelt topics, beginning with living in the present moment on the opening track, “Old Way.” “We’re all looking to the future all the time, so what that song to me is saying, ‘Your present moment is going to be the past one day, so live in it because you’re going to reminisce about it,’” says Ellie. Other highlights include a cover of Patty Loveless’ “You Don’t Even Know Who I Am” and a collaboration with Flatland Cavalry on “Place They Call Home.” Powell came into the writing room with the idea for the latter track, “Personifying the earth and if land could speak to you, what would it say?” she says. “Freeway” captures their experience on the road opening for Little Big Town and Sugarland in 2024. “Everything in that song is what we did,” Ellie says.
[RELATED: Watch the Castellows Pay Tribute to Heart With Special Performance of “Crazy on You”]
The EP closes with the title track, which took shape in the writing room when Ellie sat down at the piano and started to play. “I feel like we always find some magic with that,” Lily says. Though the word “homecoming” isn’t mentioned in the lyrics, it encapsulates the spirit of the EP. “We write a lot about our home and how we grew up; that’s our favorite thing to write about,” says Ellie. “There are lots of songs on there that tell our story.”
“I think what’s cool is we get to put a little bit of everybody into the project and it comes together,” adds Lily.
As they continue to share their story through lyrics and harmony, the sister trio can look back and see how much they’ve grown across projects, enjoying the process of evolving together musically and in sisterhood.
“I look back on our first record and think it’s sweet and beautiful,” says Ellie. “It was a picture in time of where we were not really confident singing or writing. I feel like everyone’s life is like that; you can look through your story and see growth, and it makes you excited to look towards the future and see where you’re going.
“This has been cool to look back on this project versus our first one. We’ve gotten better, we’ve become better singers. I think it’s cool to look at yourself, but it’s even cooler to look at people you love most.”
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