Shropshire Star

Wolverhampton unsigned trio The Adelaides drop new single ahead of US country festival

They could be on the cusp of something brilliant, meaning this summer is going to be huge for Midlands country trio The Adelaides.

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The Adelaides, from left, Paris Georgia, Wolverhampton's Alicia Alba and Abi Phillips, from Sutton Coldfield

They’re about to head to the United States to be a part of the prestigious CMA Fest in the home of their genre – Nashville. And to give their fans something to whet the appetite before then, their new single Good Love is out today.

They’ve already released previous single Leave to the world. And they can’t wait for people to hear their latest creative offering.

“We chose this track because it’s a real feel-good summer song,” said 22-year-old Alicia Alba, from Wolverhampton – one third of The Adelaides. “We wrote it and recorded it in Nashville last year and it's a favourite of all of ours. So it was a no brainer to release it.”

While they have signed management deals, they are currently unsigned with no record deal. So the trio are hoping that this single, coupled with their appearance at one of the biggest country music festivals around, will help them move onto the next level in their career.

It’s been a relatively quick rise for Alicia alongside Paris Georgia, 24, from Coventry, and Abi Phillips, aged 25 and from Sutton Coldfield.

“Our band was formed in July 2017,” she adds. “Abi and Paris were previously in another band and were looking for a final member to complete the trio. They found me after seeing my YouTube videos and invited me to meet up where we sang together.

“We clicked straight away and that's when The Adelaides were formed.”

While country music has always been huge in the States, it is still something of a niche market here. But for Alicia, there was never any doubt what path they would follow. And as an all-girl band, there’s an extra drive to break through two relative glass ceilings.

“We all grew up listening to country music along with other genres. Our love for harmonies and storytelling is what we're all about. Country music is honest and always tells a story, it's always about life experience in some way. It's so relatable and that's what we're all about really.

READ MORE: UK country pop group ‘honoured’ to play Nashville festival

“We're a fusion between country and pop. The country scene is really growing in the UK at the moment and we're so happy to be part of that.”

They certainly have others to look to for inspiration and influence, such as chart-topping Hampshire sisters Ward Thomas.

“Ward Thomas are brilliant and it's always great to see female success in the industry, especially British,” adds Alicia. “But we lean more towards Maren Morris [who had a new album out this week], Carrie Underwood, or The Dixie Chicks, we would absolutely love to emulate their global success.”

And they’re getting noticed outside of that country bubble too, already starting to push through those niche barriers.

On July 11 they are supporting pop superstar Jess Glynne at Rochester Castle, in Rochester, Kent. And before then, there is the small matter of CMA Fest between Thursday and June 8. It’s a huge occasion, with country names such as Billy Ray Cyrus, Underwood and Keith Urban performing.

That latter opportunity came about when they were spotted by Charles Esten, musician and acting star of the hit country music TV drama Nashville, who personally invited them to take part after they supported him on tour. They are the only unsigned British act on the line-up, so will find themselves very much in the shop window.

“We've been very fortunate, not only because Charles Esten handpicked us but also for what we've been able to learn when we were on tour with him,” says Alicia. “We're just so happy to have been invited to play at CMA Fest. We feel it's an amazing opportunity to get our music out over in the States and hopefully gain some American fans. We're feeling incredibly lucky.

“We went to Nashville for the first time last year as a band where we did writing sessions, showcases, and started recording our album. Just that in itself was a dream come true.

“This year we get to perform at the biggest country music festival in the world so this visit is all about that. We also get to perform with Charles at his charity event, all to benefit the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Society, which is an absolute honour for us.

”We also hope to do some promotion while we're out there and we're staying there a bit longer after the festival because we're going to complete the album we started last year and hopefully be inspired to write a few new songs.”

And once they're done, it’s time to get back across the Atlantic and continue growing their brand in Blighty.

“We've got a number of festivals over the summer in the UK, some of which haven't been announced yet, so we're not allowed to say. But locally we’ve got a Birmingham gig with Charles at the O2 institute, but you'll have to wait ‘til October for that.

“At an Adelaides show you can expect a party. We love getting the audience singing our songs, there's nothing we love more than hearing the crowd singing our songs back to us. We like to explain the story of where each song comes from. There's heartache, break up and revenge songs all in the mix.”

And then there’s the album to look forward to.

“We're always posting about any news on our social media - @theadelaidesuk,” adds Alicia. “So give us a follow and join our journey.”

The Adelaides can be found on both Facebook and Twitter at the above handle. The new single Good Love can be heard by following the links there. More information on the CMA Fest can be found here, and tickets to the Birmingham show supporting Esten on October 24 can be bought here.