Every few years a new sibling act appears on the scene, and the sisters of American Blonde are hoping for the success that sister (or brother) acts like the Brothers Osborne or two of the Chicks have seen in Nashville. Sisters Nata and Tinka Morris, who play guitar and drums respectively while delivering tight family harmonies, are American Blonde, and are enjoying a full performing schedule in promotion of their latest album, Somethin’ in the Water.
Nata is the band’s primary songwriter and works with various co-writer friends, which include their Jack-of-all-trades producer Cliff Downs (Gabby Barrett, Foreigner, the Judds). The energetic sisters sometimes finished each others’ sentences when they talked with the Nashville Music Guide about the new album and its title track, and about their many years of making music.
“’Somethin’ in the Water’ was the first song that was written after our name change, after we re-branded into American Blonde,” Nata said. The group had previously been a trio called Southern Halo with their younger sister Hannah before Hannah decided on a different career path, and Nata and Tinka elected to carry on. “Here we are,” Nata said, “sisters from the Delta, dabbling in the blues, rock and country, and it kind of takes us back to the reasons that we were into music in the first place. So ‘Somethin’ in the Water’ just kind of kicked off the whole concept for the album.”
The Morris sisters never pass up a chance to play live, with shows lined up this fall in Middle Tennessee, Illinois, Florida and Alabama leading up to the holidays. They recently appeared in Nashville on the Big Machine X Stage at the Music City Grand Prix. And since they can play acoustically as a duo, or do a full night of originals and even some covers with their complete band, they’re able to take advantage of whatever opportunities arise.
“We love doing full band performances, where we get to rock out,” Nata said. “And then we also love doing the acoustic thing, which we’ve been doing a lot more recently. And we’ve also got the Bluebird Café coming up, which we love, playing in a more intimate setting, where people can really hear your words and focus on what you’re writing about.”
While the band has tour dates to fill in promoting Somethin’ in the Water, Nata said it’s still important to keep writing, to have material ready for the next trip to the studio. “We’ve got some co-writes with some writers that we’ve never written with before,” Tinka said, “game changers, so many amazing songs that have been written just in the last month.”
“We’ve got a bunch that we just kind of put in our pocket,” Nata said, “and wait for the right time, the right season. You’re automatically thinking about whether you should push a particular song, if I should write a new one … but our schedule has been super packed this year, and we’ve been talking about getting back in the studio later this year. But we’ve also got to promote our new album.”
The sisters moved to Nashville from Mississippi in 2017, a few years after competing in the Texaco Country Showdown at the Ryman, and have never looked back. “It’s just so great to be in Nashville,” Nata said, “to network with so many other people and like-minded individuals, a place where you’re around people who you feel like totally ‘get you.’”
You can follow American Blonde at www.americanblondemusic.com.
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