#LetTheGirlsPlay: South Haven’s Roots Stretch Coast to Coast [Pictures]
Nashville is a melting pot of musical influences, and newcomers South Haven are proving country is truly country wide. This month's #LetTheGirlsPlay artists hail from California, New York, Iowa and Oklahoma, and despite of very different upbringings, their sound is laser sharp and focused.
“We all have different outside influences," Ray Taaffe (California) says, "but I think that when it comes to what we want to represent as South Haven, we have a very clear direction.”
Right now that direction is pop-friendly songs of love and empowerment. "Little Black Dress" is the first song they wrote together, and the track pairs these themes like denim over lace. Each girl in the quartet is equal parts rugged and resilient, sensitive and compassionate. It's part of what makes them work.
"It’s really supportive,” Maddie Walker (Iowa) says. “You would think that having four girls there could be some sort of cattiness but it really ends up like, ‘Oh, this is a really good line, I think it would fit Nicolette (Mare, from Staten Island).’”
Oklahoma's Brit Willson rounds out the group and is the most easy going. Flip through this gallery of photos to see where each girl has come from and to get a sense of where they're headed. South Haven are just beginning their journey, but the response thus far has been overwhelmingly positive. It helps that each singer and songwriter takes feedback with a smile and works for the good of the group, not individual glory. That just wouldn't work in a group that relies on harmony to exist.
South Haven Sing "Little Black Dress"