What happens three people who love to harmonize gather around the piano to sing? Sometimes, it’s magic. That is certainly the story of Lost Saints, a trio with roots in the South who met in Nashville.
Afton Addington, a Houston native, transferred from Lee University to Belmont seven years ago to study the business side of the music industry.
“I wanted to do music, but I wasn’t sure how,” she says. She credits Derrick Casteel with getting the trio together. He moved from his hometown in the Smoky Mountains of Eastern Tennessee four years ago. He had studied K-6 education in college and then worked for a gospel record label and a concert promotions company before deciding to do his own thing in Nashville.
Two weeks after Derrick moved into his condo, Afton and her roommate moved in downstairs. They had mutual friends and love of music, so they often found themselves having fun singing around the piano.
Chris Biano, a Beaumont, Texas, native had been pursuing music in Dallas. “I knew my culture had to change,” he said. “If I wanted to do it at a high level, I had to be around people that had done it too.” He moved to Nashville seven years ago to pursue a career as a solo artist and songwriter where he says, “I thrust myself into the songwriting community and the artistry community. “
Derrick says, “I had written with Chris a couple of times and met him through another mutual friend, so I snuck around a little bit and talked him into coming over and getting around the piano with us just to see how it sounded—and it clicked.”
“I was pursuing music head on,” says Biano, “and then I met these two guys who flipped me upside down.” He said that when they sang together, they knew right away they had something special.
“As somebody who’d pursued music for awhile—all three of us, whether in college or church or as solo artists—when we first sang together, we thought this could really be something that comes around only once in a long time.”
They knew they had vocal harmonies, but took some time to be sure the personal dynamic was right.
“We became really good friends,” Biano says. “We didn’t push or rush or anything. We wanted to get to know each other and make sure our dreams and aspirations and work ethic lined up. There is no right or wrong in that scenario when we’re singing and having fun and making music. After about eight months we decided we wanted to dedicate all of our time, effort, and energy into being Lost Saints—so here we are.”
They chose the band name Lost Saints after trying to come up with the right combination of words. One evening at the Tin Roof on Demonbreum with friends for a show, they started throwing out combinations of words they liked. Lost Saints was one of the pairs. One of the friends liked it and suggested that since all three of them had grown up singing in church, it had a connection.
“And we all have family that keep asking us, ‘When are you going to sing in church again? When are you going to put out a gospel album?’” Afton added. “We all have those roots, but I guess we’re wandering, doing secular music. It’s more of an inside joke than anything.”
Derrick comes from a family who all sing bluegrass and play music. The church where he grew up used shape note hymnals and held singing schools, and he recalls sitting in church with his grandmother and her best friends singing alto.
Afton also discovered harmony from family and in church. She says, “My mom was an alto. I remember riding in the car and hearing her singing harmony with the radio. When you’re first introduced to it, you’re wondering, ‘What is that?’ It sounded so good.” By middle school, Afton had figured out how to sing harmony herself.
Part of what makes Lost Saints unique is that they trade off lead and harmonies when they sing together.
Chris says, “It would be a disservice if all of us didn’t sing. We don’t’ really have one main voice and build all our harmonies around that. “ He says of his fellow band mates, “These guys are both better singers than I am. So I can attest to everyone having a lead in the upcoming singles.”
On their debut single, “We Don’t Fight,” released on June 12, Afton and Chris trade out singing lead, and Derrick comes in with the harmonies, but on the next single, with more of a country sound, Derrick will have the lead, says Biano, and “we will all sing in little pieces and parts. That’s just what we are and that’s just how it is.”
Afton added, “Stylistically, too, we’re all just a little different and that—as well as range—can sometimes play a part in who’s doing what. We all fall in a different place, but there’s definitely no science to it now.”
Chris added, “We’re trying to have no rules right now, but a lot of the times with our music, there will be a major connection for somebody. One of us will say, ‘I love this…it’s right in my spot.’ And we make it work. It’s really grown us to have different people singing.”
The various musical influences of the members of Lost Saints also enrich the group dynamics. Derrick grew up listening to a wide variety of sounds. His mother listened to 70s and 80s pop and rock, such as Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson, and Whitney Houston, while his dad, says Casteel, was “the country guy, so I grew up listening to 90s groups like Diamond Rio.”
Afton says she grew up listening to Christian radio. She also loves pop music too, so her style leans that way. Chris finds himself sitting perfectly in the middle of both of them. He says, “I love new sounds. I like pop influences, but I have always been drawn to organic instruments and to the storytelling first, which allows us to have a unique sound and fit into country but still to be influenced in a lot of different ways.
“Somehow all of our styles mesh into something that we have continued to be very proud of. Country music has changed a lot over the past years. I think it’s broadened for us, so we can have a place with very strong harmonies—which people will always love. It reminds them of home and church and singing and family. That’s really the nucleus of our sound. Some songs might venture a little more pop and more up tempo and some might be sad, but the harmonies and the stories will always be the forefront of our music,” say Biano.
The group is especially proud of their first single “We Don’t Fight,” a song Biano co-wrote with Brandon Chase and Ethan Hulse. He says he came into the group with the song. “I knew it lent itself to powerful harmonies, so once we all sang it for the first time we were all thinking, ‘This is our jam.’ We were itching for other people to catch the vision and relate to it.”
The group has played “We Don’t Fight” since their first live show in 2017. Afton says, “It’s like our anthem, and people who follow us and who supported us from the beginning love this song. We wanted it to be the first one we released because we believe in it so much.”
Part of the secret to success of the song is the way listeners can relate, says Chris. “It’s a song about looking back at the end of a relationship and trying to find something good to take away, even if it is just that ‘we don’t fight anymore.’”
Since the single’s release, it has made several playlists including a place on New Music Nashville for a few weeks, which they found a pleasant surprise. Play on Whiskey Riff and CMT’s The Roundup, has also helped them gain new listeners and fans.
The group was also featured on Season 2 of the Dailey and Vincent Show on Circle Network, performing their single. They first got to know Jamie Dailey through Derrick’s roommate Blaine Johnson, who plays keys for that band. Dailey came to their home for some of their legendary Southern meals, and when he heard Lost Saints’ harmony, a trademark of Dailey and Vincent as well, he was intrigued.
As someone who loves “real music and real harmony,” they say, Dailey has been a huge supporter, “paying it forward.”
To stay engaged during the pandemic, with tours and shows cancelled, Lost Saints has worked to be creative in their approach. They plan to release a video about “We Don’t Fight” and how it came about, along with an acoustic live version on the song.
“We have big things in the works, even though we can’t travel and play. This whole thing is tough on a lot of people and a lot of industries and we’re just trying to keep positive and keep pushing and meeting people,” says Chris.
While they plan to release their next single in six to eight weeks, a fun summer country song featuring Derrick in the lead, Afton says, “We want to give ’We Don’t Fight’ as much time and energy and love as it needs without blowing past it to release another song.”
“We Don’t Fight” is not only the title of their first single but also a good description of the working relationship of Lost Saints. Afton and Derrick admit to bickering like siblings, and Chris jokes, “Sometimes I have to put the kids in time out,” but the three have become friends and family. While Chris has been the songwriter of the trio, they have begun working together on some original songs for the group.
“You would think we’d be tired spending three or four nights a week together. But I actualy miss them ever since we’ve stopped hanging out,” said Addington, who is currently finishing up a 14-day Covid quarantine.
With so many festivals and shows cancelled, Lost Saints still look forward to playing live again. They hope they will still be able to play the Georgia Mountain Fall Festival at the Hiawassee, GA, fairgrounds where they are scheduled to open for Pam Tillis.
They have other items on their bucket list too. For Afton, it’s playing The Rodeo in Houston, a venue that would feel to her like home court. Chris says he and Derrick dream of playing the Opry.
“That and Neyland Stadium,” adds Derrick.
In the meantime, they’ll keep reaching out to fans through radio and social media, looking forward to the time when they can gather back around the piano or on stage to create their own special harmony.