A trio of young Alabama country artists is set to bring an evening of acoustic, traditionally rooted songwriting to Old 27 Grill as part of the Southern Sisters Tour, a self-booked run of dates crisscrossing the state this spring. The stop puts a spotlight on Foley singer-songwriter Christina Christian, who is joined on the road by fellow Alabama natives Elizabeth Green and Megan McMillan.
The tour was born out of a simple friendship rather than an industry deal. Christian, Green and McMillan connected over the past year and found they shared both a sound and a work ethic, eventually deciding to combine their fan bases by touring together. According to Christian, the idea first took shape during a country night at Good Time Charlie’s in Foley, where the three musicians realized how well their styles complemented one another.
“We basically just hit it off,” Christian said of the trio’s origin. “We just became sisters just like that. We’ve kept in touch over the course of the past year through email, and we just booked it by ourselves. We have 15 dates for March and April.”
Green, who travels from Randolph, brings polished vocals and heartfelt original songs to the bill, while McMillan, representing Perry County, draws inspiration from country legends Loretta Lynn and Waylon Jennings and is preparing to release her debut EP this spring. Together with Christian, the three round out a lineup built around original songwriting rather than the more pop-leaning sound that has come to dominate mainstream country radio in recent years.
For Christian, the Old 27 Grill stop is another step in a music career that began at age 12, when she first picked up a guitar. That early interest eventually merged with a love of writing poetry, and the combination pushed her toward songwriting. She has said that everyday experiences, conversations and relationships often become the seeds of her songs, and that long stretches of driving alone have proven to be some of her most productive creative time.
“It’s crazy how many things pop into your head when you’ve got no one else on the road with you,” Christian said. “You think of a lot of different things. Every week, I’m starting five or six new songs.”
Unlike many singer-songwriters who build a following close to home, Christian has made regional touring a central part of her career, playing shows across Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and Alabama, often without significant pay, in an effort to reach new listeners.
“The past two years, I’ve been really pushing my career,” she said. “So far, it’s taken me to places that I never would’ve thought that I would be at this point.”
Christian’s commitment to music solidified during a year at Troy University, where she studied as a Music Industry major and learned the fundamentals of concert production and songwriting. After that first year, she chose to leave school and devote herself full time to performing and booking her own shows, a decision she credits with accelerating her growth as an independent artist across the Southeast.
“Honestly, during that year, I took what I needed from college, and I’m applying that to what I do,” Christian said. “I just needed that one year of college to know that I didn’t need a degree to do this. I know that it was a great decision.”
Christian currently manages her own bookings and career direction, though she has recently begun discussions with a booking agency as her regional profile has grown. She is also finishing work on a new extended-play album, “Hope,” due out in April. The project was recorded at Studio 144 in Killen, near Muscle Shoals, with a lineup of experienced session players. Bassist Mel Knapp and drummer David Donald, of the group Hillbilly Deluxe, joined Christian in the studio, along with West Virginia multi-instrumentalist Dave McCormick, a regular performer at the Frank Brown Songwriters Festival, who contributed lap steel, Dobro, lead guitar and mandolin to the record.
Christian has described the blend of musical backgrounds among her session players as creating a distinctive atmosphere during the sessions, with Knapp’s rock influences, Donald’s country foundation and McCormick’s Appalachian textures shaping the album’s sound. The band recorded the entire project in just four days, a pace Christian called “crunch time,” during which she often spent 12 hours a day in the studio.
“It was a cool process, but I was also like, ‘This is what we’re going to do, and this is how it’s going to be when I really start recording in Nashville,'” Christian said.
Fans have already gotten a preview of the new material at Christian’s live shows and through songs posted to her website, including tracks such as “Weathered Love” and “With or Without You,” which pair traditional country phrasing with a more contemporary edge. Christian said she is also close to finalizing a publishing deal before the end of March, another sign of her growing traction in the industry.
Until “Hope” is released, local audiences can catch Christian at a steady run of shows across the Southeast, including the Southern Sisters Tour stop at Old 27 Grill. Christian said the goal of the tour is simple: build a shared audience for all three artists and introduce more listeners across Alabama to homegrown country songwriting.
“We put this together to share fans and spread our music throughout Alabama,” Christian said. “So far, it’s got a lot of attention, so we’re really happy that it came together like it has. We can’t wait to play everywhere down here. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”