This Album Changed My Life: Homegrown Trio On Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’

They might not be a household name just yet, but Homegrown Trio are well on their way to stardom.

The powerhouse siblings – Katelyn, Liam and Kasey O’Donoghue – went viral in 2018 when they covered Tracy Chapman’s 1988 classic Fast Car on The Voice Australia (a whole five years before Luke Combs took the world by storm with his own rendition), racking up more than a million views. They were also praised by the Voice coaches themselves – Kelly Rowland, Delta Goodrem, Boy George and Joe Jonas – and went on to reach the Top 16 as part of Team Jonas.

In 2021, the O’Donoghue crew packed their bags and journeyed out to the country music capital of the world: Nashville, Tennessee. Within a short few months, they’d established Homegrown Trio as a force to be reckoned with – thanks in no short part, of course, to their slot on the epic Remember This tour that featured the Jonas Brothers, Kelsea Ballerini and Jordan McGraw.

Shortly thereafter, the trio signed a global publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music Nashville, kickstarting a whirlwind year of songwriting and studio time. Last year, they linked up with some of the biggest and most respected producers in the country music scene – Dann Huff (Keith Urban), Nathan Chapman (Taylor Swift) and Joy Williams (The Civil Wars) – and racked up an impressive haul of surefire hits.

The first of those hits is Heartbreaker, which Homegrown Trio plan to release on Friday April 5. The song dates back to ye olden days of 2020, when the band co-wrote it with close friend Sammy Telford in their rural Queensland hometown, immortalising “the story of someone trying to move on from an old relationship”.

In a press release, they said of the process they underwent in bringing it to life: “We had an amazing time working with Nathan Chapman in Nashville recording this song. We’re excited that Heartbreaker is the first single out to introduce the new sound of Homegrown Trio.”

To celebrate the impending launch of Heartbreaker, we caught up with Homegrown Trio to chat about the albums that influenced them personally – to explore the sounds and styles that helped craft their own sound into something as unique and exciting as it is. They all offered picks of their own, but came to the shared conclusion that out of all the albums they’ve bonded over – both as a band and siblings in their own right – none have been quite as powerful as Fleetwood Mac’s career-defining 1977 album, Rumours.

Head here to pre-save Heartbreaker on your streaming platform of choice, then read on for Hometown Trio’s yarn about their longstanding love for Rumours.

Homegrown Trio on the impact Rumours had on them:

We sat down together, discussing the question of which album changed our lives, and it didn’t take us long to decide – although each of us had separate albums that made us fall in love with music to begin with.

For instance, Katelyn’s pick was Brand New Man by Brooks & Dunn. One of her first memories of listening to country music was hearing that record play in the front seat of an old Toyota, when she was a young kid on our family’s cattle station, so it’s pretty special for her.

For Liam it was Let It Lie by The Bros. Landreth – it’s been on repeat since the day he first heard it! It’s one of those albums that you don’t get sick of. And for Kasey, the first album that came to mind was Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves. It really opened her eyes to pop melodies and country lyrics being intertwined, which has become a big inspiration for her songwriting.

So, as you can tell, we all picked very different albums! But that’s the thing with a trio: each of us brings our own musical taste and inspirations into the band, which creates a very cool dynamic when it comes to our songwriting and sound.

If we had to pick just one album that impacted our lives as a band, there’s one that comes to mind straight away: Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. Now, we can’t pinpoint the exact moment we heard it, but we remember the feeling – it really made us sit back and listen. The Chain was the first song we heard off the album, which instantly made us do a deep-dive into the rest of their catalogue.

To be honest, they really inspired us to become a trio. Listening to the harmonies, the lyrics, the melodies... It was so captivating.   It was also interesting breaking down the arrangements of their songs, too – where they would place their harmonies to keep the attention of the listener and make each song unique.

Rumours really taught us that music doesn’t always need to stay between the lines, and it’s okay to bounce between genres. Hearing a band create such powerful and timeless songs is something that we strive to achieve with our music. I mean, what an iconic album with songs like Dreams, Go Your Own Way, I Don’t Want To Know and The Chain... It really does stand the test of time.