Cheyenne Kimball's departure from Gloriana came as a surprise to everyone, including bandmates Rachel Reinert, Mike Gossin and Tom Gossin, but her exit actually brings the group's musical journey full circle.

"Not a lot of people know this, but when Mike and I moved to Nashville, Rachel was one of the first people we met ... It was just the three of us," Tom tells Taste of Country. "We used to call ourselves the Midnight Three, which is a horrible, horrible name [laughs]."

The 'Midnight Three' claim they knew nothing about Cheyenne's unhappiness. "We were saddened and hurt," Tom told Nashville's Tennessean newspaper the week of her abrupt adieu. "Bands are like relationships between two people, there are trials and tribulations along the way and you do your best to live and make music together and that's what we were doing. It feels almost like being left at the altar."

But fast forward to today, and the trio have a more positive outlook on the situation, assuring fans that the change is good and the future of Gloriana remains intact.

"Now that we're back to being three, it's been really great," says Tom. 'We're back to our roots. We've got a whole new direction, and we got that kind of fire back that you have when you're a new band ... Because of our passion, our commitment and our love for what we do, there's no other option for us but to move forward."

However, Cheyenne's absence does leave the band with a creative speed bump. "There were two songs we had to swap out in the set list for the live show," Tom notes. Gloriana must also head back to the studio to replace a song that Cheyenne penned, but they insist their upcoming sophomore release is "on track" for a fall release.

"People leave and join bands all the time throughout history," says Tom. "That's a regular thing that happens, but the core is still here, and the music is still going to move on."

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