When Rebecca and Megan Lovell, the sisters behind the rock, country, and blues duo Larkin Poe formed their band 15 years ago, they already had a few years of touring experience under their belts. But not as a duo: Back then, they were known as the Lovell Sisters, an acoustic trio that included their older sister Jessica.
“We started the Lovell Sisters as a hobby. That was never intended to be something that we did,” Megan says. “We kind of lucked into it. We went on Prairie Home Companion. Millions of people heard that, and they thought we were a professional band. Right out of the gate we were a touring band.”
The trio would eventually disband in 2010 and, from the ashes of that project, emerged Larkin Poe, formed when Rebecca was 19 and Megan 20. Named after an ancestor of the Lovells who was related to Edgar Allan Poe, the group has steadily earned a reputation as one of the most sonically astounding live acts on the scene. To see Larkin Poe perform — as fans at SXSW in Austin will when the duo appears at Rolling Stone’s Future of Music showcase on Wednesday — is to witness energy unleashed. Rebecca commands with fierce lead vocals and guitar work, while Megan peels off blistering licks on lap steel and sings harmony.
“I think having a lot of tension and release in this band allows us a lot of experimentation,” Rebecca says.
You can hear it on Bloom, Larkin Poe’s latest album released in January. A kaleidoscope of sound, the record blends Southern rock, Delta blues, Appalachian bluegrass, and Americana into a singular tone that’s unique to the siblings. It’s the follow-up to 2022’s Grammy-winning Blood Harmony and the band’s seventh studio album.
But Megan says there’s a particular awakening evident in Bloom. “I’m perpetually surprised by how new and fresh it feels,” she says. “Bloom felt like we were starting over.”
The starting line for the Lovells begins in their native North Georgia. With the bucolic backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains as their playground, the sisters spent their days disappearing into the forest and meandering along creeks. Their memories of a Southern Appalachian youth is something they still carry with them, whether at their current homes in Nashville or on tour around the globe.
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“The landscape of the American South is an additional character in our story, and it’s fascinating to me [how] that crops up so frequently in our writing,” Rebecca says. “We’re from the mountains, and it was so idealized in our heads having spent so much time away while we were touring so aggressively.”
In the high-octane Bloom track “Nowhere Fast,” the Lovells pay tribute to their homeland. “Me and my people came from the country/my country comes out when you tell me ‘no,’” Rebecca howls on the song. “We got a whole lot to do and not a lotta time to do it/all the way to the back screaming ‘go, go, go.’”
It’s a fast-paced, snarling number that showcases not only Rebecca’s soaring vocals, but the one-two punch interplay between her searing electric guitar licks and Megan’s razor-sharp lap steel. “If God Is a Woman” does likewise, with Rebecca rumbling, almost sinisterly: “If God is a woman, the devil is too/Better get down on your knees, you’ve got some praying to do.”
Female empowerment and actively shifting the male-dominated dynamics within the music industry is fundamental to Larkin Poe. They also talk often about honest communication and acts of compassion, two essentials in a touring band. “There are tropes in music [like] ‘it’s cool to be sad,’ ‘it’s cool to numb out,’ when, in reality, it’s much easier to fall into entropy,” Megan says. “It takes strength to actually choose to live, choose to be positive, and choose to move forward.”
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That’s top of mind every time Larkin Poe step into the spotlight, plug into their amps, and launch into the opening number. “Our ability to connect with people on the stage has always been such a natural thing,” Rebecca says. “When we are in the room with people and looking into their eyes, we find that connection.”
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Following their SXSW appearance, Larkin Poe will kick off a nationwide headlining tour in April, with a European run slated for the fall. According to the Lovells, their secret weapon is their sibling bond.
“Being able to have our sister relationship underpin everything has been our greatest gift,” Rebecca says. “I do not think we would have survived or subsisted without the support of each other. It’s everything.”
