Larkin Poe almost didn’t happen. In December 2009, Rebecca and Megan Lovell watched their bluegrass trio — the Lovell Sisters — fall apart when oldest sister Jessica stepped away to get married and start college. The two younger Lovells had spent their teenage years winning mandolin contests at MerleFest and performing on A Prairie Home Companion. Now, at 18 and 20, they faced a choice: go back to normal life in Calhoun, Georgia, or start over with a brand new sound. They chose the latter — and plugged in.
What came next was something the blues rock world hadn’t quite heard before. Two sisters from the north Georgia mountains traded acoustic instruments for electric guitars, lap steel, and a wall of distortion. They could harmonize like they shared a bloodstream — because they did. Named after their great-great-great-great-grandfather (a cousin of Edgar Allan Poe), Larkin Poe has since earned a Grammy, topped the Billboard blues charts many times over, and built a global touring machine. However, the real story isn’t the awards. It’s how two classically trained kids from a small Southern town rewired their sound from bluegrass to blues rock without losing a shred of who they are.
Early Life: Classical Roots in Calhoun, Georgia
Megan Lovell was born on May 12, 1989. Rebecca Lovell arrived on January 30, 1991. They grew up in Calhoun, a small city in northwest Georgia where the Appalachian foothills start to flatten out. Their household ran on music. Both girls took classical violin and piano lessons early on and joined the local youth symphony. They sang in their church choir before they could read the hymnals.
Their older sister Jessica pushed them toward bluegrass and classic rock. She put Bill Monroe and Led Zeppelin in their ears at a young age. Furthermore, the classical training gave them something most young roots musicians lack — disciplined practice habits and a sharp ear for arrangement. By their early teens, Megan had picked up the dobro and lap steel. Rebecca chose the mandolin and built a vocal range that could jump from a whisper to a full-throated belt in a single phrase.
Growing Up in Appalachian Music Country
The Lovell household sat deep in Appalachian music country. Generations of string bands, shape-note singers, and front-porch pickers had come from these hills. That heritage seeped into the sisters’ playing whether they meant it to or not. Calhoun sits about 70 miles north of Atlanta on I-75 — close enough for weekend gigs but rural enough that the land still shapes daily life. Even as teenagers, the Lovells grasped something about roots music that takes most artists decades to learn: the technique serves the song. Not the other way around.
In 2005, the three sisters formed the Lovell Sisters. Megan was 16, Rebecca just 14. They won first prize in A Prairie Home Companion’s Talent from Twelve to Twenty contest right away. That win led to spots on the national radio show. Rebecca then took a mandolin contest at MerleFest in 2006 — no small feat at one of America’s top acoustic festivals. The trio also grabbed a grand prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2008.
By the time Jessica left in late 2009, the two remaining Lovells had logged more stage time than most players twice their age. They’d put out independent albums, toured the country, and built a loyal following. The question wasn’t whether they could make it. It was whether they could survive starting over from scratch. Most child prodigies who lose their original group never recover the momentum. The Lovells were about to prove that rule wrong.
From Bluegrass to Blues Rock: The Larkin Poe Shift
The Lovell Sisters played their final show in early 2010. Within months, Rebecca and Megan moved to Nashville and became Larkin Poe. The change was sharp and total. Gone were the acoustic mandolins and fiddle-driven tunes. In their place came electric guitars, Megan’s amplified lap steel, and a rhythm section that hit much harder than anything on the bluegrass circuit. Nashville gave them a base of operations and access to a deep pool of session players, engineers, and co-writers. But the Lovells wanted to do things their own way from the start.
They put out four EPs through 2010 — Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter — tracking their sonic shift in real time. Each one pushed further from their acoustic roots. Meanwhile, a 2011 EP called Thick as Thieves and team-ups with Norwegian singer Thom Hell and British folk artist Blair Dunlop opened their palette even wider. They were hunting for a sound, pulling from Delta blues, Southern rock, Americana, and classic British blues rock until something clicked.
Finding Their Voice on Vinyl
Their debut full-length, Kin, arrived in 2014 on RH Music. It hinted at where they were heading but still jumped between genres. A 2016 reissue — retitled Reskinned with five new tracks — showed them getting sharper. Nevertheless, it was Peach (2017) that truly put Larkin Poe on the map as a blues rock act. Recorded in Nashville with grit to spare, the album’s title nodded to Georgia. The music drew from the same well that fed the slide guitar tradition and the Allman Brothers’ jam-heavy style.
Breaking Through: Grammys and Billboard Domination
Everything sped up with Venom & Faith in November 2018. The album hit number one on the Billboard Top Blues Albums chart in week one. It also earned Larkin Poe their first Grammy nod for Best Contemporary Blues Album. The sisters had made the record on their own Tricki-Woo Records label. That gave them full creative control but meant handling all the business side too. The gamble paid off. An independent duo debuting at number one on their own imprint was nearly unheard of. The Grammy nod opened festival doors and put them in front of mainstream music media for the first time.
Self Made Man followed in June 2020 and hit number one on the blues chart again. The title said it all — two women running their own label, making their own records, and building a touring machine with no major-label backing. Additionally, they dropped Kindred Spirits later that year. That covers album featured acoustic takes on songs by Robert Johnson, the Allman Brothers, Elton John, and even Post Malone. It peaked at number three on the blues chart. Two number-one albums and a number-three in a single year — on an indie label, during a pandemic — was a feat no one in the blues world saw coming.
Building a Worldwide Following
Their live show became a major draw during this stretch. Larkin Poe toured hard, headlining festivals and opening for Bob Seger, Elvis Costello, and Keith Urban. They also built one of the biggest YouTube channels in the blues world. Their “Love Letter” cover series racked up hundreds of millions of views. That reach brought their music to fans who might never walk into a blues club. It also gave them a revenue stream most indie acts can only dream about.
The crowning moment arrived with Blood Harmony in November 2022. The title nods to the way sibling voices blend with almost eerie precision. Blood Harmony won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album in 2024. That win placed Larkin Poe next to artists like Fantastic Negrito and Keb’ Mo’ in the category’s modern history.
They kept rolling into 2025 with Bloom, out in January on Tricki-Woo. The album leans into country-tinged territory — a natural move for two Georgia-raised artists who grew up on bluegrass. A deluxe acoustic edition followed in October, stripping five tracks to their bare bones. The album proved the Lovells could keep growing without leaving the blues behind.
Musical Style and Technique
Larkin Poe’s sound lives where Southern rock, blues rock, and roots Americana meet. The blues sits at the base of it all. Their music pulls hard from the origins of American blues, run through the electric charge of 1970s Southern rock. People compare them to the Allman Brothers, and that’s fair — the dual-guitar interplay and Southern swagger are obvious touchstones. However, Larkin Poe brings a vocal depth the Allmans never tried. Where Gregg Allman sang solo over the band, Rebecca and Megan stack harmonies that turn every chorus into something bigger than the sum of its parts.
Megan’s Lap Steel and Slide Work
Megan’s lap steel and slide guitar is the duo’s main weapon. She plays with a force that calls up Elmore James and the tonal clarity of Duane Allman. Yet her classical training shows in the precision of every phrase. Her slide sings melodic lines that weave through Rebecca’s vocals like a second voice.
On dobro, she drops into a more acoustic mode that ties their current sound back to its bluegrass roots. She often switches between the two mid-set. That shift — from a screaming electric slide to a warm, woody dobro — gives their shows a dynamic range most blues rock acts can’t touch. It also keeps audiences off balance in the best way. You never know which version of Megan you’re going to get next.
Rebecca’s Vocals and the Blood Harmony Effect
Rebecca sings lead and plays electric guitar. Her voice is the powerhouse — it can float through a quiet ballad or rip through a high-energy rocker with equal force. She still plays mandolin on select tracks too, a nod to her contest days. Her guitar work leans toward rhythm and texture rather than flashy leads. That makes sense — when your sister is on lap steel like that, the smart move is to build the frame and let her fill it.
Together, the sisters lock into what musicians call “blood harmony.” Two voices merge into something richer than either one alone. It’s a trait shared by the Everly Brothers and the Louvin Brothers. However, it rarely shows up in blues rock with this kind of punch. When the Lovells harmonize on a chorus, the effect is instant and physical. It’s one of those things you can’t fake and can’t learn — you either share DNA or you don’t.
Their live band runs as a four-piece. Bass and drums hold down the bottom while the Lovells handle everything on top. The sisters self-produce most of their records, often co-writing with Rebecca’s husband Tyler Bryant (of Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown). That DIY method keeps their albums sounding raw and direct — closer to the blues tradition than to the polished Nashville sound. It also means every creative choice lands on them. No A&R rep picks the singles. No label decides the track order. The Lovells own it all, for better or worse.
Key Recordings
Peach (2017)
The album that turned Larkin Poe from an Americana act into a blues rock force. Self-produced in Nashville, Peach leans hard into Southern grit. Tracks like “Trouble in Mind” and “Jailbreak” let Megan’s slide guitar run wild. Rebecca’s vocals push toward a rawer, tougher tone than anything on their earlier records. The title — a nod to Georgia, the Peach State — set the stage for all that followed. Critics noticed. Festival bookers called. For the first time, Larkin Poe wasn’t being pitched as “former bluegrass kids trying something new.” They were a blues rock band, full stop. The refugees had found their home.
Venom & Faith (2018)
Their first big hit and first Grammy-nominated record. Venom & Faith opened at number one on the Billboard blues chart. Tracks like “Bleach Blonde Bottle Blues” and “Mississippi” tap into Delta and hill country grooves. The production stays lean and punchy throughout. This record showed Larkin Poe could play at the top of the blues world without giving up their independence.
Self Made Man (2020)
A second straight number-one blues album, released during the pandemic summer of 2020. Self Made Man mixes heavy riff-driven tracks with quieter moments. “Holy Ghost Fire” opens with a stomp-clap groove that builds into a full-band wall of sound. “She’s a Self Made Man” became an anthem for the duo’s DIY spirit. The message was clear: build it yourself and own every piece. That ethos runs through the entire record — and through every business choice the Lovells have made since day one.
Kindred Spirits (2020)
Out just five months after Self Made Man, this covers album strips everything to acoustic basics. The track list reads like a family jukebox: Robert Johnson’s “Come On in My Kitchen” sits next to Lenny Kravitz, Phil Collins, and the Moody Blues. The Johnson cover stands out — Megan’s dobro channels the Delta while Rebecca’s voice stays modern. It bridges the 1930s and 2020s in a single track. Kindred Spirits hit number three on the Billboard blues chart. It proved their audience would follow them anywhere — electric or acoustic, original or cover.
Blood Harmony (2022)
The Grammy winner. Out in November 2022, Blood Harmony took home Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 2024 ceremony. “Deep Stays Down” and “Bad Spell” show off Larkin Poe’s most mature writing. The album runs darker and moodier than Self Made Man. Its title says it all: two sisters whose voices lock together with a precision no studio trick can copy.
Bloom (2025)
Their newest studio album, out January 24, 2025, on Tricki-Woo Records. Megan, Rebecca, and Tyler Bryant co-produced and co-wrote most of it. Bloom leans further into country while keeping its blues rock spine. Eleven tracks run just over 42 minutes. “Bluephoria” and “Nowhere Fast” stand out. An acoustic companion came in October 2025 — five Bloom songs stripped bare, proving once again that these tunes hold up without amps.
Legacy and Impact
Larkin Poe holds a rare spot in the modern blues world. They’re a sister duo in a genre long run by solo male guitarists. They put out records on their own label in an industry that still pushes artists toward big-name deals. Furthermore, they built their fan base through non-stop touring and a YouTube presence that came before the current social media era. Their channel has pulled in hundreds of millions of views. That kind of reach matters in a genre that still relies on word of mouth and live shows to build careers.
Their reach goes deeper than chart numbers show. Megan’s lap steel work has turned a new wave of players on to the instrument. Her style — bold, melodic, and willing to break from slide guitar norms — has widened what the lap steel can do in a rock setting. Meanwhile, Rebecca’s singing offers a model for blues vocals done with heart and no imitation.
Together, they’ve shown that women in blues don’t need a special label or category. They just need to be great. In an era when Samantha Fish, Ally Venable, and Shemekia Copeland are reshaping who plays the blues, Larkin Poe stands at the front. Not because they set out to prove a point, but because they made records that demanded people listen.
With a Grammy on the shelf and seven studio albums done, Larkin Poe shows no sign of slowing down. They’ve taken the sound of the American South — from the Delta to the Georgia mountains — and turned it into something that fills rooms from Nashville to London to Sydney. The Lovell Sisters started as bluegrass prodigies playing Appalachian festivals to polite crowds. Larkin Poe proved they were always meant for something louder, heavier, and rooted deep in the blues.
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