Southern Roots Rockers Larkin Poe to Perform at The Center for the Arts

GRASS VALLEY, CA, January 12, 2023 – The Center for the Arts is pleased to welcome Larkin Poe to the Marisa Funk Theater on February 7, 2023. Georgia-bred multi-instrumentalist sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell fortify their storytelling with a blues-heavy sound that hits right in the heart, at turns stormy and sorrowful and wildly exhilarating. Megan and Rebecca’s careers in music began over a decade and a half ago, playing with their older sister Jessica as the Lovell Sisters. The group disbanded in late 2009 and the following year Larkin Poe rose from the musical embers. Over the course of five studio albums, they’ve taken in blues, Americana, classic rock n roll, and everything in between, including starting their own label and self-producing their own albums.

The latest full-length from Larkin Poe, Blood Harmony is a whole-hearted invitation into a world they know intimately, a Southern landscape so precisely conjured you can feel the sticky humidity of the warm summer air. Rooted in the potent musicality the Nashville-based duo has brought to such widely lauded work as 2018’s Venom & Faith (a GRAMMY® Award nominee for Best Contemporary Blues Album), Blood Harmony affirms Larkin Poe as an essential force in shaping the identity of Southern rock-and-roll, breathing new energy into the genre with both forward-thinking perspective and a decidedly feminine strength.

With Megan handling harmony vocals, lap steel, and resonator guitar and Rebecca on guitar and keys, Larkin Poe also enlisted members of their longtime live band, including drummer Kevin McGowan and bassist Tarka Layman. One of the first songs penned for Blood Harmony,  the fiercely stomping “Southern Comfort”, has soul-stirring harmonies that instantly set the tone for Larkin Poe’s finespun reflection on their heritage with sharply detailed lyrics of gutsy determination and a homesick longing for days gone by. “What we try to share through our music is the emotional equivalent of opening your door to everyone and inviting them in for sweet tea,” says Rebecca, Larkin Poe’s lead vocalist/lyricist. “We have such fond memories of our upbringing and experiencing the beauty of Southern hospitality in its truest form—it’s a very loving and inclusive energy.” 

All throughout Blood Harmony, Larkin Poe imbue their songs with equal parts soulful sensitivity and thrilling ferocity—an element on full display in the feverish guitar work of “Bad Spell.” “Ever since I heard ‘I Put a Spell on You’ by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins for the first time I’ve wanted to write a female response to it,” says Rebecca. 

February 7, 2023 is a night not to miss at The Center for the Arts, with Larkin Poe poised to deliver an empowering performance. “Because we’ve spent so much of our life out on the road, you know what moments you want to share energetically with the crowd,” says Rebecca. “We want to be the time out with friends that helps you deal with the rest of the week, the emotional release.”