Larkin Poe - Blood Harmony

Size: 99.6 MB
Time: 42:28
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2022
Styles: Blues Rock
Art: Front

01. Deep Stays Down (3:19)
02. Bad Spell (3:15)
03. Georgia Off My Mind (3:54)
04. Strike Gold (3:20)
05. Southern Comfort (3:47)
06. Bolt Cutters & The Family Name (3:15)
07. Blood Harmony (4:05)
08. Kick The Blues (3:26)
09. Might As Well Be Me (5:10)
10. Summertime Sunset (5:09)
11. Lips As Cold As Diamond (3:42)

Their music is grounded in American rock and blues of the southern variety. Rebecca has adopted the main songwriting role and Megan - known as “the slide queen” by her sister, plays a mean lap-steel and resonator guitar, as well as creating the vocal harmonies. Larkin Poe co-produced the record alongside Texan musician and Rebecca’s husband, Tyler Bryant.

First track ‘Deep Stays Down’ bleeds in softly with a sweet, southern blues guitar riff, before powerfully letting loose, assisted by touring rhythm section, drummer Kevin McGowan and bassist Tarka Layman to help raise the decibels across the LP. ‘Bad Spell’ is fuzzy and explosive with the Royal Blood treatment. This is Larkin Poe’s homage to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins's 1956 blues-rock classic ‘I Put a Spell on You’.

Throughout ‘Blood Harmony’, the sisters scream of their pride in being American southerners on the likes of ‘Georgia Off My Mind’ and ‘Southern Comfort’. Both songs are well constructed but are hindered by being too contrived in southern stereotypes such as “blue jeans”, “Coca-Cola”, and “state lines”.

Slide Queen Megan Lovell is in full force on the rebellious and bombastic ‘Bolt Cutters & The Family Name’, as Rebecca sings - “You can take me outta the fire, but you can’t take the fire outta me”.

The title track is dedicated to their musically rich family influences. The sisters were trained classically but were also exposed to hard ‘70s rock, blues and an array of guitar-based artists growing up. Case in point, on the upbeat ‘Kick the Blues’, there is a flavour of Joan Jett.

It’s only really on the ninth track of the album - the heartfelt ‘It Might As Well Be Me’ that we hear the Lovell sisters taking their foot off the gas a little from their loved-up southern excursion. It contains a majestic blues guitar solo as its centrepiece.

‘Summerset Sunset’ is a juggernaut of a song and is crafted for large, global arenas & concert halls. Despite one of their song titles being titled ‘Strike Gold’ the record doesn’t reach those heights. This album is built for their dynamic and incendiary live performances. However, it feels mildly impersonal.
The best track on the album is the more melancholy and soulful, ‘Lips As Cold As Diamond’, which has tones of the great Allison Moorer. If only there had been more songs of this calibre and substance.

Blood Harmony MP3
Blood Harmony FLAC

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Larkin Poe - Self Made Man

Size: 82,4 MB
Time: 35:01
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2020
Styles: Blues Rock
Art: Front

01. She’s A Self Made Man (3:01)
02. Holy Ghost Fire (3:22)
03. Keep Diggin’ (3:11)
04. Back Down South (Feat. Tyler Bryant) (3:54)
05. Tears Of Blue To Gold (3:12)
06. God Moves On The Water (2:44)
07. Every Bird That Flies (3:40)
08. Scorpion (3:12)
09. Danger Angel (2:27)
10. Ex-Con (3:56)
11. Easy Street (2:17)

After a remarkable two-year run that saw them earn a Grammy Award nomination for their last chart-topping studio album while touring the world from Nashville to New Zealand and back again, Larkin Poe have returned with what is undeniably their most wide-reaching, artistically adventurous, and self-determined work to date. Once again taking the producer reins and releasing on their own Tricki-Woo Records label, Self Made Man sees the multi-instrumentalist sister duo, comprised of the Atlanta-bred, Nashville-based Rebecca and Megan Lovell, pushing their music and message towards hitherto unexplored terrain, inspired by their epic world travels yet still powerfully rooted in the creative heritage of their beloved American South. From the thunderous power of the album-opening "She's A Self Made Man," through the nostalgic "Tears of Blue to Gold" and fierce Chicago blues of "Scorpion," to the front porch jubilation of "Easy Street," the album is ambitious in both it's eclectic, energetic sound and it's resolutely welcoming mission, it's universal lyrical approach fueled by tradition, invention, and Larkin Poe's remarkable ability to touch the hearts and souls of their fellow humans worldwide.

Self Made Man MP3
Self Made Man FLAC

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VA - Blues Singles Collection Vol. 1

Size: 259,3 MB
Time: 113:16
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2020
Styles: Blues

01 Connor Selby - (Move Me) Like That Good Ol' Rock & Roll (4:27)
02 Lilly Martin - Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City (3:27)
03 Sari Schorr - Back To LA (Single Edit) (3:32)
04 David Bromberg - Big Road (4:24)
05 Chris Kramer - Corona Roads (3:17)
06 Geoff Achison - Eyes On The Prize (4:04)
07 The Bros. Landreth & Mariel Buckley - Goodbye (3:51)
08 Zoe Schwarz Blue Commotion - Hello My Old Friend (5:33)
09 Larkin Poe - Holy Ghost Fire (3:22)
10 Dani Wilde - Howling At The Moon (4:46)
11 Steve Earle - John Henry Was A Steel Drivin’ Man (3:28)
12 Kenny 'Blues Boss' Wayne & Dawn Tyler Watson - Just Do It! (3:46)
13 Gina Sicilia - Lose My Head (3:06)
14 Seasick Steve - Love & Peace (5:59)
15 Jono Manson & Joan Osborne - Loved Me Into Loving Again (4:21)
16 Ruthie Foster - Mack The Knife (Live) (7:16)
17 Wilson Pickett - Many Roads To Travel (6:31)
18 Nuno Mindelis - Monami Zeca (4:45)
19 Robert Jon & The Wreck - Oh Miss Carolina (4:12)
20 Ruthie Foster - Phenomenal Woman (Live) (5:28)
21 John 'Papa' Gros - Please Don't Bury Me (3:23)
22 John Kay - Rain Love Sun - John Kay (2:12)
23 Larkin Poe - She's A Self Made Man (3:01)
24 John Primer & Bob Corritore - The Gypsy Woman Told Me (3:35)
25 The Reverend Shawn Amos, The Brotherhood, Ruthie Foster - Troubled Man (3:35)
26 Lazer Lloyd & Tyler James Boer - We're Gonna Make It (2020 Field Sessions) (3:22)
27 The Bros. Landreth & Mariel Buckley - When I Call Your Name (4:21)

A collection of blues singles released in March 2020 done by myself.

Blues Singles Collection Vol. 1

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Larkin Poe - Venom & Faith

Size: 73,7 MB
Time: 31:31
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2018
Styles: Blues Rock
Art: Front

01. Sometimes (2:52)
02. Bleach Blonde Bottle Blues (3:13)
03. Honey Honey (3:29)
04. Mississippi (3:39)
05. California King (3:18)
06. Blue Ridge Mountains (2:51)
07. Fly Like An Eagle (2:43)
08. Ain't Gonna Cry (3:33)
09. Hard Time Killing Floor Blues (3:13)
10. Good And Gone (2:35)

You can find Larkin Poe, aka sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell, on YouTube, covering beloved songs, just the two of them on a variety of instruments, in a series they call “Tip ‘o the Hat.” Here they’ll cover anything from Black Sabbath to Son House to Jack White. If the song means anything to either of them, they’ll learn it and perform it to learn more about the song. The performances are amazing, in that they’re able to re-create classic, well-known songs out of minimal instrumentation; usually just their voices, a guitar, and a lap steel. But to remake their beloved songs, they’ll use other tools: hand claps; foot stomps; guitar string scrapes; any technique at their disposal to make a song sound the way it’s supposed to sound. Seeing this work in progress makes you understand why Venom & Faith is such a wonderful album. Like their YouTube covers, on this, their fourth album, they do whatever it takes to create the best, most perfect version of every song.

One fascinating way they do this is with drum loops. Coming out of Americana, as they do, and given their amazing instrumental prowess, you might not be expecting electronic drums. Yet there they are, making great songs even better. “Honey Honey” has a haunting, simple electronic beat as the Lovells strategically layer guitar and lap steel, the vocals hypnotically alternating between chanting and achingly beautiful melodic hooks. The song deconstructs Americana to craft a great pop song.

And while this is a beautiful pop album, there are still plenty of lovely traditional Americana touches. “Good and Gone” could be a standard spiritual. A sad beautiful melody from Rebecca is doubled by lap steel from Megan, both eventually joined by a simple foot-stomp of a beat. Organ gradually floats in. And less than three minutes later, the song is over. It could have been written 50 years ago, and it could be sung 50 years from now. It’s classic.

Venom & Faith isn’t just about the music, though. The lyrics are also often funny, clever, sad, and angry. Many times simultaneously. “California King,” built on a sad banjo riff, is a tale of someone not knowing where they stand in a relationship. It has the best line of the album: “California king size dreams / In a twin bed.” The music, a sampled churning pop beat supporting lyrical lap steel, makes for a cool, trippy track, but thanks to the lyrics, the song could stand on its own as a simple country song (as could any track on the album).

Larkin Poe have created an album that is intricate without being dense. Amazingly, despite the variety of sounds, textures, and instruments, the entire thing is performed by just the two of them (except for one guest appearance by slide guitarist Tyler Bryant). It took me a few listens to figure out Venom & Faith is a pop album. But not a pop album like something from Ariana Grande. Rather a pop album from a band that’s listened to and covered hundreds of great pop songs from the past two centuries, and understands all of the big things that make a song great, but also all of the little things. Venom & Faith is two Americana artists pushing expectations to create something both familiar but also innovative. Not many artists could pull off what they’ve done here. The Review: 9.5/10 ~Steven Ovadia

Venom & Faith

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Larkin Poe - Peach

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 31:51
Size: 72.9 MB
Styles: Roots rock, Blues
Year: 2017
Art: Front

[2:08] 1. Come On In My Kitchen
[3:22] 2. Freedom
[2:44] 3. Black Betty
[3:22] 4. Look Away
[3:20] 5. Preachin' Blues
[2:42] 6. Cast ‘em Out
[3:16] 7. Pink & Red
[3:19] 8. John The Revelator
[4:50] 9. Wanted Woman Ac Dc
[2:43] 10. Tom Devil

Rebecca & Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe are singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist sisters creating their own brand of Roots Rock 'n' Roll: gritty, soulful, and flavored by their southern heritage. Originally from Atlanta and currently living in Nashville, they are descendants of tortured artist and creative genius Edgar Allan Poe.

"Southern sister act Larkin Poe delivered some produce Sept. 29, 2017 with their latest effort, Peach. Best known as an opening act favored by Elvis Costello, Bob Seger and others, the duo decided late this summer they wanted to put out an album half stocked with blues covers popular with their social media followers and original material. They recorded the set at breakneck speed to be able to submit it for Grammy consideration.

The album eases into gear with “Come on in My Kitchen,” by Robert Johnson, a song covered by some notable talents over the years, including the Allman Brothers, a band Larkin Poe has been compared to more than once. Rebecca and Megan Lovell don’t let us get too comfortable in our chairs, though, following “Kitchen” up with some home-grown blues in “Freedom.” The theme of personal demons, real or imagined, has appeared in some of Larkin Poe’s past work, and continues as Peach progresses. Each of the Poe-riginals touches on these ideas, as does closing cover, “Tom Devil.” By the time we get to the end of “Black Betty,” another cover well-known to Larkin Poe’s fans from their shows and online presence, the ladies have shown us their chops and proven they can throw down with the best musicians you care to name. Every cover on the set has appeared in rougher form online at some point. The Lovells kill time on the road or at home making videos of a wide range of songs, and that’s how they got a job with Bob Seger this year. Turns out Seger’s wife turned him on to Larkin Poe’s videos, opening yet another door for the talented duo to showcase their talent to a broader audience.

Covers aren’t the whole story of the album by any means. There’s an edge to many of Rebecca and Megan’s songs, even when the tones are smooth. Going back through their deep, if brief, catalogue, shows they’ve been evolving from their bluegrass origins into a more powerful, driving sound, whether they’re singing the blues or rocking out like modern punks. Though they’ve been busy almost nonstop the past few years, the duo hasn’t spent quite as much time on the road of late, putting in long hours writing and recording. “Look Away” is planned as the first true single from Peach, just as soon as they get a video made. Larkin Poe promises to be visiting cities far and wide now that the album is done. Keep an eye out for their shows, because these twenty-something sirens are only getting better and demand is going to soar for a piece of their time.

Do yourself a favor if you haven't already and give these ladies your ear. You won't be disappointed. Come Grammy time next year, they might be on the stage giving thanks, but right now I'm thankful these women keep making stunning music." ~D. McKinney

Peach mc
Peach zippy

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