Album Review: Larkin Poe – Self Made Man (Tricki-Woo Records)

Larkin Poe are sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell.  They are from Georgia by birth, and reside in Nashville currently.

They use the name of an ancestor from 5 or 6 generations ago who was related to Edgar Allen Poe. Probably.

They started as a Bluegrass Roots Americana sister trio, with the younger Jessica and judging from YouTube clips, all the elements currently present were there from the start.

An energised and refreshingly irreverent take on classic American music forms, full of chops and wit… back then it was Country and its various off-shoots. Now it’s more Blues and Southern Rock’n’Roll.

Their distinctive sound is built around the electric slide of Megan (Johnny Winter and Duane Allman) and a great voice from Rebecca.  Closest I can come is a drunk and dirty Grace Slick (well she was many times).

For myself I was converted by their version of Son House’s Preaching Blues which has become a live set highlight. Describing it as the gnarliest piece of American history they have heard, they bring an exhilarating young female energy to it. Like touching an electric fence.

Having listened through the new album several times it is as if Exile on Main Street was made by Southern musicians.

A lot of Blues and Rock’n’Roll strut and swagger with deep Country roots.

She’s A Self Made Man starts with repeated low register fuzztone guitar riffs and a cock strut like Robert Plant and would not be out of place on Led Zeppelin Two.

Well, that sets the tone.

More Southern swagger on Holy Ghost Fire, Keep Diggin’, Back Down South. The last name-checks Little Richard.

Tears of Gold to Blue is power pop with slide guitar and reminds me of Laura Nyro and those late sixties classics. Rebecca especially shines on the voice.

God Moves on the Water takes us back to the Country Blues of Charley Patton. Starts with the Great Titanic, moves to the Louisiana floods of 1926 and is percussive rhythmic blues wound around American Indian tribal chants.

Every Bird That Flies has an Eastern guitar tone like Dick Dale and Jimmy Page and sounds like Kashmir in parts.

Ex-Con is a highlight. Southern country boogie with slide work pitching it in Allman Brothers territory.

Easy Street is a country boogie two-step, but revved up with the slide guitar taking the place of the fiddle.

Scorpions has tremolo guitar and power-pop vocals. Danger Angels country blues slide guitar. Both hark back to the early White Stripes sonically.

Bourbon, swamps and bayous, Confederate flags. Churches, southern Baptists, two-step dancing and you got a purty mouth.

Saw them do a great show at the Tuning Fork in Auckland last year. Was looking forward to April’s Power Station show but the madness intervened.

Listen to this in the meantime. There is some live-streaming going on too.

Rev Orange Peel