Grammy-winning sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell’s latest opus is a heartfelt document of how far they’ve evolved as mindful music artists in Larkin Poe.

Bloom, set for release January 25, is authenticity personified, as the ladies weave powerful philosophies into strong songwriting and visceral musicianship. Bold lap-steel lines merge with phat Strat tones, so it goes without saying VG was on the scene to check it out.

Rebecca, your husband, guitarist/singer/songwriter Tyler Bryant, worked with you and Megan, producing Bloom.
Rebecca Lovell: Yeah, this is the second or third project we’ve co-produced with Tyler. It’s really special to be able to keep the process in the family. With the shorthand that Megan and I have in our creative conversations, between the three of us, we know how, when, and what we want to do. There’s a lot of shared experience. We’re able to move quickly, and I think you can hear that freshness on Bloom – how quickly we’re able to come to creative decisions organically, as a trio.

The production on “If God Is A Woman,” is a tasty mix of compression and grittiness. How do you approach getting such great sounds?
RL: That’s one of my favorite songs. In terms of the vocal production, it’s very under-sung. Clearly, I can be a bit of a bombastic singer; I pitch songs that are in the upper portion of my range. When we wrote “If God Is A Woman,” we wanted the lyrics to be the focus. We wanted it to be a little tongue-in-cheek with a “come hither” vibe. So, we pitched it lower. That really served the song.

In the studio, there’s a lot of comfort in being able to experiment and dig deep into the most-authentic tones we could find. Tyler has some incredible microphones in the studio and a lot of vintage mics that gave us that warm, ribbony sound that goes hand in glove with the musical arrangements and the Americana sounds we’re creating. We plugged in, we played, and it seamlessly came together.

On “Bluephoria,” the guitar sounds are vibrant and visceral. Megan, are you using a specific effect pedal during your lap steel solo?
Megan Lovell: No, that’s just me, and the tone is actually pretty simple. I’ll start by saying I really love David Lindley’s tone. I think slide players always pay more attention to their tone. Especially lap steel because there’s so much metal on metal – the slide and fingerpicks – so you can get a lot of tinniness. Also, you don’t want to get lost in the muck. Part of what makes the slide great is it can be very piercing, but has a vocal quality.

That’s why I admire Lindley’s tone in that it’s so pure, so overdriven, and fat. He managed to get both in one tone. For Bloom, we were diving a bit more into what he would play through. We tried a Dumble clone made by Tyler. I plugged into that, and straight away, that was the tone. We used the amp’s pure sound to get the overdrive on most of the record. I didn’t stray too far because nothing could beat it.

Are you happy with the final version of your signature lap steel built by Paul Beard?
ML: The Electo-Liege! I am very pleased with it. It is exactly what I was looking for – kind of a re-creation of my old Rickenbacker Panda, but with a Lollar horseshoe pickup. It has a strong tone out of the box. Paul is so creative and we had so much fun working on it.

What were the songwriting nuts and bolts that went into “Mockingbird?”
RL: The theme is self-acceptance. It’s intrinsic to the core of the whole album – the mission statement. We’re always works in progress. A lot of these songs were written as reminders and mantras that we could sing to remind ourselves what’s important. Trying to find peace, enjoy the finite time we have on the planet, and find self-acceptance. That’s the goal. “Mockingbird” really typifies that in the lyrics. It’s also about open tunings; I’m a huge Black Crowes fan, and I can imagine Tedeschi Trucks doing this song. It ticks a lot of boxes. It’s a really beautiful song.

Men who play and sing get a pass because they’re not expected to be great – they’re “…a guitar player who sings.” You guys do both at a very high level, with world-class harmonies.
ML: I’m a lap-steel player who sings (laughs).
RL: (laughs) – Oscar Jordan

To read more on Megan Lovell’s Electo-Liege, check the January ’23 issue or go to www.vintageguitar.com/50434/megan-lovells-new-lap-steel/

This article originally appeared in VG’s January 2025 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.