The ceremony begins with a stillness. An incantation sounds, and the spirits are summoned. The voice cries like a herald, the rhythm rumbles like a portent.

Wherever Folk Family Revival plays, the ground underneath seems more a sanctuary than a stage. Sure enough, the Lankford family once filled a pew at a Magnolia, Texas church, where brothers Lincoln, Barrett, and Mason first performed together. One day, Mason helped his friend Caleb fend off some bullies. From then on, Caleb was part of the family too.

They played rock n roll in church for a time, until the congregation found them a little too wild for their flock. So the family dug up their roots from that place and headed home.

Home is a patch of pavement on a windy road, halfway between Magnolia and Tomball. There in a little shed next to their parents' house- the blue house- the brothers honed their craft, from endless fuel carted out in empty bottles and heaping ashtrays.

Beneath many hours of cosmic contemplation, tempered thru many hours more of pressure and concentration, the boys fashioned a sound.

That sound is clear and righteous, bold and forceful, complex and simple at the same time. Mason's lyrics ride the

[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]