Biography
In 2005 the acoustic trio known as the Lovell Sisters captured their first significant opening by winning a teen talent competition underwritten by Prairie Home Companion. Earlier classical studies in Calhoun, GA had placed fiddler Jessica, Dobro player Megan, and mandolinist Rebecca in the city youth symphony and a neighborhood church choir, yet a bluegrass recording by Jerry Douglas convinced the siblings to set those instruments aside and turn toward roots music, an impulse that produced their inaugural outing as the Lovell Sisters in 2004. The Prairie Home Companion triumph cleared the path for their assured debut album, When Forever Rolls Around, which Brent Truitt co-produced.
Rebecca Lovell raised the group’s profile still higher in 2006 when, at fifteen, she became the youngest winner of the mandolin contest at MerleFest. Building on that distinction, the Lovell Sisters accumulated festival dates and overseas engagements that carried them from Nashville to Norway. Brent Truitt resumed his collaboration with the sisters in 2008 as they prepared a second collection; Time to Grow appeared the following year and contained five original numbers plus several Americana covers. By 2010 the ensemble had effectively disbanded in all but name, though Megan and Rebecca kept performing together as Larkin Poe.
Rebecca Lovell raised the group’s profile still higher in 2006 when, at fifteen, she became the youngest winner of the mandolin contest at MerleFest. Building on that distinction, the Lovell Sisters accumulated festival dates and overseas engagements that carried them from Nashville to Norway. Brent Truitt resumed his collaboration with the sisters in 2008 as they prepared a second collection; Time to Grow appeared the following year and contained five original numbers plus several Americana covers. By 2010 the ensemble had effectively disbanded in all but name, though Megan and Rebecca kept performing together as Larkin Poe.