Summary

In this episode from 2015, we catch up with Mason Lankford from the Texas-based band Folk Family Revival to talk about the band’s evolving sound, especially with their new album Water Walker. Mason shares how this latest record marks a real shift from their earlier work, both stylistically and creatively.

We dig into how the band approaches making music, especially the role live performance plays in shaping their songs before they ever hit the studio. Mason talks about finding the balance between experimenting in the studio and letting songs grow naturally through playing them live.

As they head out on their summer tour, the band is excited to bring this new, more psychedelic sound to audiences. It’s clear they’re in a phase of growth and exploration, and Water Walker is a big step forward in that journey.

What We Wrote in 2015

Folk Family Revival consists of three brothers and their buddy, but they are definitely moving towards psychedelic rock rather than straight-up folk with their sophomore album, Waterwalker, out now on Rock Ridge Music. With a homemade liquid light show from a visually talented friend, the luxury of regular studio access, and no external time constraints on recording, Folk Family Revival leaps into new territory. The songs continue to grow, both intentionally and for diverse audiences ranging from post-line dance classes in a legendary Texas roadhouse to sportsbars, finding ways to keep audiences engaged and the music fresh.

Show Notes

• This episode of Country Fried Rock features a deep dive into the journey of Texas-based band Folk Family Revival, from their early days to their latest album, Water Walker.
• Host Sloane Spencer chats with band member Mason Lankford about how their sound has shifted over time. He explains how Water Walker reflects a big step forward in style and creativity.
• Mason shares what went into making the new album, including a lot of experimentation and refining. Many of the songs were tested out live before they were recorded, giving them time to grow naturally.
• That live-first approach helps the band connect more deeply with their audience and shapes the final versions of the songs in meaningful ways.
• The band blends psychedelic rock influences with their folk roots, creating a sound that feels fresh while still grounded in tradition.
• Live shows are a big part of what makes Folk Family Revival unique. Mason talks about how they avoid sticking to rigid setlists, instead aiming for a one-of-a-kind experience at each performance.
• He also reflects on the challenges of playing in places where audiences expect more traditional country music, and how the band stays true to their sound even when it doesn’t fit the mold.
• As they hit the road for their summer tour, the band is inviting fans to experience this new phase in their music firsthand. It's all about growth, experimentation, and creating something real on stage every night.

Links

• Folk Family Revival
• You may also enjoy our conversation with Great Peacock
• After you buy music or see a show, we would love your support with a few dollars in our Tip Jar
• Sloane Spencer now hosts a Gen X sleep podcast, Sleep with Rock Stars

Chapters

• 00:03 - Exploring New Sounds in Folk Music
• 02:05 - Transitioning Sounds: The Evolution of Folk Family Revival
• 07:16 - The Evolution of Live Performance
• 12:39 - The Liquid Light Show: A Journey Through Music and Visuals
• 16:00 - Transitioning to New Beginnings
• 19:01 - The Dynamics of Touring and Relationships in Music

Takeaways

• Water Walker, the band’s new album, shows a clear shift in style compared to their earlier record, Unfolding. It marks a new chapter in their sound.
• Mason Lankford talks about how live performances play a big role in shaping their songs before they even hit the studio. Playing them live helps the music evolve naturally.
• Instead of trying to copy the studio versions on stage, the band focuses on making each live show its own thing. They want every performance to feel fresh and unique.
• The making of Water Walker brought in a mix of talented musicians, adding new layers and textures to the album with a wide range of instruments.
• Their live sets are always changing. They adjust based on the venue, the crowd, and the energy in the room, which helps keep things exciting for both the band and the audience.
• Folk Family Revival is focused on staying creative and true to their vision. They're not chasing trends or sticking to a formula just to appeal to the mainstream.

Mentioned in this Episode

• Folk Family Revival
• Rockridge Music
• Magnolia Red
• Levi Weaver
• John Foreman
• Switchfoot
• Fiction Family
• Nickel Creek
• Drivin n Cryin

Recommended If You Like

Country Fried Rock, Folk Family Revival, psychedelic folk, Water Walker album, Mason Lankford interview, Texas music scene, live music performances, recording process, studio versus live sound, indie rock bands, Texas country music, road testing songs, music festivals Colorado, music production insights, evolving sound, songwriting journey, musical influences, band dynamics, touring experiences, liquid light show

Transcript

Speaker A

00:00:00.160 - 00:00:33.100

Welcome to Country Fried Rock. I'm your host, Sloane Spencer. Apparently we've been on a psychedelic folk kick.

Didn't even realize it, but this new record, water Walkers from the Texas band Folk Family Revival shows a distinct change from their debut record.

We talk with Mason Lankford, one of three brothers in the band, about recording songs that have never been played live versus road testing and then recording or mixing it all up and finding new ways to keep it fresh. They're on the road this summer. Folk Family Revival today on Country Fried Rock.

Speaker B

00:00:33.100 - 00:00:40.860

My guest today on Country Fried Rock is Mason Lankford, who along with a couple of brothers and his buddy Caleb form Folk Family Revival. Welcome.

Speaker C

00:00:41.180 - 00:00:42.380

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Speaker B

00:00:42.380 - 00:00:53.420

I've known the name of your band for a while due to a friend of mine who has a radio station in Knoxville, Tennessee. But I'm excited to know about this most recent record, Water Walker. Tell me a little bit about what y' all have been doing.

Speaker C

00:00:53.740 - 00:02:01.060

Well, the record took us a while to make. We had recorded Unfolding and released it in 2011. It was our first one.

Started touring Steamboat, Colorado for the music fest up there and traveled down through California.

We were doing all that while trying to record this record, record a little bit, go back in the studio and either say, oh, we don't like the way this song sounds and scratch it, or add a new song and take out an old one or whatever. So. And we have the liberty because our manager, Jeffrey, is also our producer. So it's good because we can take time on records.

But it's also probably what helped us take so long making the record, you know. But, yeah, so took a while. But it's a good thing because there's such shift in style from the old one.

Then I think it took some time for us to figure out what that sound needed to be. And then, you know, dropping the shift on our friends and fans that soon, without a little time to wait may have not been the best decision.

So it's good that it took so long. And now we've just been touring a radio tour with the new record, pushing the single if it don't kill you, playing shows around that.

And then, you know, we just released the record, so we're about to hit the road.

Speaker B

00:02:01.710 - 00:02:07.430

It is, sonically a big shift from unfolding to Water Walker. Tell a little more about what happened.

Speaker A

00:02:07.430 - 00:02:10.510

In between those with the songs unfolding.

Speaker C

00:02:10.590 - 00:03:26.590

With that one, you know, we had just started the band.

Well, the band had been in other bands before as a group, but we had started Full family Revival and scratched everything we did previous and knew that this was the direction we were going to take. And all those songs had never been recorded. I mean, I had demoed them at home on a little rolling digital recorder.

We'd never even played them live together. So we got in the studio with Jeffrey and put those songs together in the studio and recorded them with Water Walker.

All these songs had been written while we were touring, unfolding or recording unfolding. And then we went into the studio immediately and recorded them after we had been playing them live.

So I think they had a little time to mature as far as a live sound goes. They knew how they needed to sound in a room. So when it comes to studio, you know, that's a totally different monkey.

It's a whole different process than setting up your amp and only having one shot to play the song in front of a bunch of people. You know, you actually get the time to pull them apart. So I don't know.

I guess they just, you know, already had a life, knew what they were supposed to sound like, and we knew what we were going for, so took on this psychedelic rock sound. With Caleb turning into a really good guitar player and us knowing how to play better with each other, these songs just.

They were already more worked out when we went into the studio.

Speaker A

00:03:26.840 - 00:03:51.480

We'd like to send a big thank you to our Country Fried Rock listeners for supporting Country Fried Rock alum Alan Thompson, who is recovering from a diving accident.

If you'd like to donate every dollar matters and it goes directly to helping defray his bills, you can find that link on Country Fried Rock's Facebook or Twitter. It's a you caring donation page. Keep your ears peeled for a few different benefit shows in the Nashville area for Alan Thompson.

Speaker B

00:03:51.480 - 00:03:52.360

We love you, man.

Speaker A

00:03:52.360 - 00:03:53.760

Get better soon. Hey, y'.

Speaker C

00:03:53.760 - 00:03:53.840

All.

Speaker A

00:03:53.840 - 00:04:08.040

This is Sloan Spencer, the host of Country Fried Rock. We've had an incredible year with more people finding us on the radio and our podcast than we ever imagined. Thank you all so much.

Careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

Speaker C

00:04:08.120 - 00:04:12.440

This is Mason Lakeford with Folk Family Revival, and you're listening to Country Fried Rock.

Speaker B

00:04:12.680 - 00:04:19.000

So have those previous songs from Unfolding continued to change live, or did you kind of leave them be as that's who you were?

Speaker C

00:04:19.520 - 00:05:05.470

Yeah, that's kind of something we've always tried to do. We're really into, like, old rock and roll. I'm a big Dylan fan. We like Neil Young in the band, guys like that.

And we've noticed that back then, a big deal about a live show the reason people wanted to come see you is because they would have a totally different song than what they have on their vinyl record at home. And these days it's all programmed and has to sound exactly like the record. And we want to not do that. We want it to.

When people come to our shows, we want it to sound different. So now, I mean, when we go back and listen to unfolding once in a while, like, what was I playing there?

Whatever, it's just a totally different experience.

Come get me doesn't sound live anymore like it does on the record, you know, I don't think we could ever go back to playing it the way we did because it's changed so much.

Speaker B

00:05:05.630 - 00:05:16.510

Let's talk a little bit specifically about the recording of Water Walker. You said that there was a lot more in letting the songs grow live before you went in. But did you all stick with the four of you playing?

Speaker C

00:05:16.990 - 00:07:16.000

We had a couple of other musicians come in and help us out. Because making a record for us.

I don't know if it's this way for everybody, but songs just, for some reason, they just need certain instrumentation on them, like a lap still or a pedal still or whatever, you know.

And Caleb or I or Barrett could get away with playing a pedal still part, but it's not something we practice regularly, so we don't have the technique. So we'll call Will Van Horn, who plays with Robert Ellis and the Boys. And, you know, he played pedal steel on it.

And we had our really good friend Blake Bentley, who's played with us live and is at our house all the time. And we even fool around with another little band with him. Nothing serious, but he's one of our favorite musicians. He can play anything.

He played keys on the record, you know, Shelly Coley did background vocals. And we added a whole bunch of other just weird things. Like there was one day where we had Lincoln in an ISO booth.

He's our drummer in an ISO booth with a big clay pot. And he was tapping on it. And Jeffrey, producer had it ran through this bass synthesizer with all those weird delays and stuff going on.

That's what you hear in the background of I Found God, the last track on the record. All that weird, trippy mess. That's just Lincoln beating on a clay pot.

You know, just sometimes anything can be an instrument, but, you know, you gotta find it sometimes. In the last record, I sang into like a little harpsichord with a mic on the other side of it for a vocal effect on Chasing a Rabbit.

But yeah, I guess the recording Process for us with Jeffrey is it's kind of laid back for the most part. There's some intense moments where, like, nobody slept or ate for a while, and somebody will have to tell Jeffrey, like, you need to eat some food.

Or, you know, we're going to all freak out here. But, I don't know, we just get really creative with it and try to make the song sound the best it can. Like sunshine.

We had one version of it live, ended up retracking it about three times, and finally Jeffrey was like, man, we need to pull this back, slow it down and make it dark and creepy. And we did. And that's the take we kept.

Speaker B

00:07:16.000 - 00:07:20.720

You know, live shows are a huge part of what y' all do. What is that looking like for you right now?

Speaker C

00:07:20.800 - 00:07:57.480

It's getting great.

We spend a lot of time trying to figure out what our genre is, where we should play or what rooms or whatever, and playing a lot of clubs that play top 40 country and stuff like that, and it's fine. But, you know, it's sometimes damaging because people want to hear Copperhead Road and they're hearing some psychedelic offbeat rock song.

But I think we're finally getting in that groove and figuring out how to work it out in whatever room we're in. We can change our style enough to play a country set or a blues set or whatever to make it work.

And I think now the only thing that scares people is that I don't wear shoes on stage sometimes.

Speaker B

00:07:57.720 - 00:08:03.320

And it should be said that y' all are from Texas, and so you're primarily in kind of that Texas and Oklahoma area.

Speaker C

00:08:03.820 - 00:08:04.140

Yeah.

Speaker B

00:08:04.220 - 00:08:06.820

Where the clubs do have certain expectations.

Speaker A

00:08:06.820 - 00:08:07.820

From a live show.

Speaker C

00:08:08.140 - 00:08:09.420

Definitely. Yeah.

Speaker B

00:08:09.820 - 00:08:11.340

So you're not two stepping.

Speaker C

00:08:11.740 - 00:09:01.320

No, but it's funny that you say that. We played Billy Bob's in Fort Worth a couple nights ago, and we've done it about three times. We've never done the big stage.

We've just done the honky tonk stage. Thursday night thing. Yeah. You know, they have the line dance class.

All these line dancers that have just been, you know, working on their chops for like an hour are like ready for the band so they can line dance, you know, and then we come out playing this weird golf timing, American Standard, you know, kind of a weird bass driven. There's a groove in there that you could dance to, but it's too slow and, like swoony to do a line dance to. But they. They did.

I mean, a lot of them pulled it off. The guy told me he's like man, they can line dance to anything. And I was like, okay, I hope so.

threw him a few country songs and some old rock and roll stuff that sounds like Elvis or whatever, and they figured that out.

Speaker A

00:09:01.500 - 00:09:21.900

Hey, y', all. This is Sloan Spencer, the host of Country Fried Rock. Those of y' all who listen on our podcasts, it's a quick hit of just the conversation.

If you want the full radio program with all the songs that we talk about, ask for it on your local radio station, joining 20 other stations across the country. Get the goods at country Friday, rock.org.

Speaker C

00:09:21.980 - 00:09:33.020

This is Mason Langford from Folks Family Revival. Make sure and come to one of our shows and pick up our new record, Water Walker.

If you can't get it at one of our shows, you can get it on itunes or a hard copy off of Amazon.

Speaker B

00:09:33.640 - 00:09:51.400

Outside of that Texas and Oklahoma region, just do not grasp the nuance of the term that is red dirt, which you are not. Outside of there, people are like, you're either country or rock. You know, they don't really get all of that.

And y' all are definitely pushing the psychedelic edge with this new record. How is that translating?

Speaker C

00:09:51.800 - 00:10:59.430

It's good. I mean, it just depends.

When you play a show and 10 people are really into it, and then 30 people might not be or whatever, then those 10 people are going to come up to the merch table and, you know, tell you they liked it and follow you on Facebook or whatever and come to your next show. Bring some friends and slow growing. But a lot of times you got 30 people talking louder than the music.

I guess it just depends what room and just who's there, you know? Last night, we played in Nacogdoches at the Liberty Bell, and they loved it.

I mean, every single seat in the house was facing the stage and no one was talking. We were able to even do, like, a really sad, slow, spacey song, and. And it was just like you could have heard a pin drop, you know?

But at Billy Bob's, for instance, you got a whole bunch