The Hightailers were born from a bond formed between Kenneth Blanchet and Alan Dogman Miller during their stint in the lounge parody act Lips and the Trips during the 1980s. Alan and Kenneth began their band by playing at the historic Last Concert Café during lunch sets and grew the band following through the 1990s filling the streets with music and fans for three decades. The Hightailers became an integral part of the Houston blues scene with their unique Texas psychedelic Gulf Coast shuffle approach to blues and rock and roll. The band has included incredible talent over the decades such as Uncle John Turner, Jimb Jackson, the Mighty Paolo, Randy Wall, Randy Woodard, Calvin Hall, Jr., Susan Jackson, Chris Axelrad, and Dr. Rockit Rock Romano among others. The Hightailers played at Last Concert Café as one of the longest-running house bands every Thursday night for 28 years. They get together for shows a few times a year now to perform and engage in that deep blues flow that is uniquely them.
Wherever the Folk Family Revival plays, the ground underneath seems more a sanctuary than a stage. Sure enough, Lankford brothers, Mason and Barrett once filled a pew at a Magnolia, Texas church where the brothers became fast friends with their soon to be brother and lead guitarist Caleb Pace. 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 to the little shed next to their parents’ house, the blue house, where the brothers honed their craft. The brothers added close friend Nick Odom a while later and continued onward to become the Houston family jam band we know and love. Beneath many hours of cosmic contemplation, tempered through many hours more of pressure and concentration, the boys fashioned a sound; clear and righteous, bold and forceful, complex and simple at the same time. Their lyrics ride the narrow edge of paradox and preaching, while the rumble of the band pulses with a fury of sacred rage. They’ve come to shake the windows and rattle the walls. They will go down fighting. With their record releases thus far, 2011’s “Unfolding”; 2015’s “Water Walker”; and 2019’s “Electric Darlin”, the band of brothers’ music has evolved and left fans guessing with each rendition of the multi-genre direction they take their sound. Over the years, Folk Family Revival has opened for legends such as Willie Nelson, Lucas Nelson, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Hayes Carll, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eddie Money, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Merle Haggard, George Jones, The Marshall Tucker Band, The Suffers and Jon Foreman.