Next of Kin knows the power of a three-part harmony

PHOTO BY BRYNN OSBORN

In the world’s common mind, when people think “Texas” the images that come to mind are cowboys, longhorn steers, barbeque and country music. And although the trio Next of Kin are in fact Texan, they are taking the storytelling prowess of country music they love, and adding a twist. 

Lili Hickman, Caelin Tralongo and Madison Baker have each worked as solo artists, but in coming together they’ve utilized the enchanting powers of the three-part harmony to bring listeners into their world of hurt, love and anger. 

“If we can all three of us share the experience, that means that our fans probably relate too,” Hickman said. “So looking into things, as far as lost love to sexism — which is, sadly, not going away anytime soon — I think, I think we all tap into just the things that frustrate us, that make us happy, and we keep in communication about that.” 

The group was founded in 2024 with the single “Jekyll & Hyde.” An EP, Homemaker, including the single and four other songs was released in spring 2025. However, don’t call Baker, Hickman and Tralongo bandwagoners for taking advantage of the rise of folk/americana/country music. 

“I think we were all kind of drawn to that music for a long time,” Hickman said. “Just for me, it's more of just like, this is just what we want to be doing.” 

Across the group’s social media pages and in their press material, they have branded themselves as a queer country trio. But Hickman emphasized the music is more than their personal identities. 

“We don’t want to be too niche, and anyone who finds us [and] listens, [and] they like the music, they like the music,” they said. “But also, it does feel good to represent queer people in the South.” 

Baker agreed, saying it’s “insane” to be a stepping stone for people who might not have listened to country music otherwise, or not seen themselves represented in the music that’s so prevalent in the southern U.S. 

“I definitely don't feel like we take that for granted, and we love our queer fan base,” Baker said. “They're everything, they are everything to us.”

As with most born-and-raised Texans, the group grew up surrounded by country and Americana music. Baker recalled a moment where their mother had sent them a video, aged five, singing The Chicks’ “Tonight the Heartache’s on Me” to her cosmetology class. 

“I'm from a really small country town, so all the music that we really listened to or heard a lot was country,” Baker said. “Whenever I was a teenager, pre teen, I heavily rejected country [music]. So the pre-teen version of myself is kind of in disbelief that I'm in a country band.” 

Beyond The Chicks, influences also come from Fleetwood Mac, which coincidentally was Tralongo’s first concert. 

“I remember like, looking at my mom and being like, that's what I want to do. I remember feeling the bass drum in my heart. I was like, I want to feel that all the time,” Tralongo said. 

This isn’t the group's first foray into festival playing. Hickman has performed as a solo artist at Austin City Limits and, earlier this year, Next of Kin was on the bill for Austin’s free Blues on the Green event held in the same park as Austin City Limits. However, when they got the call for ACL, all three of the members said they weren’t surprised.

“It's not like we just started this band and boom, it happened. We have all been working on music and pushing for music our whole lives,” Tralongo said. “So for me, playing ACL today and only being a band for a year and a half makes sense because we’ve been pushing and working for this forever.” 

It’s also hard not to be biased for the trio, who say not only are people drawn to three-part harmonies, but that their music is objectively good. 

Since the group learned about playing at Austin City Limits in February 2025, and they played to thousands of people at Blues on the Green, they were able to sit with the news and let the nerves shake out, according to Baker. 

“I feel like, if you are feeling nervous about [performing at a festival], it really shows,” Baker said. “So we've locked this set in. We've been working our butts off for this entire year to get to this point.” 

As Next of Kin continues to explore their sound, Hickman said it’s getting “grittier” and is a little bit of a drift from the softer, more vulnerable music the trio introduced itself with. 

Baker agreed, saying there is a tenderness that started with Next of Kin and their debut EP, but the group is embracing a sharpness in both its sonics and lyrics.

“I think that we’re trying to explore the deep and dark parts of ourselves and just kind of cut through the fluff and make music that we believe in,” they said.