With a band built of excellent local musicians including Bobby Hatfield (The Sea Wolf Mutiny) on keys, Alex McCollum (Stagbriar) on guitar, John Fowler (Small Sanctions) bass, and Morris’ former band-mate in Calculator Michael Crawford on drums the fivesome worked their way through a 20 something minute set of tracks off the new album.

Local in location only, these bands and others on the lineup showcase the homegrown talent this state owns.

The young group is wise beyond their years musically, molding well-thought-out lyrics into tight harmony.

About two years ago, the siblings made it official and named themselves Stagbriar after the street the McCollums grew up on. "It was from a time when our relationship was completely different, yet an integral part to who we are now," says Alex.

South Carolina’s Stagbriar is last on this list only because it’s in alphabetical order.

I don’t think playing in Austin the week of SXSW makes a big difference to your band unless you do it the right way. For example, NPR putting Stagbriar as 100 bands to listen to at SXSW this year is a big deal. That’s the way to do it

Stagbriar has made a name for themselves in Soda City with their 2013 release Quasi-Hymns, Murder-Ballads, and Tales of How the Hero Died.

Have your mind blown by Pharaoh’s Fury and then have your mind blown again by the pitch perfect harmonies of Stagbriar.

Feather Habits was recorded with Stagbriar’s Alex McCollum and mastered by Kenny McWilliams at Archer Avenue Studio.

Centered around the vocal harmonies of the brother sister duo of Alex and Emily McCollum, Stagbriar sticks to what folk music is supposed to be, telling intimate stories with each song.

The whole record makes sense as a piece, but it goes way outside of preconceived notions of “folk”. It is just that expansive and we are lucky to have local musicians like Stagbriar creating art that is obviously deeply personal, yet accessible by a wide variety of listeners. It is pretty amazing to think that they have only been together for a year or so. Here’s hoping they stick with us for much longer.

Recorded with Stagbriar’s Alex McCollum, the new EP titled III, is an atmospheric album with most songs stemming from the strumming and plucking of an acoustic guitar.

Every year, more than 2,000 acts swarm to SXSW — and every year, NPR Music painstakingly handpicks 100 of the music festival's best discoveries for a downloadable six-hour sampler. We call it The Austin 100, and it's virtually guaranteed to contain something you'll love that you didn't know existed.

As we sat on leather couches in front of the fireplace in the back of Speakeasy, chatting over a couple of beers, Alex, Emily, and Brandon talked openly and freely about their music upbringing, the darkness of their upcoming full length album, and what it’s like to not only play music with a sibling, but how they’ve opened up and become comfortable writing music together.

After we posted the first Holt Session featuring a Pete Yorn cover we got a retweet from Mr. Yorn himself out to his 1.3 million followers. I didn’t really expect that to happen, and neither did the McCollum’s, but it was a moment of excitement for both of us.

While episode 1 is pretty straight forward with the brother sister duo playing a song, future episodes promise more debauchery. I honestly can’t imagine what they have in store, but I’m looking forward to it.

Emily McCollum’s name is no stranger to SceneSC. Her new project is Stagbriar where she is accompanied by her brother Alex McCollum.

Along with the sound of Durrett will be Emily McCollum and Tyler Boone, both of which have been around the Columbia music scene and covered by SceneSC in the past.

It’s huge for us…We want it to be really community based and I think Emily [McCollum] and Cayla [Fralick] opening…I think they do really well, both of them individually and people will be really intrigued to see them together.