Family Folk Revival’s latest CD is Water Walker (Rock Ridge Music). The band, from Magnolia, TX, are brothers, Mason, Barrett and Lincoln Lankford, plus family friend Caleb Pace. Their previous CD was 2011’s Unfolding. The group’s sound mixes folk, rock and blues with touches of psychedelia.

Memphian Keith Sykes has been a singer/songwriter and touring musician for over 40 years. A troubadour and storyteller, Sykes’s songs have been recorded by Jimmy Buffet, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Rodney Crowell, among others. To date, his tunes have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. He has released 13 full-length albums including his latest, the four-song EP, Songs From a Little Beach Town (KSM Entertainment). Last month, Sykes was awarded a Brass Note on Beale Street’s Walk of Fame joining such Memphis luminaries as Elvis, Al Green, Isaac Hayes and our own, Jim Dickinson.

Jack Pendarvis’ new collection of stories is Movie Stars (Dzanc Books). The stories are linked by humor, setting, themes, and recurring characters—cat lovers, murderers, gamblers, ghosts, and fools—but mostly by the movie stars, gods, and goddesses who look down on us struggling mortals with a mixture of benevolence and wrath. Pendarvis is the author of three previous books of fiction and one of nonfiction. A former columnist for the Oxford American and The Believer, he is a writer and story editor for the Peabody award-winning television show Adventure Time. He lives in Oxford.

Dominic Smith grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in Austin, Texas. His fourth novel, The Last Painting of Sara de Vos (Sarah Crichton Books) has just been published. Spanning three continents and 400 years, the book tells the story of a single painting and two women—their mistakes (including forgery) and love affairs, their devotion to art and their struggles to thrive in a male dominated profession. Smith’s previous novels include, Bright and Distant Shores, The Beautiful Miscellaneous, and The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre.