Next of Kin started as three Austin musicians who'd admired each other's separate projects for years finally getting together at an east-side home studio in March 2023, just to see what happened — 'Jekyll & Hyde,' their first single, came out of that one session, and all three were reportedly surprised by how naturally their three-part harmonies blended on the first try.
Lili Hickman grew up literally on the road with their mother, the full-time musician Sara Hickman, absorbing a music education that ranged from playing guitar with Kris Kristofferson to selling Girl Scout cookies to Ray Benson; Caelin came to country through her Italian grandfather's Merle Haggard and Patsy Cline records after a brief rejection of the genre in her early twenties. Homemaker, their debut EP, turned all of that into KUTX's April 2025 Artist of the Month honors and a slot at ACL Fest — a genuinely fast rise for a band not yet two years old.