Alongside big names Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland and Riley Keough, one of the brightest talents in the darkly gothic tale of doom and gloom that is Netflix’s new Antonio Campos-directed thriller The Devil All The Time is movie newcomer Pokey LaFarge.

You might already know LaFarge from his music; an old timey sound that spans eight solo albums celebrating traditional American music – from jazz and ragtime to hillbilly country and western swing – or his guest spots on Jack White’s debut solo album ‘Blunderbuss’ or contributions to the Boardwalk Empire soundtrack.

It’s this impressive background which LaFarge digs into for his silver screen debut, playing the wheelchair-bound Theodore, one half of a sinister pair of siblings who preach fire and brimstone in small churches across the Midwest of 1950s America.

His brother is the shifty, violent Roy, played with a sinister commitment by British actor Harry Melling. “Harry was really a big catalyst in learning and how to approach acting,” explains LaFarge of seeking advice from his co-star.

In this exclusive musical clip, we see the brothers singing traditional gospel song ‘Washed In The Blood’ after arriving in Knockemstiff, Ohio, where much of the film takes place, while Bill Skarsgård and Mia Wasikowska look on.

“In terms of the mindset of Theodore, I didn’t really have to study too much – at that time of my life it was pretty easy to be drunk and depressed and dishevelled,” explains a deadpan LaFarge down the line from Chicago.

“Antonio just wanted me to be me,” adds LaFarge of working with director Campos. “So much of acting today is very stop start. Antonio likes to keep things a little more fluid. As a stage performer, I really relished that opportunity, because it’s kinetic. Antonio is cooler than the other side of the pillow; he’s super consistent and the same behind the camera on set as he is off it.”

This isn’t LaFarge’s first acting job – he previously appeared in 2017 miniseries Sun Records, which recounted the legendary Memphis recording sessions of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, appearing as Canadian honky tonk singer Hank Snow – but The Devil All The Time marks his movie debut.

As LaFarge tells us, this certainly won’t be his last time on the big screen, however, he’s spent lockdown working on a brand new album, which will follow this spring’s soulful ‘Rock Bottom Rhapsody’. “I dropped the record in April and haven’t been able to play a single show, so I wrote a new record,” reveals LaFarge. “I just came up to Chicago and recorded it.”

It won’t be about the trials and tribulations of lockdown, however. “It expands on some experiences that I’ve had the last couple of years that I needed to get out of my system. And now I’ve done that, I’ve moved on.”