Best friends Michael LaBella and Tim Poole met during their first year at the University of Scranton in 2013. After playing together in various bands and projects for five years, they formed the folk duo LaBella & Poole in early 2018. The duo released their debut album, Skippack, in November 2018, comprised of a collection of songs LaBella wrote during their time in Scranton, PA. They spent the rest of 2018 and early 2019 gigging throughout the northeast US in support of their album. In August 2019 they released their first studio effort since Skippack, the standalone single Brick by Brick—which they wrote to raise funds for the construction of a worship and community center in Leogane, Haiti. They are currently hard at work in the studio, preparing their next full-length project, which they hope to release summer 2020. LaBella & Poole draw inspiration from songwriters including Neil Young, The Avett Brothers, and Josh Garrels. The fundamental message of their music is hope and compassion.