For the first time in 17 years, the Cox Family are releasing a new album, Gone Like the Cotton, with bluegrass aficionado Alison Krauss producing the project. To promote their new record, the sibling band — Willard, Evelyn, Sidney and Suzanne Cox (their sister Lynn left the band in 1995) — have released a video explaining their family's Louisiana roots and their own childhood memories, and they're letting The Boot's readers see it first.

The Cox Family are known for their smooth and intuitive harmonies. They ventured into country music by way of Krauss, who brought the family to the attention of Rounder Records in the late 1980s. Their achievements in the '90s are varied, including a Grammy-winning collaboration with Krauss (I Know Who Holds Tomorrow) and a major-label debut album, Just When We Were Thinking It’s Over, released in 1996. And their next effort, Gone Like the Cotton, was poised to be their best yet.

“We were wanting to be as adventurous as we could," Krauss says. "It was a lot of fun."

After recording 11 instrumental tracks and lead vocals by Willard and Evelyn, the Coxes took a break due to Suzanne's pregnancy. They left the studio in February of 1998 -- and instead of returning a few weeks later, their label Asylum went through major changes, they were dropped, and the project was shelved.

The sibling group went on to record “I Am Weary (Let Me Rest)” for the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, and they kept performing at festivals and shows. Then, their lives took a drastic turn in July of 2000, when Willard was in a devastating accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down.

In April of 2015, the Cox Family returned to the studio and spent 15 days perfecting Gone Like the Cotton. They will proudly release the long-awaited album on Oct. 23.

Krauss calls Gone Like the Cotton “as important as anything I’ve ever done. To get to step back in time with them for something that valuable in so many ways, with people that personally important to me, that musically important to me -- it was a dream.”

“I remember when I heard it back in 1998, the last time I heard it,” says Kyle Lehning, former president of Asylum. “I thought it was such a leap from the first record -- inventive and fresh and interesting. And when I left the label, that record just haunted me."

Press play on the video above to get an inside look into some of the most important aspects of the Cox Family's lives: their land, their childhood memories and, most of all, each other. Warner Music Nashville's John Esposito delves into memories with the group and provides a sweet history of their roots.

"That music still represents the people that we are. We have survived together. And that music is about us being together and remaining together for 17 years," Sidney Cox says. "And even though we weren’t playing, we were always together, in the common hope that we would be able to finish this story. And I’m so glad that we did.”

Fan can pre-order Gone Like the Cotton on the Cox Family's website.

The Cox Family, Gone Like the Cotton Track Listing:

1. "Good Imitation of the Blues"
2. "Lost Without Your Love"
3. "Cash on the Barrelhead"
4. "Desire"
5. "In My Eyes"
6. "Good News"
7. "Let It Roll"
8. "I’m Not So Far Away"
9. "Honky Tonk Blues"
10. "Too Far Gone"
11. "I'll Get Over You"
12. "Gone Like the Cotton"

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