New Members
Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek
Sara Watkins spent most of her younger years, nearly two decades, as singer and fiddle player for the Grammy Award-winning, hybrid band "Nickel Creek," a trio she’d started performing in when she was a mere eight years old, alongside her guitarist brother Sean and mandolinist Chris Thile. She also plays Ukulele, guitar and even played percussion while touring with The Decemberists. Stepping away from that marquee name alone was a huge leap and Watkins may have felt trepidatious, but, as old fans and new listeners could attest, the transition seemed effortless, natural. As the BBC put it, “Watkins’ time in the spotlight is a triumph with her agile playing and the kind of voice that gives your goose bumps the shivers.”
Her self-titled debut album was produced by John Paul Jones, the former Led Zepplin bassist and formidable song arranger. Jones led Watkins and a stellar group of L.A. backing musicians in extensive rehearsals before capturing live-in-the-studio takes of all the material, with very little overdubbing or edits.
Then after two formative years on the road fronting her own band and making stops at such events as theTelluride Bluegrass Festival, the Newport Folk Festival, and Glasgow’s Celtic Connection along the way, Watkins returned to LA to record her second disc, "Sun Midnight Sun." This time she built the tracks around a core trio consisting of herself, multi-instrumentalist Blake Mills and her brother Sean, with whom she has been co-hosting the Watkins Family Hour for the last nine years at L.A.’s eclectic club Largo. Her raw rendition of “When It Pleases You,” a song she nicked from composer Dan Wilson, co-writer of Adele’s recent hits, and an equally fiery back and forth between Watkins and guest vocalist Fiona Apple on a surprisingly dark-around-the-edges reimagining of the Everly Brothers’ staple, “You’re the One I Love,” is worth the price of the disc by itself. Backing vocals by old friend Jackson Browne is the icing on the cake.
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Date and Time
Sunday Jun 26, 2016
