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 Watkins Family Hour (from the album brother sister available on Family Hour Records)
Sara and Sean Watkins present stunning works of art in song, the pair sticking to simple instrumentation for their song portraits on the recent Watkins Family Hour release, brother sister. Creating magnificent soundscapes that soar and burrow (“Snow Tunnel”), percolate on heavy breaths of rhythm (“Just Another Reason”), swirl in a frenzy (“Bella and Ivan”), and whisper (“Neighborhood Name”), the Watkins Family Hour collective become a small circle of friends on the recording. Recalling the intention she had for brother sister as Watkins Family Hour entered the studio, Sara Watkins shared that ‘it felt really good to dig into the potential of two people…the primary goal of this record became to see what we could do when it is just the two of us. The arrangements and the writing were all focused on that. Listening now, I’m really proud of what we did. These are songs that would not have come out of either one of us individually and it feels like a band sound, like this is what we do, the two of us’. In 1989, Sara and Sean Watkins, along with Chris Thile, released their debut album as Nickel Creek, the trio becoming flagbearers for the progressive Bluegrass world that followed their lead. Watkins Family Hour began as an informal musical variety show at Los Angeles cabaret and nightclub, Largo (Largo at the Coronet) in 2002. Celebrating eighteen years in the residency, Watkins Family Hour released their debut album of covers. For brother sister, the pair offer their own material, re-imagining three covers on the album including a tender version of Warren Zevon’s “Accidentally Like a Martyr”. Sean Watkins hopes that “Lafayette” remembers him with warmth as the California sun sets in his rear-view mirror, Watkins Family Hour offering the strength of human numbers against troublesome times in “Miles of Desert Sand”. Following guitar and fiddle rambles, brother sister begins its song cycle with a confident stride into first cut “The Cure” as it carves sharp angles with notes and beats for “Fake Badge, Real Gun” while Watkins Family Hour exits the album with a PSA boogie for “Keep It Clean”. Listen and buy the music of Watkins Family Hour from AMAZON Please go to the Watkins Family Hour website for more information
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