Watkins Family Hour

Building around solid community and great songs, siblings Sara and Sean Watkins began their Watkins Family Hour shows at L.A.’s beloved Largo nightclub two decades ago. Twenty years later, the pair are still pushing the limits of their original vision, consistently inviting new members to the fold to tackle devastatingly good tunes. Today, Watkins Family Hour shared another taste of their new album, Vol.

From the very beginning of Sara and Sean Watkins’ Watkins Family Hour shows at Los Angeles’s Largo nightclub, their focus has been on musical community; building, sharing, and growing. From the start, friends and contemporaries would show up, try out new songs, and collaborate on old ones, resulting in a modern musical institution catered to musicians and music lovers that is now two decades-running. With their new album, Vol.

It’s been just over twenty years since powerhouse musical siblings Sara and Sean Watkins began their Watkins Family Hour shows at L.A.’s beloved Largo nightclub. Two decades, two studio albums, and hundreds of performances later, the two are taking stock of the ever-evolving community of musicians and music lovers the project helped build. As part of that reflection, Watkins Family Hour is releasing its third studio album, Vol. II.

Celebrating its 30th year in 2022, High Sierra Music Festival is continuing to add to its milestone-year party, returning to Quincy, CA, June 30th through July 3rd. Today’s lineup appeals to as broad a range of fans as ever before, all the while keeping true to High Sierra’s legacy; an environment that has kept fans and musicians thrilled to return year after year, for three decades.

Sean and Sara Watkins are currently touring in support of their new album Brother Sister. The sibling’s duo-centric record has a big sound and a big feel for two people. Sharing in the vocal responsibilities and with Sean on guitar and Sara on fiddle, they both provide the musical dynamics on the masterfully engineered sound of the album. The record has an honest sincerity and their writing skills are truthful, energetic and personal.

Sara and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek created Watkins Family Hour over a decade ago to introduce new material and explore classic folk tunes. The side project’s monthly performances at the intimate venue Largo in Los Angeles are spirited variety shows featuring unique collaborations with guest musicians. The Watkins siblings finally recreated that musical magic in the studio with regular playmates Fiona Apple, pedal steel and dobro player Greg Leisz, keyboardist Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), bassist Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing) and drummer Don Heffington.

Sometimes a pet-project grows into a full concept far surpassing the inventor's original prospects. For veteran bluegrass siblings Sara and Sean Watkins, they likely began their musical Family Hour as a way to ease the strains of rigorous touring in their native Southern California. In their natural habitat of Americana, exploring favorite originals and classic canonical country brought them enough pleasure to make a regular occasion out of it.

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