I'm With Her

I’m With Her is Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan. Four years after their formation at an impromptu show in 2014 at the Sheridan Opera House in Telluride, CO, the band released their debut album, See You Around (Rounder Records), in February 2018.  

Co-produced by Ethan Johns and recorded in Bath, England, See You Around has garnered praise from NPR, who instantly hailed the collection as "willfully open-hearted” and The Guardian calling their sound both "ethereal and purposeful.” From their early contributions in bands such as Nickel Creek and Crooked Still, these three musicians are noteworthy for their recent and extensive solo career successes, including several Grammy awards. I’m With Her have honed a special, family-like chemistry, garnering acclaim for their unique blend of instrumental interplay combined with their indelible harmonies, as the New York Times describes of a live performance, “…when the three women sang together, their voices became one instrument, sharing every breath.” 

Touring in support of the new album, the band have sold out shows across the US and Europe and have also made appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, CBS Saturday Morning and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts.  The trio won Duo/Group of the year by the Americana Music Association in 2019. I’m With Her also won the ‘Best American Roots Song’ GRAMMY for “Call My Name” at the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards in 2019.  

Sara Watkins

With the nostalgic and gentle new album Under the Pepper Tree, Sara Watkins offers a comforting record for those moments as daily rhythms fade into nightly rituals – and when a child’s imagination comes to life.

Made with families in mind, the personal project encompasses songs she embraced as a child herself, as well as the musical friendships she’s made along the way. Recorded in Los Angeles with producer Tyler Chester, Under the Pepper Tree brings storytelling, solace, and encouragement to the listener, no matter the age.

Reflecting on the optimistic outlook that is woven throughout the album, Watkins says, “I hope it resonates with children and with anyone else who needs to hear that message. We think of an uplifting message as largely being childlike, because that’s how we communicate to kids. We encourage them, we’re kind to them, and we have often more patience than we do when we’re talking to adults. But we all need to receive that. We all need to be on the receiving end of patience and kindness and space to let someone be who they are.”

For two decades, Watkins has been one of the most visible artists in roots music, with her catalog ranging from solo albums and Watkins Family Hour, a duo with her brother Sean Watkins, to her Grammy-winning bands Nickel Creek and I’m With Her. She admits that she initially felt conflicted about making a children’s record until she realized that perhaps this album could impact a young listener in the same manner as the music from her own childhood affected her.

The idea for the album began when Watkins was asked to contribute a song to a livestream – specifically, a song that would bring a mellow, centering vibe during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Intrigued with the idea, she agreed to participate, and as her list of potential songs expanded, so did her vision for this project. Her young daughter, who will be 3 years old when the album comes out, can be heard singing with Watkins on “Edelweiss.” It’s a sweet moment, one of many to be found in Under the Pepper Tree.

“I want this album to be a place of calm, imagination, and relief,” Watkins says. “Some days are perfect and things are a dream and make you feel like a superhero. And some days are just… such a challenge. I feel like this record has a place in both of those days, and I really hope that these recordings find a place in kids’ hearts, and become as special to them as they are to me.”

Prior to the sessions, Watkins sequenced the album by practicing its 15 songs to see which ones worked as a piece, naturally leading to the formation of Side A and Side B. Then she crafted smooth transitions between the songs, which makes each half of the album glide by. Watkins states, “Although this album can certainly be enjoyed by listening all the way through, very early on in the planning I began thinking of it as something to be taken one side at a time. I imagine someone dropping the needle on side A one night, and side B the next.”

Watkins leads the album with “Pure Imagination,” a wistful classic from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, one of her favorite films as a child. “Sonically, it really sets the tone, and in terms of the message, that’s how we wanted to set the record up,” she says. “I wanted it to be a place where kids or anyone can listen with their imagination.”

Side A of the album includes “Blue Shadows on the Trail,” a nod to her California childhood singing at Western conventions with Nickel Creek, who reunite on the track. (The cowboy song also appears in another fondly-remembered film, 1986’s The Three Amigos.) Two Disney songs -- “Second Star to the Right” and “When You Wish Upon a Star” -- lend familiarity to young listeners, while Side A concludes with two appealing Watkins originals: The instrumental “Under the Pepper Tree,” and a thoughtful ballad, “Night Singing.”

The album’s evocative title is a nod to the homes of her parents and grandparents, where pepper trees grew in the backyard – and in fact, she recorded “Under the Pepper Tree” beneath the branches of a neighbor’s pepper tree that reaches over into the backyard of the home she shares with her husband and daughter.

In addition, Watkins says she imagines “Night Singing” as a song that could be sung to her daughter, or by a child to a grown-up, or even from the universe to the listener. “There are parts of the song that speak to all of those perspectives, in a way that gives the song longevity to me,” she observes.

On Side B, she welcomes the harmony of I’m With Her on “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” and Taylor Goldsmith (of Dawes) on Harry Nilsson’s “Blanket for a Sail,” while Davíd Garza adds his voice and a lovely guitar accompaniment on “Beautiful Dreamer.” Meanwhile, the Disney songs “La La Lu” and “Stay Awake” are found alongside the enduring “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and the closing number, the Beatles’ “Good Night.”

Beyond the music, though, Watkins envisioned Under the Pepper Tree as an inspiring visual project as well. She enlisted Adam Sniezek to create a stunning vinyl package, so children can interact with the record in a deeper way. The idea stemmed from the vintage vinyl releases she’s collected for her daughter.

“You find some that are really beautiful, and there are some Winnie the Pooh albums that we listen to on a daily basis, not just because of what they sound like, but because of what they look like,” Watkins says. “My daughter will look at the book while I put on the record. The pages don’t tell everything that’s in the song, but that doesn’t matter because sometimes she’s more looking and sometimes she’s more listening. It’s all there, it’s all connected. I want kids to experience my record that way, with all of those senses.

Nickel Creek

Nickel Creek is the Grammy Award winning roots-music trio of violinist Sara Watkins, mandolinist Chris Thile, and guitarist Sean Watkins. After the close of their Farewell (For Now) tour in 2007, which culminated at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Nickel Creek was not actually contemplating a break-up, as many in its large fan-base feared. The still startlingly young band-mates simply needed some time to grow up, musically and personally, away from the glare of the spotlight they’d shared since they were kids. Sara and Chris were merely eight years old when they and the 12 year-old Sean played their first gig as Nickel Creek at a San Diego pizza parlor, having been brought together by a mutual music teacher. Chris’s dad played bass. After ten years of work on the contemporary bluegrass circuit, the prodigious trio landed a deal with the independent Sugar Hill Records, championed by violinist Alison Krauss, who would produce Nickel Creek’s first two Sugar Hill releases, its self-titled 2000 debut, and the 2002 follow-up This Side, which garnered a Best Contemporary Folk Album Grammy.

Nickel Creek’s third studio album, 2005’s Why Should the Fire Die?, was a more ambitious effort, prefiguring the expansive solo work to come individually from these musicians. It was produced in part by Eric Valentine, whose credits in punk, alt rock, and pop made him the least likely—but somehow just right—candidate for the job. In 2014, Nickel Creek released their most recent album, A Dotted Line, their second with Eric Valentine and embarked on a sold out 25th Anniversary Tour.

More recently, Chris Thile was the host of Live From Here (formerly A Prairie Home Companion) in addition to releasing records with Punch Brothers, including the Grammy-winning, All Ashore, among other releases with YoY o Ma, Edgar Meyer and Brad Mehldau. Sara Watkins released her third solo effort, Young In All The Wrong Ways, in 2016 and formed a new band, I’m With Her, with Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan who released their debut album, See You Around in early 2018 later winning an American Roots Grammy in 2020 for their song, ‘Call My Name’. Sean Watkins has been working on a multitude of projects in LA in the TV and film world, including the Netfilx series, Sweet Magnolias, in addition to releasing his latest project, This Is Who We Are, with the Northern California trio, The Bee Easters, in early 2020.

Watkins Family Hour

Returning to the studio as Watkins Family Hour, Sean and Sara Watkins consider brother sister a duo-centric record – yet one that feels bigger than just two people. With Sean primarily on guitar and Sara on fiddle, and with both of them sharing vocals, the siblings enlisted producer Mike Viola (Jenny Lewis, Mandy Moore, J.S. Ondara) and mixer-engineer Clay Blair to harness the energy and honesty of their live sound.

 “From the beginning, our goal was to work on these songs to be as strong as they could be, just the two of us,” Sara explains. “And with a few exceptions on the record, that’s really how things were. It was a tight little group of us, working dense days where we could squeeze them in.”

Sean (who is four years older than Sara) adds, “Because of the limited amount of time we had collectively to spend in the studio, there was a general sense of urgency, which I think the three of us (Sara, Mike and I) kinda strive for on these days. We didn’t have that much time and that made it fun and exciting. It was just us, in one room, facing each other with some really great mics, often playing and singing at the same time, trying to capture what Sara and I do in a real way.”

For the first time, the Los Angeles-based siblings carved out time to write with each other, often during the naptime of Sara’s toddler. They took early versions of the new songs to Viola, who instinctively rearranged some of the song structures in an effort to draw attention to interesting lyrics or surprising arrangements.

“Mike brings a diverse musical-history to his production work,” Sean says. “He’s worked with a lot of people [from The Figgs to Fall Out Boy] that surpass just bluegrass or folk, but his sense of the songwriting craft and melody is right in line with us. He was bringing ideas that we would have never had, and vice versa."

As Watkins Family Hour’s first project since a self-titled debut album in 2015, brother sister begins with “The Cure,” which Sean was inspired to write after watching Tidying Up With Marie Kondo. The concept of throwing things away is evident in the lyrics; there’s also a sense of knowing that you’re in an unhealthy relationship, but still choosing to avoid fixing it.

“Part of the fun of being a songwriter is being able to write about something that started from an image and then transcends that image to speak to something greater,” Sara observes.

Sara chose the beautiful “Neighborhood Name” after hearing it on a record by Courtney Hartman and Taylor Ashton, while “Just Another Reason” is an original that Sean describes as having “a vague, nebulous vibe” lingering below the surface. In contrast, the instrumental “Snow Tunnel” is like an epiphany, titled after Sean’s memory of driving through Zion National Park, emerging from the darkness of a loud tunnel into a peaceful panorama of snow.

Moving from one landscape to the next – literally and musically -- is nothing new to Sean and Sara Watkins, who have performed separately and together for nearly their whole lives. Growing up near San Diego, they played countless shows at a local pizza place in Carlsbad, California, with their childhood friend, Chris Thile. As young adults, those three musicians broke out nationally as Nickel Creek, an acoustic ensemble that sold millions of albums, won a Grammy, and toured the world.

Encouraged by a local club owner in Los Angeles, Sean and Sara formed Watkins Family Hour in 2002 as an outlet to try out some original songs and a few covers that wouldn’t work in Nickel Creek. That club, Largo, has since become the home base for Watkins Family Hour, whose shows frequently pair musicians who seem to have little in common, yet find a shared language in their music.

With Nickel Creek on hiatus, Sean and Sara released multiple solo albums and pursued other collaborations, most recently with Sara’s involvement in I’m With Her. However, the siblings gravitated toward the idea of another Watkins Family Hour album after realizing that their calendars afforded them a rare opportunity to write, record, and tour together.

Their musical chemistry is clear on songs like “Lafayette,” an ode to Hollywood as well as the hometowns left behind by its aspiring stars; “Fake Badge, Real Gun,” about confronting authority figures as well as your own beliefs; “Miles of Desert Sand,” whose haunting coda underscores the vivid imagery of immigration; and “Bella and Ivan,” a playful instrumental named for a friend’s two dogs who love to wrestle.

Two choice covers complete brother sister. Warren Zevon’s poignant “Accidentally Like a Martyr,” which they unearthed for a tribute show, conveys all the complicated facets of love, and “Keep It Clean,” the rabble-rousing Charley Jordan gem from the ‘30s, serves as a grand finale, with David Garza, Gaby Moreno, and John C. Reilly all chiming in on vocals.

“That's just fun to sing,” Sean says. “Going into this record, we wanted to focus on the duo-centric thing, but this was a chance to lean into the group aspect, and have some of the people that have been a part of the Family Hour but weren't on the first record that we made years ago.”

However, brother sister remains exactly that – the result of a brother and sister creating music.

“It felt really good to dig into the potential of two people,” Sara says. “There are a few songs on the record where Matt Chamberlain comes in to play drums, and we filled in the low end in a few cases with Mike Viola playing MOOG or piano, but 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.”