TAS Super LP List! Special Merit: Informal
180g Vinyl Features Sara and Sean Watkins, Fiona Apple, and Benmont Tench!For singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalists Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins, the Watkins Family Hour has long been an oasis from the rigors of the road, a laboratory where they can try out new material or master beloved cover songs. Their monthly show at L.A.s famed venue Largo has been hailed as a convivial, communal event where they welcome an impressive array of musician friends old and new. While its true that fans who arent lucky enough to be in L.A. and score a coveted ticket can check out the proceedings via youtube or on the podcasts the Watkins siblings have created, the fun of these evenings is really in being there as the unscripted show unfolds. The Watkins Family Hour is always full of surprises, unexpected guests, one-of-a-kind match-ups; serendipity plays as much of a role as virtuosity. Fiona Apple often joins them, and recent guests have included Dawes, Jackson Browne, Nikka Costa, Booker T. and actor-singer John C. Reilly, as well as comedians Paul F. Tompkins, Nick Kroll and Pete Holmes.
Now Sara and Sean have decided to take their Family Hour format on the road -- a kind of musical pop-up shop, if you will -- to clubs and concert halls around the country. And to mark this undertaking, this summer they are releasing the first-ever Watkins Family Hour LP on their own Family Hour Records imprint. The album, recorded live over three days in the studio of their friend and producer-engineer Sheldon Gomberg, beautifully captures the freewheeling spirit of the shows. It features Apple and the stellar players who have become a de facto house band: drummer Don Heffington, pedal steel and dobro player Greg Leisz, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and keyboardist Benmont Tench, each of whom take a vocal turn at the mic. The Watkins Family Hour is an all-covers affair; tracks include Sara doing Lindsey Buckinghams Steal Your Heart Away, Sean essaying Roger Millers wistful Not In Nottingham, from Disneys 1973 animated Robin Hood, and Apple singing Where I Ought To Be, originally performed by Skeeter Davis.
On tour, the Watkinses plan to make every venue they visit a home away from home. In each town, theyll extend an invitation to the many artists theyve befriended over the years -- through their touring in Nickel Creek, as solo artists, and as frequent collaborators with other like-minded musicians from the worlds of bluegrass, folk, country and rock.
Taking the Watkins Family Hour on tour and releasing this record feels like the right next step, says Sara. The show is about a community of players and that community stretches across the country. If we cant get everyone to L.A. to do our show, well come to them.
The Family Hour has always been something weve really loved, echoes Sean. Its been an amazing outlet for us for so many years. Until recently we had thought of it as just an L.A. thing at Largo. But now we feel its time to take the show out to more people.
Features:
180g Vinyl
Selections:
1. Feelin' Good Again
2. Where I Ought To Be
3. Not In Nottingham
4. Steal Your Heart Away
5. Prescription for the Blues
6. Going Going Gone
7. Hop High
8. She Thinks I Still Care
9. The King of the 12 Oz. Bottles
10. Early Morning Rain
11. Brokedown Palace
