Sara Watkins begins a months-long tour as special guest of Jackson Browne this weekend; she also joins A Prairie Home Companion at LA's Hollywood Bowl for its final show of the season. The LA Times, reviewing a recent Watkins set, says: "Touring in support of her excellent new album," she performed "well-crafted, honest fiddle, guitar and drum music that drew not only on the bluegrass tradition but also hinted at old-time string band tunes, tossed in a touch of Texas swing, a little dose of rock and a certain Watkins family confidence that finds sustenance in adventure."
Sara Watkins is set to begin a months-long tour as special guest of Jackson Browne on his US Acoustic Tour, starting this weekend, with performances at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center’s Belk Theater in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday, and the North Charleston Performing Arts Center in Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday. The tour runs through mid-August before picking up again in mid-October. Watkins’ sets feature songs from her latest album, Sun Midnight Sun, released in May on Nonesuch Records, and from her self-titled debut album. Jackson Browne makes a special guest appearance on Sun Midnight Sun, contributing harmony vocals on a number of tracks, as do Fiona Apple, Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Benmont Trench, and Sean Watkins.
Before the start of the tour, Sara Watkins joins Garrison Keillor and the cast of A Prairie Home Companion for the final show of the program's summer season, recorded at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles tonight for broadcast this weekend. Also on the show are Watkins' fellow special guests, esteemed actor Martin Sheen and singing sisters Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele, along with Prairie Home Companion regulars the Royal Academy of Radio Actors; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, Fred Newman, and Erica Rhodes, Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, and, of course, the latest News from Lake Wobegon. Watkins is a frequent guest on A Prairie Home Companion—most recently over Memorial Day weekend with label mate Shawn Colvin—and holds the honor of being its first-ever guest host. The show can be heard on public radio stations across the US, streaming online at prairiehome.org.
Last weekend, Watkins performed a free set at the Levitt Pavilion in Pasadena's Memorial Park for the city's Summer Music Festival, and Los Angeles Times pop music critic Randall Roberts was there. "Touring in support of her excellent new album on Nonesuch Records, Sun Midnight Sun," Roberts reports, Watkins "offered 75 minutes of well-crafted, honest fiddle, guitar and drum music that drew not only on the bluegrass tradition but also hinted at old-time string band tunes, tossed in a touch of Texas swing, a little dose of rock and a certain Watkins family confidence that finds sustenance in adventure." Read the complete review at latimes.com.
You can read what Watkins has to say about the album in recent interviews with American Songwriter and, in the lead-up to Sunday's concert, the Charleston City Paper.
For additional details on Sara Watkins' upcoming shows, go to nonesuch.com/on-tour. To pick up a copy of Sun Midnight Sun, head to the Nonesuch Store, where CD orders include instant downloads of the album at checkout.
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