#sara watkins

[paulftompkins]

AVAILABLE NOW ON VOD!

VARIETOPIY’ALL recorded live at The Elysian Theatre

With special guests:

Mary Sohn

Tawny Newsome

Jana Schmieding

Sean & Sara Watkins

Andrew Daly

James Bladon

Matt Gourley

Mark McConville

Music by Jordan Katz

Original songs by Paul F. Tompkins & Jordan Katz

STREAM OR DOWNLOAD

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: I’m with Her - “Hannah Hunt”

As its members remain busy with outside projects - Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jarosz solo and Sara Watkins with Nickel Creek - I’m with Her released a studio version of “Hannah Hunt.”

Recorded in 2018, the track mirrors the arrangement IWH featured on its most-recent tour. Jarosz sings lead and plays mandolin; O’Donovon is on acoustic guitar and backgrounds; and Watkins serves up violin and backgrounds.

From the trio’s wordless opening to their verses together, I’m with Her’s three-part harmonies are skin-raising in their beauty as they lead into equally exquisite ensemble playing that allows Watkins’ plaintive violin to set up the homestretch.

If I can’t trust you, then damn it, Hannah/there’s no future, there’s no answer/though we live on the U.S. dollar/you and me we got our own sense of time, the bandmates sing.

The only thing that could make this gorgeous Vampire Weekend cover more welcome is if it signaled the long-overdue return of I’m with Her.

Grade card: I’m with Her - “Hannah Hunt” - A+

5/13/24

[bluemakesgifs]

Nickel Creek perform "Where the Long Line Leads" on Jimmy Kimmel Live, 3/22/23

[awellrespectedcavetroll]

Wish I was as good at anything as Nickel Creek is at playing music.

[slowturning]

I’m With Her - Crossing Muddy Waters

My baby's gone and I don't know why She let out this morning Like a rusty shot in a hollow sky Left me without warning Sooner than the dogs could bark And faster than the sun rose Down to the banks in an old mule car She took a flatboat across the shallow

Friday Tunes

[jonesyjonesyjonesy]

the syncing is so off but i'm not okay

[asarilampshade]

Another song I love from hearing it on welcome to nightvale.

[matildazq]

Chicago has reached the bipolar phase of its winter where it tries to kill us all by snowing, then getting outrageously cold, then snowing again before the temperature rises to just a teensy bit above freezing, then drops again. So the streets and sidewalks are deathtraps, but the Danger Beagle laughs in the face of peril. She still wants her 6+-mile walk everyday. So I have these yaktrax things that help at least a little with not dying of the sidewalk bashing in my occipital. They are a sort of rubber frame that, in theory, stretches around the outline of the sole of one's shoe. Except my winter boots are for dudes, because I have not found a pair for women that are not absurd in prioritizing look over functionality (see above re: mandatory 6+-mile Danger Beagling daily). I bought the yaktrax for my dainty lady feet shoes, though, and my boots are, of necessity, rather too big for my feet. The result is that he yaktrax seem to want to escape. Yesterday, I lost one and the Spousal Unit graciously hunted it down. Today, I suddenly realized outside the dog park that I had lost both. I was going to write them off, but I was pretty sure it had only been a short while since I lost them. An apparent digression: Lately, I have been re-listening to all of "Sparks Nevada: Marshal on Mars" in order. I am out of the Pod F. Tompkast, Spontaneanation, Stay F. Homekins, and The Neighborhood Listen. I am out of Craig's List and Settling the Score. Danger Beagling consumes a LOT of podcasts, friends. So, Sparks it has been, and I have this to say: —Goddamn if that theme song is not a jolt of endorphins every single time —Sara Watkins' POW! is still the POW! to beat —I can't believe I'd forgotten how straight @paulftompkins plays it when he sings the theme song when the Jupiter Spy is Sparks —I can't believe I'd forgotten how he then utterly destroys MEJ when the Jupiter Spy is Croach and MEJ is just trying to get through the song. ANYHOODLES. Despite my LIMITED HUMAN SENSES, and my life-long urban dwelling, I was inspired NOT to surrender to the loss of my yaktrax, because there's crunchy, crunchy snow all over, so I was leaving two sets of footprints (no, Jesus does not come into this), and I was reasonably sure that the tall weeds (Danger Beagle loves the tall weeds—she once flushed a Bun and a Barn Cat in rapid succession and she will NEVER FORGET) immediately next to the off-leash part of the dog park was the most likely place for them to have been yanked off.

Reader, I tracked those yaktrax. Praise Nanotech.

[persephinae]

Gonna pick up some of them empties here Just as soon as we know where they lay Tied off of them jolly and leaving lines On a long hot summer day For every day I work on the Illinois River Get a half a day off with pay All day long I'm makin' up barges On a long hot summer day

[krispyweiss]

I’m With Her Reconvene in Rhode Island to Perform Bruce Springsteen’s “Used Cars”

I’m With Her staged an impromptu reunion July 28 when Sara Watkins and Sarah Jorosz crashed Aoife O’Donovan’s solo gig and sat in for a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Used Cars.”

In reality, it was almost certainly planned, though the Rhode Island audience was likely - and pleasantly - surprised.

Captured by an audience member, the video document betrays its stealthy origins. Yet the group’s instrumental interplay - Watkins’ fiddle, O’Donovan’s guitar and Jarosz’s octave mandolin - and pristine vocal harmonies break through as they sing:

I wish he’d just hit the gas and let out a cry/and tell ’em all they can kiss our asses goodbye

The crowd responds lustily before quieting down for the home stretch. And they remain silent until the last note fades before revving up one more time.

8/7/23

[bluemakesgifs]

Chris Thile whispering in his bandmates' ears in Nickel Creek's music video for "Speak" (from the 2002 album This Side).

[coffeejoshy]

Nickel Creek’s first studio album in almost a decade is a joyous romp about reconnection and shredding mandolins.

Playlist:

[laurelfishbear]

Pony

[slowturning]

Sara Watkins - You and Me

I remember the night I remember the sound I remember the light When the moon came 'round The night flowers bloomed The air so sweet I remember you I remember me

Friday Tunes