Recorded in just three days, Watkins Family Hour, featuring siblings Sara and Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek), have enlisted an impressive clutch of collaborators for this covers collection, a sequel to their similarly styled 2015 eponymous debut, several of the guests there returning for a second bite.
It opens teaming their close harmonies with indie Americana outfit Lucius for a dreamy, summery take on The Zombies’ The Way I Feel Inside, initially a capella before the guitar and strings kick in. It’s followed by one of two tracks that feature just the two of them on vocals, a narcotic, drums-based Hypnotized by obscure art-pop outfit Tune-Yards, the second being the pizzicato strings arrangement of Tom Brosseau’s We Were Meant to Be Together, Sean on lead.
A song influential in shaping their sound, Elliott Smith’s strings-swathed Pitseleh also has him singing lead to a rippling, shimmering backdrop and is one of two numbers to feature Madison Cunningham, the other being album closer Glen Phillips’s Grief and Praise, a hymnal arrangement again with Sean on lead and featuring an all-star choir of friends and collaborators that, among others, adds Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan from Milk Carton Kids, Soul Coughing’s Sebastian Steinberg, Ed Helms and Phillips himself to the mix for a song about the power of music to raise our spirits.
Frequent collaborator Jon Brion contributes a guitar solo for their spin on the Ernest Tubb song, Thanks A Lot, here given an Everlys vocal treatment and a Not Fade Way drum rhythm, while Jackson Browne sits in harmonising as Sara sings lead on a lovely, understated cover of his The Late Show. That’s followed by an old-school country staple, Patti Page‘s classic Tennessee Waltz, Sara’s heart-aching vocals accompanied by honky-tonk piano from Benmont Tench, a returnee from the first album.
A lesser known name perhaps, but a fundamental part of the Family Hour, Willie Watson joins Gabe Witcher for a bout of bluegrass, Sara’s fiddle getting to go through its paces, on Jim and Jesse’s She Left Me Standing on the Mountain. The collection’s rounded out with, first, Gaby Moreno’s collaboration on a puttering r&b coloured take on LA-based songwriter Ethan Gruska’s On The Outside and, another debut album acolyte, Fiona Apple lending her voice to a countrified shuffle through Dean Martin‘s evergreen, Remember Me (I’m The One Who Loves You), Tench back on saloon piano, Greg Leisz on pedal steel and Sara providing the fiddle break.
Watkins Family Hour Vol ii is an immensely enjoyable snapshot of how far this project, and its ever-evolving musical community, have come in the 20 years since its inception at its Largo nightclub base and where the future might take it.
Vol. II Tracklist:
The Way I Feel Inside (Ft. Lucius)
Hypnotized
Pitseleh (Feat. Madison Cunningham)
Thanks a Lot (Ft. Jon Brion)
The Late Show (Ft. Jackson Browne)
Tennessee Waltz (Ft. Benmont Tench)
She Left Me Standing on the Mountain (Ft. Willie Watson)
We Were Meant to Be Together
On the Outside (Ft. Gaby Moreno)
(Remember Me) I’m the One Who Loves You (Ft. Fiona Apple)
Grief and Praise (Ft. Madison Cunningham)
Released 19th August 2022