Talks & Entertainment

Due to circumstances outside of our control, we regret to inform you that The Watkins Family Hour show originally scheduled for April 30 has been canceled. Tickets will be refunded within 30 days. Please contact Sasha Fried-Snoad with any questions.

As Watkins Family Hour’s first project since their self-titled debut in 2015, Sean and Sara Watkins consider brother sister a duo-centric record—yet one that feels bigger than just two people. With Sean on guitar, Sara on fiddle, and both siblings sharing vocals, they enlisted producer Mike Viola and mixer-engineer Clay Blair to harness the energy and honesty of their live sound.

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. Songs range from “The Cure,” which Sean was inspired to write after watching “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo,” to “Neighborhood Name,” chosen by Sara after hearing it on a record by Courtney Hartman and Taylor Ashton, to the instrumental “Snow Tunnel,” titled after Sean’s memory of driving through Zion National Park.

Moving from one landscape to the next—literally and musically—is nothing new to Sean and Sara. Growing up near San Diego, they played countless shows at a local pizza place 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 Award, 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.