Sara Watkins' solo debut has been a lifetime in the making. The 27-year-old singer-songwriter and fiddle player spent nearly two decades—all of her teenage and young adult life—as one-third of Nickel Creek, the Grammy-winning acoustic trio that used contemporary bluegrass as a starting point for its no-genre-barred sound. With Nickel Creek on indefinite hiatus, she recently released her self-titled solo disc (produced by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones & featuring old friends like Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings, Tim O'Brien, Ronnie McCoury, and her Nickel Creek bandmates). Both Watkins' debut disc and her live performances have an air of easygoing virtuosity, displaying her skill as a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, ukulele, and of course the fiddle), and versatility as a breathtaking vocalist. She segues gracefully from lighthearted country to western swing to romantic wistfulness. Her wordless fiddle tunes are exuberant, foot-stomping pieces, while the songs for which she wrote both music and lyrics have a heart-meltingly lovelorn quality.

In 1989, Watkins, barely out of her childhood, started playing in a nascent version of Nickel Creek along with her guitarist brother Sean and mandolinist friend Chris Thile. The prodigious young trio built a reputation in bluegrass, folk, and country circles, then catapulted to mainstream prominence in 2000 after releasing an album produced by Alison Krauss. Watkins guest-starred as fiddler and/or harmony vocalist on albums by Bela Fleck, the Chieftains, Ben Lee, and Richard Thompson, among others. Southwest Roots Music is proud to present this compelling artist at the start of her solo career.

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