Top 10 Sitch Sessions of the Past 10 Years

Since the beginning, BGS has sought to showcase roots music at every level and to preserve the moments throughout its ever-developing history that make this music so special. One of the simplest ways we’ve been able to do just that has been through our Sitch Sessions — working with new and old friends, up-and-coming artists, and legendary performers, filming musical moments in small, intimate spaces, among expansive, breathtaking landscapes, and just about everywhere in between. But always aiming to capture the communion of these shared moments.

In honor of our 10th year, we’ve gathered 10 of our best sessions — viral videos and fan favorites — from the past decade. We hope you’ll enjoy this trip down memory lane!

Greensky Bluegrass – “Burn Them”

Our most popular video of all time, this Telluride, Colorado session with Greensky Bluegrass is an undeniable favorite, and we just had to include it first.


Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris – “The Traveling Kind”

What more could you ask for than two old friends and legends of country music reminiscing on travels and songs passed and yet to come, in an intimate space like this? “We’re members of an elite group because we’re still around, we’re still traveling,” Emmylou Harris jokes. To which Rodney Crowell adds with a laugh, “We traveled so far, it became a song.” The flowers were even specifically chosen and arranged “to represent a celestial great-beyond and provide a welcoming otherworldly quality … a resting place for the traveling kind.” Another heartwarming touch for an unforgettable moment.


Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan – “Some Tyrant” 

In the summer of 2014, during the Telluride Bluegrass Festival we had the distinct pleasure of capturing Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan’s perfectly bucolic version of “Some Tyrant” among the aspens. While out on this jaunt into the woods, we also caught a performance of the loveliest ode to summertime from Kristin Andreassen, joined by Aoife and Sarah.


Rhiannon Giddens – “Mal Hombre”

Rhiannon Giddens once again proves that she can sing just about anything she wants to — and really well — with this gorgeously painful and moving version of “Mal Hombre.”


Tim O’Brien – “You Were on My Mind”

Is this our favorite Sitch Session of all time? Probably. Do we dream of having the good fortune of running into Tim O’Brien playing the banjo on a dusty road outside of Telluride like the truck driver in this video? Definitely.

Enjoy one of our most popular Sitch Sessions of all time, featuring O’Brien’s pure, unfiltered magic in a solo performance of an original, modern classic.


Gregory Alan Isakov – “Saint Valentine”

Being lucky in love is great work, if you can find it. But, for the rest of us, it’s a hard row to hoe. For this 2017 Sitch Session at the York Manor in our home base of Los Angeles, Gregory Alan Isakov teamed up with the Ghost Orchestra to perform “Saint Valentine.”


The Earls of Leicester – “The Train That Carried My Girl From Town”

In this rollicking session, the Earls of Leicester gather round some Ear Trumpet Labs mics to bring their traditional flair to a modern audience, and they all seem to be having a helluva time!


Sara and Sean Watkins – “You and Me”

For this Telluride session, Sara and Sean Watkins toted their fiddle and guitar up the mountain to give us a performance of “You and Me” from a gondola flying high above the canyon.


Punch Brothers – “My Oh My / Boll Weevil”

The Punch Brothers — along with Dawes, The Lone Bellow, and Gregory Alan Isakov — headlined the 2015 LA Bluegrass Situation festival at the Greek Theatre (a party all on its own), and in anticipation, the group shared a performance of “My Oh My” into “Boll Weevil” from on top of the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood.


Caitlin Canty feat. Noam Pikelny – “I Want To Be With You Always”

We’ll send you off with this delicate moment. Released on Valentine’s Day, Caitlin Canty and Noam Pikelny offered their tender acoustic rendition of Lefty Frizzell’s 1951 country classic love song, “I Want to Be With You Always.”


Dive into 8 of our favorite underrated Sitch Sessions here.

Sara and Sean Watkins Strengthen Watkins Family Hour Ties on ‘Vol. II’

Sara and Sean Watkins were still children when they began playing bluegrass festivals, where the siblings often performed songs arranged on the fly with people they’d met just minutes before. When the Vista, California, natives began exploring Los Angeles’ music scene, they were delighted to discover infusions of that same collaborative spirit — particularly at Largo, the club where composer/producer Jon Brion often mixed and matched players and songs of seemingly incongruous musical styles at his Friday night shows. When the Watkins Family Hour residency began in 2002, Brion encouraged them to create their own adventurous pairings. Twenty years later, they’re still at it, and credit his inspiration for their approach to Vol. II, the latest chronicle of their now-legendary monthly gatherings.

While their 2020 Watkins Family Hour release, Brother Sister, focused on Sean and Sara’s vocal and instrumental interplay (on guitar and violin, respectively) and original compositions, the new album returns to the collaborative approach used on 2015’s Watkins Family Hour.

Recorded in three days, Vol. II is full of inspired combinations: The Zombies’ “The Way I Feel Inside” features a heavenly near-a cappella quartet of Watkins and Lucius voices; on the Charlie Rich-penned Ernest Tubb classic “Thanks a Lot,” Sean evokes Teddy Thompson as he and Sara channel the Everlys — to a Bo Diddley beat and some Brion chicken-pickin’. On Elliott Smith’s “Pitseleh,” Madison Cunningham’s twinkling high-strung Telecaster notes gorgeously counterpoint Sean’s lovely vocals and Sara’s sweeping violin parts.

While the range of material is impressive enough — they might be the first artists to cover a Tune-Yards song (“Hypnotized”), which certainly stands as a testament to their boldness — it’s the mind-boggling list of contributors that confirms Sara and Sean Watkins really have built a family. One they look forward to expanding.

BGS: Twenty years — that’s literally half your lives, and most clubs aren’t even around that long. You mentioned wanting to pay homage to Largo as well as the scene and the music, which you do by delving into history, yet also drawing on current styles. How do you make it all fit together so well?

Sara: One of the things we love about bluegrass is how it’s a living history, and how there was a bit of a perspective of, like, built to last — the idea that a song is built to last, and old songs and musicians from earlier generations are all that much more respected and admired for how much they have contributed over the years. And if it’s a song, how many people this song has touched and affected, and it’s still alive, and people love playing it still. Playing that material, and respecting the heritage, is a big part of what we grew up with. We didn’t really grow up (thinking), “What’s new, that’s the best stuff.” We grew up with “what’s old, that’s the best stuff.” So in our repertoire, there’s always been older songs. That respect is common to all roots music. … There’s so much older stuff that we already know; we were really happy and eager to include some of the new material we’ve been turned on to by friends like Glen Phillips (“Grief and Praise”), Tom Brosseau (“We Were Meant to Be Together”), Ethan Gruska (“On the Outside”) and Tune-Yards.

Sean: We chose old songs that we played early on, like “She Left Me Standing on the Mountain” and “Tennessee Waltz,” but we also tried to highlight some of our favorite songwriters that are part of the community, or Largo specifically, like Glen. He’s the reason we play at Largo; he’s the one that vetted us to play there and introduced us to that whole community. We picked songs based on how they related to Largo and the Family Hour, rather than just random songs we like to play.

Old songs that we’re able to do with the Watkins Family Hour band, like “Tennessee Waltz,” we wouldn’t do at a bluegrass festival because it’s been done a million times, and in probably a similar way. But for us to do it with Benmont Tench playing beautiful piano voicings, I mean, piano is not a bluegrass instrument, and the voicings he’s using are not bluegrass voicings, so it enables us to play an old song that we might write off as being overdone, and give it some new life because of the people we’re playing it with. It doesn’t modernize “Tennessee Waltz,” but it’s a new twist on it.

Sara: Equally relevant to the Family Hour in a lot of ways, I think, is that’s a song that has been a part of so many generations and so many people’s lives. We don’t play it a lot, but I think that’s what made that performance on the album so special.

Sean: One of the things that we discovered early on at Largo that made it really exciting for us is that we can do these songs for people that maybe have never even heard bluegrass before, and if they have, it’s totally fine to do “Tennessee Waltz.”

BGS: You’ve played with a lot of people in 20 years. Just reading the list of backing vocalists on “Grief and Praise,” I was like, “Damn, that’s all the cool kids in L.A.” — including the co-founder of the Bluegrass Situation. Would you say that you discovered more of those artists from playing at Largo, or that they discovered you and wanted to jump in because of Largo?

Sean: In the beginning, it was certainly us being introduced to people, and then once we got going, people knew about it. When it got to a point where people would ask us if they could play a show, we felt very honored. Sometimes Flanagan, who owns and runs Largo, would ask us to sit in and play with a comedian or another musician as part of their show, and then we would tell them about our show. It’s a lot of that back and forth.

Sara: When we started doing this show regularly, we were seeing a bunch of shows and being inspired by tons of new music and new artists. Occasionally, we would ask if they would want to do our show, and sometimes they would ask if we wanted to open for them or play a song in their show, and you just meet each other. When you move to a new town, you go out and meet new friends, and that’s what we did.

You started that residency pretty young, but when you stepped into it, you must have already had the respect of the community.

Sara: I don’t think we did, honestly.

Sean: Not that community.

Sara: One of the best things that I learned from the Family Hour is how important it is to give people a chance to develop and grow, because when Flanagan offered us this residency, it could have lasted six months or a year. But it lasted 20. I think he just wanted to give us a chance to interact with the scene in Los Angeles and introduce us to some of his musician friends and people that play Largo, and by opening the door to that, we were just completely blown away by the people we got to perform with and to become friends and sit in with, and the people who were interested in sitting in with us. It was like Flanagan was vouching for us by inviting us to do this residency. And as Sean was saying, over time, as it became something that was pretty consistent, we’ve been able to expand the group of friends and also have an opportunity to write with people. It opened the doors for all kinds of other collaborations.

Sean: When we started doing these shows at Largo in our early 20s, there was a lot of stuff happening in Nashville with our kinds of music. We thought about moving there and starting something, but when we started going to Largo and playing these shows, it felt really good to be a little different than the average musician in Los Angeles. It was more fun and more of a challenge to dive into a scene like Largo that’s really big and heavy in different ways, and new and challenging. I’ve had to learn so many songs and so many styles of music that really pushed me, and I’m really grateful for that. And that’s partly why we made this album. It’s a past that we’re celebrating, but it’s not just nostalgic; it’s continued to be this way, much to all of our surprise. We didn’t expect it to feel this exciting still. But that’s because there’s new people all the time, and new songs, and like Sara says, because it’s a monthly show and we have such a regular audience, it makes us realize that we need to mix it up and present new songs.

It was an unexpected treat to hear Fiona Apple on what’s almost a Western swing tune.

Sara: That was one of the first examples of what Sean was saying about things we learned from Jon Brion putting people together and finding common material. When we first met, Fiona was onstage; I think Jon knew that we probably grew up with some classic country stuff, and that Fiona also loved a lot of that. One of the first things we played with her was “Walkin’ After Midnight,” and we got to experience the power of how she embodies every song that she sings. For us, “Walkin’ After Midnight” is a clichéd song that very few people would take on. It’s been done very well; we don’t really need to do it a lot more. But for us to hear her sing that gave it this new relevancy and a completely transformative power. That is another example of the context affecting the message.

I’ll never forget hearing Gaby Moreno sing at your Watkins Family Hour session during the 2017 Folk Alliance International conference. She just blew me away. She seems like the perfect example of a deserving artist you can draw attention to with a project like this one.

Sean: I’m in a band called Fiction Family. We used to play this show on Sunday nights. There’d be like four bands a night, and Gaby was doing a bunch of songs that were like poppy, kind of raucous rock songs. Then she did a traditional Guatemalan song and played guitar. And it was like, “Oh, we could totally do music together.” So I invited her to one of our shows. It was that moment of hearing a commonality that opened the door to a great musical relationship. She’s taught us so much about her style of music and even, just, rhythm. We played a show with her in Aspen, Colorado, and she was showing me these different traditional mariachi guitar-strumming patterns that I videotaped on my phone because it’s just so cool. So it’s a really great relationship; it’s not only fun, but we get to learn from each other.

On the flip side of that, you have some legends on here. But since you’ve been doing this all your life, it probably doesn’t feel as goose-bumpy.

Sean: Oh, it does.

Sara, how do you take a song that you’re performing with Jackson Browne and let him be the background vocalist and you take the lead?

Sara: We’ve gotten to know Jackson over the years quite well. We played “The Late Show” with him on his tour a long time ago, singing the background parts. We love the song, but it’s best done with two harmony singers that can sing those beautiful answering parts. Jackson was doing the show, so we just on a lark thought, “Well, we should do ‘The Late Show.’ Why don’t we see if he’d sing the harmony part?” And so we worked it up, and it was great. He was gracious enough to sing harmony on it at a live show, and then shortly after, we were planning the album and we asked if he would sing a song or maybe we could do one together. And he’s like, “Right. Should we do ‘The Late Show?’” So we did.

You two have a long list of projects and collaborations that have always kept you busy, but you’ve stayed by each other’s sides since Nickel Creek (formed with Chris Thile when he and Sara were 9 and Sean was 12). I’m sure you get asked this a lot, but how do you make it work?

Sean: (Laughs.) I mean, we’ve just done it since we were kids, and it’s always been fun. We’ve always been great friends and love playing with each other. The older we get, the more we realize how rare it is. There are a lot of bands of siblings, but the thing that I’m grateful for is that we’re both driven, musically, pretty much the same way and amount. We both enjoy it the same amount and are able to step in and out of different roles.

Sara: It is a nice partnership. There has been a good give and take between us over the years. If there’s a time when one of us feels more capable of taking the helm, it’s really nice to let that happen. Like in bicycle races, there’s somebody in front that takes the wind and the other person just rests for a minute, then the other person goes. It feels like that sometimes. Because we’re a team in Family Hour and Nickel Creek, we’ve learned how to support each other. But it’s also really great that we have other individual projects. Sean works on scoring and writing a lot, and I’ll do things here and there. It’s good to be able to have your own zone; your own corner, as well as to bring things to the table for all the other projects.


Photo Credit: Jacob Boll

Watkins Family Hour Felt “Hypnotized” By a Tune-Yards Song They Heard on Tour

Twenty years ago, two young musicians in the West Coast music scene started a residency that would outlive more bands than they could’ve imagined at the time. The brother-sister duo is none other than Sean and Sara Watkins, whose earliest national success came from their collaboration with mandolinist Chris Thile in Nickel Creek. Performing and recording with that band fostered the Watkins kids’ interest in acoustic music from a young age, and by the time they were both in their early twenties, Sara and Sean began a residency at the Los Angeles club Largo.

“It’s been really exciting to be part of this thing that is happening and growing and enables us to dig deep into this musical community. The consistency has been invaluable to both of us, as musicians,” Sean says. Sara adds, “But also, in life, the Family Hour has been and continues to be a huge part of making us feel anchored in the crazy city of Los Angeles.”

Now after numerous albums recorded with friends and on their own, Watkins Family Hour have reunited for a new project. It’s the third album from the duo, despite its curious name, Vol. II. As with previous installments from Watkins Family Hour, this new record features artists that have made guest appearances at Largo during the Watkins’ residency, including Madison Cunningham, Jackson Browne, and Gaby Moreno, to name a few.

Upon announcing the new album, Watkins Family Hour released their own spin on “Hypnotized,” one of their personal favorites discovered on their travels. “While on tour for our previous record, we heard this Tune-Yards song on the radio and then proceeded to listen to it just about every day after that while driving to the next town,” they stated. “Their version is so beautifully intricate and wild. We knew it would be a challenge, but it became apparent we needed to learn the dang thing ourselves and record it.”


Photo Credit: Jacob Boll

BGS Top 50 Moments: Newport Folk Festival

Dylan going electric in 1965. Lomax making his historic archive recordings in 1966. Joni taking the stage after 50-something years in 2022. Newport Folk is a festival full of milestone moments and lots of surprises. And for a brief moment in time in 2014, BGS was a small part of Newport Folk Fest’s long and storied history too, when we presented our Bluegrass Situation Workshop Stage inside the intimate Whaling Museum building on Sunday at the Fort.

Amidst a festival lineup that included such stalwarts as Nickel Creek, Trampled by Turtles, Dawes, Valerie June, Hozier, Jack White, and Mavis Staples, the BGS crew – helmed by co-founder Ed Helms and his Lonesome Trio bandmates Ian Riggs and Jake Tilove – hosted a few “up and coming” acts we were very excited about, singing songs about significant “firsts” in their lives. Some of those young whippersnappers you might have heard of, like Shakey Graves (joined by Chris Funk of the Decemberists and Langhorne Slim), Aoife O’Donovan, Wilie Watson (with special guest Sean Watkins), and Watchhouse (who were still going by Mandolin Orange at the time), which marked Andrew and Emily’s very first – but certainly not last – appearance at Newport.

That big “first” for us was significant – to be welcomed into the “Folk” Family and made to feel like we were all part of something big and wonderful. And it’s that feeling that’s brought us back to the Fort year after year ever since.


Photos by Samara Vise

BGS Top 50 Moments: A Tribute to Jerry Garcia

 

If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung
Would you hear my voice come through the music?
Would you hold it near as it were your own?

On a warm spring evening in Los Angeles, a revered mix of musicians gathered to lift up the legacy of Jerry Garcia and “to hold the music near as it were their own.”  JUBILEE: A Celebration of Jerry Garcia was a very special, one night only benefit concert paying tribute to his 75th birthday, produced by BGS, Goldenvoice, and the Garcia Family.

With an all-star lineup that included the likes of Hiss Golden Messenger, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Margo Price, Stephen Malkmus, Chris Funk, Sam Bush, David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), Jamie Drake, Josh Ritter, and Amos Lee, supported by a house band lead by Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell (of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) and Sean and Sara Watkins (of Nickel Creek and Watkins Family Hour), the evening was a love letter to the man whose influence has continued to reach far beyond the confines of the Dead.

Relive some of the amazing collaborations in the photo gallery below:


Photo Credit: Elli Lauren

BGS Top 50 Moments: The LA Bluegrass Situation at Largo

It was 2010 when the true origins of “The Sitch” first materialized.  For five days in May, BGS founder Ed Helms congregated a lauded lineup of roots artists at the storied Largo at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles.  That first annual LA Bluegrass Situation festival included the likes of Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, The Watkins Family Hour, Gillian Welch, Will Ferrell, Jackson Browne, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Ed’s Whiskey Sour Radio Hour variety showcase.

In the festivals that followed, LABS brought in the likes of Nickel Creek, John C. Reilly, the Punch Brothers, Willie Watson, and many others before broadening to bigger venues across Los Angeles.  The online iteration of “The Bluegrass Sitch” wouldn’t come to fruition for another two years, but the heart of it was all there, on stage at Largo, from the very start.


Photo Credit: Lincoln Andrew Defour

WATCH: Nickel Creek Return to “Helena” for Their Livecreek Experience

Of all the good news that has come out of 2021 so far, none might be sweeter than the news that Nickel Creek has been re-joining forces to write and perform music again. On the final two Sundays of February, the band hosted two livestream concert events called “Nickel Stream: A Livecreek Experience” via Mandolin.com.

Not missing a step or forgetting a lyric, the trio’s performances were immaculate and reminded audiences why Nickel Creek is a special band. In this video of “Helena,” they exercise the signature spice that has always marked their music, taking their listeners on a journey that grows and evolves until its frenzied end. Sara and Sean Watkins together with Chris Thile effortlessly create beautiful, entrancing music, no matter the context and to hear fresh renditions of some of Nickel Creek’s beloved material is welcome anytime here at BGS.


 

Sara Watkins Finds a Dreamy Rhythm With ‘Under the Pepper Tree’

The Schinus molle — more commonly known as the California pepper tree — can grow up to 45 feet high and 50 feet wide, producing small yellow flowers and rose-colored berries, and bringing shade to everything within reach. For Nickel Creek originator Sara Watkins, the pepper tree brings about memories of family, youthful fun, and inspiration for her latest record, Under the Pepper Tree. Produced by Tyler Chester, the 15-song album is a personal project for Watkins, including songs from her own childhood alongside a few original compositions. Reuniting Nickel Creek, I’m With Her, and a range of guest performances, she tackles favorite songs such as “Pure Imagination” (from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) and “Blue Shadows on the Trail” (from The Three Amigos).

BGS caught up with Watkins from her California home to talk about the inspirations behind Under the Pepper Tree, and the experience of making a record like this during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BGS: Was the making of this album a different experience from those you’ve done in the past?

Watkins: Yeah, and not just because we did it during COVID. That was a huge appeal in working with Tyler Chester — he can play so many instruments so well. His musicality comes out on each instrument really well. Other than that, I knew early on that it would be necessary for the songs to weave together. As I was collecting these songs, realizing that so many of them are kind of dreamy and mellow, I wasn’t dealing with the typical balance of “up” songs, “down” songs, “sad” songs, “happy” songs, the way those things can affect the sequence of a normal album. Because of the nature of this material, a lot of the songs had a similar dreamy quality, so I thought by connecting them all, that would let the album kind of drift along, and hopefully sweep you up in a way that might not happen if they were all just 15 individual tracks. 

Before going in to record the project, we did a bit of a practice swing, just to see how the sequence might work together. We made some changes to the sequence and adjusted the transitions accordingly, so that everything went together as well as possible. This is the first time I’ve sequenced an album before going in to record, and I really enjoyed the result and how it affected the process throughout. It’s definitely something I’m going to bring with me into my future projects, even if I don’t do it exactly the same way. I’m going to consider it very seriously before starting records. 

How did getting to be home during the pandemic influence your day to day, and outlook on this album?

If affected it completely. I don’t think I would have made this record without the experience of just being home, and realizing that I needed some kind of rhythm, needed something that would tell me that today was passing. I’m new to being home, the way that all musicians are. That, combined with having a toddler now, was a new experience. The first couple years of being a mom I was on tour, and the rhythm of tour life is built into the work, the way that most people’s jobs provide a rhythm for their life. I think a lot of [musicians] were discovering that we needed to create those rhythms, by taking morning or evening walks around the neighborhood, by spending more time making meals or cooking, or doing whatever it is that helps cycle you in to the next part of the day. 

I was digging through my old record collection, and I would listen to five a day, and decide whether or not I wanted to keep them or whether I was done with them. A big part of me creating Under the Pepper Tree with vinyl in mind was because of this wonderful freedom that it gave me to put on a record and not have to make a choice for a while. I could just listen to it and not have to worry what song came up in the algorithm next, or decide whether or not I wanted to skip ahead. That freedom of just making one choice and being able to go about the rest of the things that I needed to do, it felt really liberating, like a kindness that I could do to myself. 

That also played into why I wanted to make this album with record listening in mind. It works great on digital too, but I imagined it being an A and B side. If you only listen to side A, you can get a full arc and it can send you into dreamland. And if you want to listen to it altogether, that’s another experience. 

Like with Nickel Creek on “Blue Shadows on the Trail,” were any specific guests important to certain songs?

“Tumbling Tumbleweeds” with Aoife [O’Donovan] and [Sarah] Jarosz, my I’m With Her bandmates, was just as important, because I really wanted both of those bands on this record. I feel like this album in a lot of ways celebrates this time in my life, and the music that I grew up with. For me also, it was an incredible way to get those two bands together on an album, because they’re both so meaningful to me, and have played such huge roles in my life, and in my growth and development as a person, as a mom. So it was incredibly meaningful to get to have them on it. 

All of the players on the record mean a lot to me, but I really also loved having Davíd Garza on this record, who is a dear friend. In particular, he plays this beautiful solo on “Moon River.” There’s a song on Emmylou Harris’ record Roses in the Snow when Willie Nelson comes in with a guitar solo, and then it sounds like he just goes away. When I first heard that record — I think it was in my early 20s — it was pretty informative to me about how a lot of times musicians can be known for one or two things, but they might not often get asked to just be a musician on somebody else’s record. I just love that [Harris] didn’t get Willie to sing on it, she got him to come in and play a guitar solo. That was really eye-opening for me, and changed the way I thought of playing with people. 

On “Moon River,” I specifically had that moment in mind where Willie comes in and plays a solo and goes away, and so Davíd graciously agreed to be my Willie Nelson on this song, and he does a wonderful job. 

Having a couple of original tunes on the record, what was your process behind writing something that incorporates naturally with these classic songs?

I felt like there should be a spot for fiddle on this record. I knew that I wanted to have an instrumental on here, and I knew that I wanted to write it. It was important to have a little break in the lyrics. It was great to expand my childhood story with the title of the [instrumental], “Under the Pepper Tree.” That has very personal weight to me. A lot of instrumental titles are pretty arbitrary in my experience, but this was an opportunity to share a little bit about my own childhood. 

There’s a tree that I spent a lot of time growing up with, playing in and imagining in. There are several very important pepper trees in my life. One of them is at my aunt’s house, where my grandma used to live. There were two huge family reunions under that pepper tree. I just remember running around with my cousins, playing tag, listening to my aunt’s laugh, all that stuff. It’s a really beautiful thing, and I think that had a natural place on the album. 

The other song [“Night Singing”] was a poem that I wrote, that eventually fell into a guitar part. Originally, I thought that this record would be a lullaby record, but my goal for the record changed. It was to make something a little more deeply transitional for people of all ages. But “Night Singing” is a true lullaby, for my daughter, for myself, and for my friends. 

Do you have any specific plans you’re looking forward to taking on when we climb out of this pandemic? 

This fall, my brother [Sean Watkins] and I are going to do some touring behind our Watkins Family Hour album brother sister, which came out a year ago now. We weren’t able to tour it, but a lot of the dates we had for last fall have been rescheduled for this fall, 2021. We have some dates on the books starting in August, which is kinda hard to believe! So this fall we’ll be able to do some in-person shows, and I’m really looking forward to it. 

I feel very stopped up in terms of creativity, because we wrote the brother sister record, recorded it, and put it out, and haven’t really been able to celebrate it with an audience. Then I put together Under the Pepper Tree, recorded that, released it, and I haven’t been able to do shows for it. There’s been writing for other projects, but I honestly feel a little bit stopped up creatively. I think I just need to perform some of these songs, and get them out of my body, so that I can put more stuff in. As alienating as this whole thing has felt for us, and as isolating as it has been, there has been to some degree a shared experience, and the universality of that has been reassuring at times for me. 


Sara and Sean Watkins, as Watkins Family Hour, are coming to Colorado in March 2022! Grab your tickets here.

Photo credit: Jacob Boll

BGS Presents IBMA Awards Pre-Show Hosted by Sean & Sara Watkins

BGS is excited to announce the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards Pre-Show, produced and presented in partnership with IBMA and highlighting this year’s Emerging Artist Award nominees. WATCH HERE.

The half-hour-long special will be hosted by Sean & Sara Watkins (winners of the Emerging Artist award as part of Nickel Creek in 2000) and features performances from all five 2020 nominees: Appalachian Road Show, Carolina Blue, High Fidelity, Mile Twelve, and Merle Monroe.

“In a year of firsts, we’re excited to launch a new collaborative tradition for BGS and IBMA,” says Amy Reitnouer Jacobs, BGS co-founder and Executive Director. “The Pre-Show is an opportunity to kick off the biggest night in bluegrass and highlight the future of the genre.”

The IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards Pre-Show starts at 7:30pm ET/4:30pm PT on Thursday, October 1 — just before the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards — and will air on our YouTube channel as well as IBMA’s conference and festival platform, Swapcard. (Free music pass registration is available here.) Immediately following the event, viewers can click through to Swapcard, or IBMA’s Facebook page, to stream the full awards show.  The Pre-Show is presented in partnership with BGS sponsor, Preston Thompson Guitars.

IBMA World of Bluegrass 2020 is a virtual music homecoming and convention, taking place September 28-October 3; the event includes the IBMA Business Conference; IBMA Bluegrass Ramble presented by Count On Me NC, an innovative series of band showcases; the 31st Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards presented by Count On Me NC, and IBMA Bluegrass Live! powered by PNC.

Watch the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards Pre-Show here.


(Editor’s note: A previous version of this announcement listed the air time for the show as 7pm ET / 4pm PT. The correct airtime is 7:30pm ET / 4:30pm PT.)

BGS Long Reads of the Week // June 12

Don’t look now, but we’re approaching the mid-point of June and another week has passed us by. YIKES! Luckily, we have another week’s worth of long reads for you, too!

The long-winding catacombs of the BGS annals and archives have so much to offer. As we share our favorite longer, more in-depth articles, stories, and features to help you pass the time, take a minute to follow us on social media [on FacebookTwitter, and Instagram] so you don’t miss a single #longreadoftheday pick!

This week’s long reads travel from the canyon drives above Hollywood to Pavement to a former Oregon poet laureate to everyone’s favorite five-stringed instrument. Check ’em out.

Stephen Malkmus of Pavement Ventures Down Acoustic Road on New Album

Stephen Malkmus, of the bristly, brainy 1990s indie rock band Pavement, joins a host of fellow alt-rockers in dabbling with folk and acoustic sounds. On a brand new album, Traditional Techniques, which was produced by Chris Funk of the Decemberists, Malkmus expands on the flickers of folk interest that have permeated his career, though he may not claim mastery of any of them. [Read our #CoverStory interview]


Sara Watkins Wants Us to Ride Along on Watkins Family Hour’s brother sister

Earlier this week we celebrated Sara Watkins’ birthday (June 8, for the record) with a revisit to our recent Artist of the Month interview where she walked us through her recent Watkins Family Hour album, brother sister. For the first time in their lifelong musical careers, Sara and her brother Sean focused on creating music centered on their own duo. brother sister was the result. [Celebrate Sara’s birthday with a read]


Aoife O’Donovan Finds Her Heart in the Verse of Others

Aoife O’Donovan’s latest EP, Bull Frogs Croon (And Other Songs), arrived in March. Our Cover Story unspooled the inspiration she gained via poet Peter Sears, the former poet laureate of Oregon, whose verse is utilized in three songs O’Donovan wrote and arranged with Teddy Abrams and Jeremy Kittel. The project is rounded out by a Hazel Dickens cover and a classic folk song, giving listeners a sampling of each of O’Donovan’s folky expertises. [Read the interview]


The Byrds’ Chris Hillman Reflects on Laurel Canyon and Why He Had to Leave

A new, two-part documentary, Laurel Canyon, traces the comings and goings of several generations of folk rockers down Sunset Boulevard and up into the hills. Chris Hillman (The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers), one of the canyon’s earliest and most famous residents, about the new film, the community, the music, the neighborhood, and why he had to leave. [Read the full story]


Mixtape: Ashley Campbell’s Banjo Basics

With her classic 2018 Mixtape banjoist and singer/songwriter Ashley Campbell reinforced the deeply held BGS belief that– MORE!! BANJOS!! From songs by her late, legendary father Glen and her godfather Carl Jackson to classics from folks like J.D. Crowe, John Hartford, and the Dixie Chicks, this mix has a little bit of everything and a whole lot of five-string. [Read & listen]