Bluegrass Sibling Duo Sean And Sara Watkins Returns As Watkins Family Hour

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Siblings Sean and Sara Watkins are the Watkins Family Hour. Jacob Boll/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Jacob Boll/Courtesy of the artist

Siblings Sean and Sara Watkins are the Watkins Family Hour.

Jacob Boll/Courtesy of the artist

Sean and Sara Watkins grew up playing music together alongside Chris Thile in the hugely successful folk and bluegrass band Nickel Creek. Along the way, the siblings wanted to find a new way to hone their live skills and have some fun in the process. Setting up shop at Los Angeles nightclub Largo, the band Watkins Family Hour was born. Bringing in hundreds of performers over several years, the duo shared the stage and set up improvised playlists with folks like Jackson Browne, Dan Wilson, Minnie Driver, Jim James and Mandy Moore, to name a few. Pretty cool group of folks to work with right?

For the Watkins' new album, Brother Sister, Sean and Sara wrote together for the first time as a duo in their 30-plus year career, which obviously surprised me. We'll talk about that, life in quarantine and Watkins Family Hour shares some beautiful home recordings with us, so let's listen in.