Day: August 10, 2022

Fiona Apple joins Watkins Family Hour on upcoming album Vol. II

Fiona Apple Joins Watkins Family Hour On “(Remember Me) I’m The One Who Loves You” From Upcoming Album Vol. II due out August 19, 2022. Vol. II features guests Jackson Browne, Lucius, Madison Cunningham, and many more. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Watkins Family Hour is a collaborative musical project founded by musicians and siblings Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins and traditionally held at the beloved Los Angeles club Largo. Since the first Watkins Family Hour show in 2002, the duo has released three studio albums, debuting with their self-titled album in 2015, following with Brother Sister in 2020, and, most recently, releasing Vol. II in August 2022. Sean and Sara recorded Vol. II at Los Angeles’ East West Studios in early 2022 alongside a stacked roster of longtime and new Family Hour collaborators, including Fiona Apple, Jackson Browne, Madison Cunningham, Lucius, Jon Brion, and more. As with their debut, the band will tour in support of Vol. II, bringing the Watkins Family Hour experiences to stages far and wide. Vol. II will be released August 19, 2022. (Watkins Family Hour, 2022)

The group shared “(Remember Me) I’m the One Who Loves You” from Vol. II; a track that features former Family Hour touring band member, longtime fixture at Largo, and wholly singular artist in her own right, Fiona Apple. Watkins Family Hour’s “(Remember Me)” kicks off with long-time Heartbreaker Benmont Tench’s honky-tonk piano and ends with Greg Leisz’s slinky pedal steel; the two enveloping a smile-inducing performance crowned by Sara, Sean, and Fiona’s three-part blend in the song’s iconic choruses. “I first heard this Stuart Hamblen song while going down an Ernest Tubb rabbit hole,” remembers Sara. “It’s hard for us to resist a country shuffle with attitude like this one. It’s our favorite kind of thing to sing with Fiona Apple.”

Fans can hear “(Remember Me) I’m the One Who Love You” now and read the premiere on Consequence of Sound. Check out WFH’s previously-released Tune-Yards cover “Hypnotized,” and pre-order or pre-save Vol. II ahead of its August 19 release date.

Vol. II follows Watkins Family Hour’s sophomore album Brother Sister, which they released as the COVID-19 pandemic began taking hold of the globe and, in turn, shut down the live music industry. That record was, serendipitously, a quieter affair, showcasing the musical interplay between Sara and Sean that keeps the Family Hour heart beating. In many ways, it is also a successor to Watkins Family Hour, the self-titled 2015 album that introduced the band to a broader audience and sent them, along with some of their closest collaborators, out on the road to tour.

As both Sean and Sara continue to work on their own solo music, as well as with their other bands like Nickel Creek and I’m With Her, Watkins Family Hour remains an invaluable resource and respite for them both, offering a familiar but ever-evolving space to test new ideas, meet new collaborators and, most importantly, have a good time doing what they love.

“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,” Sean says. “The consistency has been invaluable to both of us, as musicians.” 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.”

Vol. II track list:
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)

Catch Watkins Family Hour on tour:
August 13 – Lexington, VA – Lime Kiln Theater
August 14 – York, PA – Susquehanna Folk Festival
September 16 – Cincinnati, OH – Longworth-Anderson Series at Memorial Hall
September 17 – Nashville, TN – Americana Fest
September 18 – Indianapolis, IN – The Toby Theatre
September 20 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
September 21 – Kent, OH – Kent Stage
September 22 – Ft. Wayne, IN – Clyde Theatre
September 23 – Bay Harbor, MI – Great Lakes Center for the Arts
September 24 – Chicago, IL – Old Town School of Folk Music
September 25 – Chicago, IL – Old Town School of Folk Music
November 13 – Beaverton, OR – The Reser

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Americana trailblazer Jim Lauderdale announces new album Game Changer

Jim Lauderdale’s new album Game Changer will be out August 26, 2022. That Kind of Life (That Kind of Day) is the new single from the album. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

In a flurry of steel guitar and raucous drum beats, Americana renaissance man Jim Lauderdale kicks off Game Changer—his 35th full-length album—with “That Kind Of Life (That Kind Of Day),” a rollicking ode to what Jim calls “the sentiment and wishes for others to have a good life.” Lauderdale had the instrumental twin guitar/steel hook in his head when he sat down to write “That Kind Of Life.” American Songwriter premiered the track and called it “a message of the times, delivered like only Lauderdale can in a blended Americana fuse.” Fans can listen to “That Kind Of Life (That Kind Of Day)” now and pre-order or pre-save Game Changer ahead of its August 26 release. (Jim Lauderdale, 2022)

In addition to the exciting news of Lauderdale’s new album, he has also just been named a 2022 nominee for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Lauderdale, along with eleven other of his contemporaries, will be celebrated at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala in October where the Class of 2022 Hall of Fame inductees will be announced.

Operating under his own label, Sky Crunch Records, for the first time since 2016, Lauderdale recorded Game Changer at the renowned Blackbird Studios in Nashville, co-producing the release with Jay Weaver and pulling from songs he had written over the last several years. “There’s a mixture on this record of uplifting songs and, at the same time, songs of heartbreak and despair—because that’s part of life as well,” he says. “In the country song world especially, that’s always been part of it. That’s real life.”

At any given time, you are likely to find Jim Lauderdale making music, whether he is laying down a new track in the studio or working through a spontaneous melody at his home in Nashville. If he is not actively crafting new music, he is certainly thinking about it. “It’s a constant challenge to try to keep making better and better records, write better and better songs. I still always feel like I’m a developing artist,” he says. This may be a surprising sentiment from a man who’s won two Grammys, released 34 full-length albums, and taken home the Americana Music Association’s coveted Wagonmaster Award. His forthcoming album Game Changer is convincing evidence that the North Carolina native is only continuing to hone his craft.

Catch Jim Lauderdale on tour:
August 13 – Maggie Valley, NC – Songwriting Camp
August 26 – Nashville, TN – Grand Ole Opry
August 31 – Nashville, TN – 3rd & Lindsley album release show
September 11 – Bristol, VA – Bristol Rhythm and Roots
September 13-17 – Nashville, TN – AmericanaFest
September 24 – Nashville, TN – Tommy Emmanuel’s CMA Theatre
September 25 – Nashville, TN – Tommy Emmanuel’s Guitar Camp
October 7 – Augusta, GA – Summer Series
October 8 – Pelham, TN – Cave Fest @ The Caverns
October 12 – Jacksonville Beach, FL – Blue Jay Listening Room
October 13 – Live Oak, FL – Suwanee Roots Revival 2022
October 21 – Pomeroy, OH – Songwriter Weekend Fur Peace Ranch
November 3 – Los Angeles, CA – Outlaw Country West 2022

 

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