![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/sara2_t352.jpg\" "\\"sara2_t352\\"")
<\/a>By George Varga<\/a>, POP MUSIC CRITIC<\/cite><\/p>\nNickel Creek veteran Sara Watkins ?doesn\u2019t attract rowdy, alcohol-fueled hecklers at her concerts very often. But when she does, this multiple Grammy Award-winning San Diego<\/a> <\/span>violinist, singer and songwriter knows exactly how to handle the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cI yell out: \u2018Who wants to hear a Johnny Cash<\/a> <\/span>song?\u2019?\u201d Watkins said with a laugh. \u201cGenerally speaking, if you yell out something about Johnny Cash, even people who are drunk will pay attention enough to cheer \u2014 for Johnny Cash.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s unlikely Watkins will encounter any seriously inebriated louts when she performs Saturday at Anthology, where she\u2019ll do an opening set for fellow troubadour Vienna Teng. She returns to San Diego for an Aug. 23 show at Humphrey\u2019s Concerts by the Bay on Shelter Island, where she\u2019ll be co-starring as part of Garrison Keillor\u2019s \u201cA Prarie Home Companion Summer Love Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n But when Watkins was doing a solo tour a few years ago as the opening act for Donavon Frankenreiter, ?she found herself facing an especially inattentive and abrasive crowd one night in Florida<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n The venue was Free Bird Live in Jacksonville. The audience was loudly engaged, but with drinking and carousing, not Watkins\u2019 lilting blend of bluegrass, country, folk, swing and sophisticated pop. The fact she was armed only with a violin, an acoustic guitar, a ukulele and a microphone did not help matters.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the hardest show I ever did,\u201d she recalled. \u201cPeople were staring at me and talking and screaming. I couldn\u2019t hear myself and I actually stopped playing at one point and put my guitar to my ear. But I learned a lot that night \u2014 mainly, that I should have a Johnny Cash song ready to throw out at the crowd.<\/p>\n \u201cI learned a Johnny Cash song the next day, \u2018If the Good Lord\u2019s Willing and the Creek Don\u2019t Rise.\u2019 And I discovered that if I can get people\u2019s attention three times in one night, under those (distracting) circumstances, I\u2019d consider it a success.\u201d<\/p>\n Success has been a near-constant in Watkins\u2019 career since she was a child.<\/p>\n Now 28, she made her first album with Nickel Creek in 1993, when she and the band\u2019s virtuoso mandolinist and singer, Chris Thile<\/a><\/span>, were both 11. Watkins\u2019 brother, singer-guitarist Sean, the third member of the group, was 15. He will probably join her on stage Saturday at Anthology.<\/p>\n In 2007, Nickel Creek became the first band to ever perform back to back at both the Coachella and Stagecoach<\/a> <\/span>festivals in Indio (the former an alt-rock marathon, the latter a country-pop extravaganza). The trio had risen to national prominence soon after its third album, 2000\u2019s self-titled Nickel Creek, the group\u2019s first for a major record label. It was produced by bluegrass queen Alison Krauss<\/a><\/span>, ?the singer and violinist who would go on to tour and record with former Led Zeppelin<\/a> <\/span>singer Robert Plant<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n \u201cA huge thing Alison taught us is that energy and drive are not the primary factors that make an album last longer for listeners,\u201d Watkins said, speaking from the North County home she shares with her husband and their Saint Bernard, Buckley. \u201cWhat\u2019s important isn\u2019t the speed or the licks you play, it\u2019s playing a few notes that you really mean.\u201d<\/p>\n By coincidence, Watkins\u2019 superb solo album, last year\u2019s self-titled \u201cSara Watkins,\u201d was produced by another Led Zeppelin alum, bassist, keyboardist and sometime singer John Paul Jones. He and Watkins had toured together in 2004 as part of Mutual Admiration Society, an all-star band that teamed them with the now-dormant Nickel Creek\u2019s two other members, along with Toad The Wet Sprocket ?main man Glen Phillips<\/a> <\/span>and longtime Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n When it came time to record her overdue solo debut, Jones was only too happy to oblige. He surrounded her with such diverse musical luminaries as Gillian Welch<\/a><\/span>, Tom Petty<\/a> <\/span>& The Heartbreakers\u2019 keyboardist Benmont Tench<\/a> <\/span>and pedal steel guitar master Greg Leisz (whose past credits include Joni Mitchell<\/a><\/span>, k.d. lang ?and Bill Frisell<\/a><\/span>).<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m on a couple of songs on Sara\u2019s album and it\u2019s great,\u201d Tench said from Los Angeles<\/a><\/span>. \u201cI\u2019ve played a lot with her and her brother, Sean, at Largo in Los Angeles, and it\u2019s always a treat.\u201d<\/p>\n An artistic success and a commercial sleeper, \u201cSara Watkins\u201d has fueled several solo tours over the past year by its namesake. But with the economy still down and the record industry reeling, she is now assuming more direct responsibility for various facets of her career.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a bit of an adjustment to go solo after being in Nickel Creek, but I\u2019ve been really fortunate to have had so many experiences to draw from,\u201d Watkins said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main difference this year is that I\u2019ve been tour-managing myself, which means I\u2019m handling a lot more of the details behind putting the show on. I\u2019m advancing all my shows, so I have to talk to the promoters at each venue about back-line (musical equipment), the stage plot, the backstage hospitality area and tour merchandise. I also have to figure out the best hotel options and how far we\u2019ll need to drive between shows. I book everything online.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, typically, it\u2019s getting to the gig that\u2019s the work. Once you\u2019re on stage, it\u2019s fun, because it\u2019s what you love to do.\u201d<\/p>\n As for her national tour in August with \u201cA Prairie Home Companion\u201d mastermind Keillor<\/a><\/span>, Watkins is eager to explore new artistic terrain.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really excited because it\u2019s going to be totally out of my comfort zone,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m going to get to be more of a singer rather than a fiddle player, and focus my energy in a very different way. I\u2019m excited to to see how Garrison crafts his show every night. He\u2019s even asked me to do a couple of my own songs as well.\u201d<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n