In short
Sara Watkins discusses balancing a demanding creative career with family life, and how her upbringing in bluegrass shaped her approach to collaboration, performance confidence, and parenting.
Guest backgrounds
Sara Watkins is a founding member of Nickel Creek (started when she was eight), a member of the trio I’m With Her, and a solo artist. She has released multiple records and has collaborated with artists including Dolly Parton, John Mayer, and Phoebe Bridgers. She’s won four Grammys (as discussed on the show). She’s also a mom; she and her husband toured while pregnant/with babies.
Key claims
Bluegrass’s communal “circle” culture trains musicians to collaborate like conversation and teamwork. Becoming a parent reduced her stage anxiety and made her focus on bigger things. Music education for kids should be “partake in music” like brushing teeth—helpful even if it’s not their passion.
Notable examples
Nickel Creek starting at pizza-parlor bluegrass jams; a formative tour opening for Jackson Browne while pregnant; her daughter briefly learning fiddle (Suzuki-style didn’t fit), then switching to guitar and busking at Newport Folk for about $120.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOIntroducing Sara Watkins
1:04 to 2:41
Hosts introduce guest musician Sara Watkins and her impressive career.
“Sarah, we start with what we call the brag sheet, which is just getting to know you.”
Early Musical Beginnings
2:41 to 4:49
Sara discusses her early start in music and the dynamics of her band.
“I was translating that from Mandarin as I read it, so forgive me if there were a couple bumps.”
Family Support in Music
4:49 to 7:16
Sara reflects on the supportive role of her family in her musical journey.
“And it's not this thing for, it's not like a superstardom thing.”
The Trio's Journey and Growth
7:16 to 11:00
Discussion about the band’s development and realizing their musical talent.
“Did y 'all ever, as the band was beginning, because you guys are all so good.”
The Communal Nature of Bluegrass
11:00 to 14:00
Exploration of bluegrass culture and its impact on Sara's musicianship.
“And thinking about how it's such a communal genre.”
The Beauty of Musical Collaboration
14:00 to 17:24
Explore how musical collaboration fosters community and joy.
“And, you know, musically, it affords me a lot of more opportunities because there's only so much that people are going to want, like a lead singer who plays fiddle, specifically my songs.”
The Unique Culture of Bluegrass Music
17:24 to 23:06
Discover the unique culture of bluegrass and its community spirit.
“Yeah, you want to play songs, but you want to play songs with people.”
Balancing Parenthood and Performance
23:06 to 28:00
Learn how becoming a parent changes the approach to music performance.
“And I still think a lot about what I'm going to do or say, or how I want something to come across, but it's not the life or death situation that it was.”
Learning from Stage Experiences
28:00 to 30:04
Learn how performing in different band dynamics can enhance musical skills.
“And so we, uh, through that, through singing in Largo, which at the time was this like dinner bar, dinner club bar with a hundred people, I learned how to feel like I learned how to sing there.”
Impressive Moments in Music
31:23 to 36:28
Explore moments of personal achievement and inspiration in a musical career.
“I mean, I feel like we should cut that out.”
Show all 18 chapters
Balancing Music and Parenting
36:29 to 42:00
Discuss the challenges and joys of fostering a child's relationship with music.
“And I can't imagine just what osmotically that experience would be like, you know, much less playing along.”
Episode Discussion
42:00 to 56:00
“I have honestly mixed feelings about that, but I just want them to have music as a thing, as a like, I can't imagine my life without music.”
Navigating Early Success in Bluegrass
56:00 to 58:10
Learn about the initial experiences and challenges faced by young bluegrass artists.
“I had my Nissan Sentra driven out there for$800.”
The Unique Moment in Bluegrass History
58:10 to 1:01:00
Discover the key factors that contributed to the breakthrough of bluegrass music into the mainstream.
“The other benefit that we had besides Oh Brother, We're Out Thou was CMT did play our videos like crazy.”
Meaningful Collaborations and Relationships
1:01:00 to 1:02:50
Explore the deep connections formed through music and collaboration in the bluegrass community.
“And then, you know, we toured all last year and we're going to be touring again this summer.”
Memorable Live Performance Stories
1:02:50 to 1:06:00
Hear about both the best and worst live performance experiences of artists in the industry.
“because it's just been everything to me.”
The Inspiration Behind New Music
1:06:00 to 1:10:01
Understand the personal and artistic inspirations that drive the creation of new songs.
“And it's about when you're a kid, how you absorb these songs.”
Sara Watkins Discusses Her New Live Record
1:10:01 to 1:11:12
Sara shares details about her latest live record and upcoming tour dates.
“Yeah, we just put out a live record from the touring from last year.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:05Jon McLaughlin:Hi, I'm Dave Barnes and I'm Jon McLaughlin and welcome to Dadville. Dadville is a podcast where we talk about life, love and the pursuit of awesome dadding. It's funny thoughts and deep talks. So please enjoy your time here in Dadville and enjoy this episode with Sara Watkins.
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1:09So here we go. So just enjoy. People hate this part because it's just all the amazing things that you've done. Actually, it's not because that would take a bajillion years, by the way. Jason sent over the brag sheet and I was like, Like, this is, we're trying to do this in an hour, man. Plus, I do them in different languages. But just for today, for you, I'm just going to do English. Okay, so today on Dadville, we've got the incredibly talented Sarah Watkins with us. Sarah is one of those musicians who has basically grown up in music. She was a founding member of Nickel Creek, which started when she was a kid and went on to become one of the most influential acoustic groups of the last couple of decades.
1:42Since then, she's continued to evolve in all kinds of directions. She's part of the trio with I'm With Her. She's made her own solo records And she's collaborated with just about everybody From Dolly Parton to John Mayer to Phoebe Bridgers Which is a And we didn't put Jackson Brown I read that which was so cool Which is a pretty wide range Along the way she's picked up a few Grammys How many is it? Three or four? Four Okay so John let's do a quick Grammy count So between all of us How many Grammys is it?
2:08Jon McLaughlin:Yeah we just got those numbers in Okay So between the three of us It's four Four okay yeah That's just keeping that Grammy count up and live We're gonna contribute someday days throughout the episode but yeah right now it's at four we have a real time ticker oh it's fun to make yourself laugh okay uh four grammys been named instrumentalist a year in the americana world and just quietly became one of those artists that other artists look to but what we love about sarah is that she's kept it grounded she's still making music that feels personal and honest even as her life has grown and changed including becoming a mom and navigating all that alongside a creative life sarah welcome to dadville we are super excited thank you so much Yes.
2:47It's a pleasure. I was translating that from Mandarin as I read it, so forgive me if there were a couple bumps. Yeah, you're getting fast. So one of the things I've thought about that I'm so excited about talking about that's so particular to your story is you started so young. How old were you when y 'all started? Not debuted, but when y 'all actually started the band Nickel. I was eight, and Chris was eight, and my brother was 12. And we were just... We grew up in the same part of Southern California, and there was this great little scene focused around a band called Bluegrass, etc., and they played a pizza parlor called That Pizza Place every Saturday night.
3:26It was a weekly thing. And pizza parlors are sort of like, in America, are kind of like Irish pubs in that part of the country, in that part of the world, because it's like a family-friendly place where you can get relatively cheap beer and cheap food and, you know, beer and kids can run around. And we did. And it was just this great, really natural, fluid community of people, like the same, you know, 30 to 70 people probably who would come every week. So they became family friends and the band became family friends. And we started taking lessons from them and they would invite us on a stage to like, like when I was four, I requested Long Black Veil, which is a murder ballad and um everybody's like hey but after this let's check on let's ask some questions with Sarah we love her and no but I requested it from the band John Leader John Moore during one of their breaks and he was like I'll do it but you know you you should sing it and I only did the chorus so he had me sing the chorus and it was just this I say that to to just kind of describe what a thin line there is between audience and band in bluegrass.
4:45And that's one of the beautiful things about it. And I think it really encourages kids to play because everybody can participate. And it's not this thing for, it's not like a superstardom thing. It's just this very low profile music that everybody can enjoy and share. And so we really benefited from that,
5:06Jon McLaughlin:from that culture and got started really young like when you started you said you and chris were eight your brother was 12 right and you guys you know maintained a band for you know you go on to be together for decades did you did those uh the dynamics that i would imagine come with having a brother that's four years older than you and chris did that stay the same like 20 years later Or is it still the same kind of dynamic where he still feels like he's 12 and you guys feel like you're eight year olds? I don't think so. I think, but I think we found our, our, I don't think that's the dynamic. I think it very much is sibling kind of dynamic in that band.
5:53And so we found it's not as simple as like oldest and youngest, but it, there is a dynamic that we've learned to operate in. especially as our teenage years and all of that we grew we literally grew up together even though chris was at that point living two hours away in idyll wild this nearby um mountain town and then eventually when i was 15 and he was 15 his whole family moved to kentucky and we thought like well is this it like is the band over and i should say our parents my parents chris's parents they all really they embrace this thing 100 chris's dad was a bass player of the band And we would go to festivals together and we would drive.
6:34And my mom drove me to fiddle camp when I was 12 and 13 in Nashville from California. That's 24 hours of driving. And then she drove us to Silver Dollar City outside of Branson to play this festival twice in June, around the time I was 11 and 12. And they were just so supportive. And there's not glory in it. It was just as a parent, other than just, I think, seeing your kids, you know, pursue something. And it was just so sacrificial of them. I'm really, really grateful. They just, where they're like, instead of, you know, these big long camping trips, we're just going to go to festivals now. We're going to, you know, dive into this.
7:15And it was incredible for them to support us like that. Did y 'all ever, as the band was beginning, because you guys are all so good. It's not, I mean, it really is a super group. but like was there ever a moment when you all kind of clocked that you're like man this is like a trio de force here uh or we all always kind of you know moving at the same time same levels so you're kind of like oh whatever and then you go because i can't imagine like in your early teenage years you're probably showing up these bluegrass festivals and like you know splitting people's heads in halves at the ages you were or did y 'all know kind of early like man this is everybody's pretty good at what we're doing here i think we had moments of feeling proud of what we were of the band that we were but it was um it was all really measured because we were very aware that you know or as aware of kids really can be that like we didn't want to be a kid's band like we remember saying that all the time and i'm sure you know we were enjoying it in other ways like but we like to think that any special attention we got from being kids playing like fast fiddle We like to think at the time that we were like above it or like really like pursuing something more than just impressing people.
8:32You know, I'm sure that that's a big share of what we were doing. But our teachers early on, John Moore and Dennis Kaplinger would say things like if you can't like people might not know that when you're playing an instrument, it's very much similar to I think to like drawing or any kind of craft. Like you can just kind of buzz right through it and, and skip over some of the details and get the broad strokes impression apart across. But if you really, if you try and do something slowly, it can be a lot harder. And so they would say like, if you can't play this slow, then you can't play it fast.
9:08You don't have control over it slowly, then you're like, okay, you can play it fast and people will clap, but you're not doing it. And that was something that was a very foundational thought in how we practiced and how we tried to get our harmonies right. And we always took ourselves seriously the way that kids do. And, you know, why shouldn't we? We should, you know, take our efforts seriously and apply ourselves. But I remember, like, there was this one time we were playing one of our first ever trio shows without a bass player, without Chris's dad playing bass. It was in Durango, Colorado. And I don't remember exactly what it was.
9:50It might have been at the Opera House there, but it was a little trio show. And I just remember that we had been writing a bunch of material, new songs that sounded really different for us, that were adventurous. And we felt really excited by the music. And that was the first time that I remember thinking, oh, this is a cool band. We're doing something. How old were you then at that show?
10:19Jon McLaughlin:How old were you? I think I was like 14 or 15. So you guys have been doing it for five, six years at that point. Yeah. I mean, yeah. We were listening to a bunch of Counting Crows at that point, too. Yes, you were. And because Sean was, you know, four years older. So he was living the high school dream and bringing home all kinds of music that we hadn't heard. And so we were listening to a bunch of like Toad the Wet Sprocket, Counting Crows, all that stuff. and it was like new melodies like emo lyrics and also lyrics that touched on like bigger world slash worldly topics and we were um we were feeling it and it was it was made a big impression i have a couple questions about just about the bluegrass world as a as an outsider the closest i've ever come to the sort of the bluegrass world i did a songwriter cruise one time this was like 10 years ago and it happened to be on a bluegrass festival like ship it was like the main part of the the cruise was this bluegrass festival and then we were sort of operating in the corner this little songwriter you know there were like 12 of us something like that and so I got to be on this on this cruise ship and at night there would they would be up all hours of the night in like these little circles just everywhere just there would be a circle of 20 people somebody's got a banjo somebody's got a clarinet somebody's got a guitar just playing and jamming and it's it's uh and i was actually thinking about this earlier today i was listening to your tiny desk uh i think it was tiny desk at home it was during covid that you guys did that.
12:09I forgot about that one.
12:10Jon McLaughlin:And thinking about how it's such a communal genre. Like everyone, if you go see a bluegrass show, there's a moment almost in every song where everyone on stage has a voice. They've got the spotlight turns to them for a second and they add their thing. And then the spotlight turns to, dare I say, even the bass player. and then the bass player. I know, I know. And I may be reaching here, but I was doing some gardening in the backyard today. I was listening to that Tiny Desk thing and thinking how communal the bluegrass world seems to be. Do you think that that has... A, were you conscious of that?
12:59Jon McLaughlin:And do you think that that has some sort of effect on you as a human being growing up in that environment. Yeah, talk about that a little bit, if you would. Totally. That's super perceptive about that scene. And it's something I'm incredibly grateful for because it really informs the musician I am, for sure. Right? Because you'll go to these festivals and you'll find yourself in a jam like that. Last night I was in one. My brother had a bunch of players over and there were a bunch of us playing in the backyard. and it's that you just get in a little circle you start playing songs somebody starts oh my god can you imagine the neighbors like honey i'm gonna grill some chicken oh my gosh come outside what is this music what is this music it was it was it was the classic thing where you sit around and someone starts playing a song and everyone kind of plays along maybe you know it maybe you don't but probably pretty familiar it's probably something from this common catalog that a bunch of us have and and then that song's over and someone else suggests a song and names a key and if it's something we don't know you just kind of go over some of the chords and then you all play it together and it's it's a beautiful thing and in this in that world like you you you need to show up you bring a song you don't have to but this is part of the culture right you show up with something and be able to lead it know the chords know the words be able to call out the solos who's the arrangement you know and um also harmonize with other people when it's their turn and accompany them and it's a really uh you know beautiful dance that applies to conversation It applies to teamwork of all kinds and collaboration that we all find ourselves in in the real world.
14:56And, you know, musically, it affords me a lot of more opportunities because there's only so much that people are going to want, like a lead singer who plays fiddle, specifically my songs. but there are way more opportunities to you know put on some like a little string pad behind somebody or sing harmony or um you know or or solo or just kind of like you know stand on the sidelines and cheer somebody on um but i uh i'm very grateful that that was the the example of music that I grew up in.
15:34Jon McLaughlin:Yeah.
15:38Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
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16:49Jon McLaughlin:That's why everything is priced 50 % to 80 % less than similar brands. And honestly, once you order one thing from Quintz, suddenly you're looking at everything else. Bedding, cookware, furniture. Oh my gosh, buy it all. It's become one of those brands that I recommend to people all the time. Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com slash dadville for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's q-u-i-n-c-e dot com slash dadville for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash dadville. you know the thing the thing that is i do feel like is so unique to that genre is that uh which you just enunciated so well is this idea that you're doing it because you love to play music and i think like i can't think of another genre where people would just kind of rock up and be like hey let's just kind of play some songs together you know i mean it's like we're here to either do a rehearsal or we're playing a show or we're writing but bluegrass is so cool that way because people just kind of show up and like, hey, we're here to just play some songs because we want to play some songs right now, which I think is just such a beautiful, it shows the purity, like you're saying, Sarah, about what that genre has is people who just really love to play.
18:02You know? Yeah, you want to play songs, but you want to play songs with people. Yeah. And it's that community that really keeps you there. It's like playing a board game is an important thing to do because it keeps people at the table. Yeah. It keeps you together, you know? And I think that is what songs do. They keep you in the circle. Yeah, that's great. And that's a very valuable place to be, you know, just to stay somewhere. And, you know, through the lulls, through the strategy of whatever game you're playing, but like, you know, staying there to see what happens, what comes out. and measuring the value of that time, not just by the thrills or the dopamine hits, but by the community that develops over time and the relationships that develop through that.
19:01Yeah. There was one of my favorite moments of my early Nashville years was my bass player for forever was a guy named Matt Mangano. Shout out to Mango, but he plays in... Yeah, I know Matt. Yeah, so in his crew, So him playing with me for all those years was fun because I sort of had like, he was in that band with Luke Bulla and Casey Dreesen. And so he would call me and just be like, hey, you want to come check these things out? Wise Child. And I love that you know them. What a great band. But Casey used to do that. You might have even done it at one point, but Red String Shoe Jam or whatever it was.
19:36And it was like this super duper sort of bluegrass poles. and it was at this guy's studio in downtown Nashville. And it was kind of like, they didn't just let anybody come because it was like who's who of bluegrass. I remember one night I could go and I showed up and just in one circle was Brian Sutton. It may have been Bela and then Sam Bush and then like a guy singing. And I thought there are people who would pay numerous thousands of dollars to sit. And that was just one circle. and it was just the coolest experience someone who didn't really, who I don't spend a lot of time in that space and haven't grown up in it just to walk from room to room and hear a different, you know, and then like you said, it was so foreign to me and such a beautiful way to see like they'd end a song and then there'd be kind of a second or two like, okay, well and somebody would be like, oh, how about this and just kind of kick into a song and then everybody was off to the races and I was like what a, it's like you really are sitting at this beautiful place of just creation love it's it's it's like a um venn diagram of everything you love about music in one place you know like creation ingenuity creativity but also tradition and bravery and vulnerability it's all these things you know and then just the enjoyment of the entertainment of it yeah you know these guys are in girls that were there it was just incredible but for me again it was so cool to see that because you know having done this whatever i have 30 years i'm still like that's not a normal thing for me you know it's not like i bop over to john's house every now and then he'll be playing piano but you know it's not like hey come over and let's you know let's play some like
21:15Jon McLaughlin:i feel like you dave you and i have been in the like singer songwriter world and i grew up in the classical world and neither of those i mean what i love about the bluegrass world what i observe about it and what you just described dave is is that embracing of the like i don't know who knows yeah yeah let's all go together and see what happens there's not like i've i have this polished thing that i'm gonna present you know nervously and like yeah it's like let's just see what happens for the love of the way it sounds when we play together you know well i mean it can get intense i mean yes that's that is that is that's what i experienced last night at the jam i was at it can turn into fight club i mean i don't i wouldn't call it dark side but like we take this very seriously it is not just like the solo that you play you are you want it to be something that makes everybody react and you want it to be um you know you don't want to be embarrassed because you've done this your whole like you've practiced a lot and you want to do a good job and you want to support everybody you want to do the thing and um and so it it is there's there is a love of life and at this point also like a jam session is very low stakes yeah yeah usually yeah i'm depending on who's in the circle like if i'm playing if i'm in a circle with brian sutton and sam bush and bailiff i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna consider what i'm about to play in a slightly more focused and intense and like jump off this cliff kind of way than I did at the jam I was at last night with you know a bunch of LA homies and so I think um you do you you we do care a lot and we do uh but but there I think that has a lot to do with um not to be too topical here but uh when I had my daughter when i became a mom i became a lot less nervous about those moments like those high-stake moments did they're just they're like 10 notches down because who cares isn't that great feature of becoming a parent is that it really yeah yeah and i remember distinctly noticing it i was on tour with i'm with her um my trio with sarah jerose and ifa o'donovan and um ifa and i became moms seven weeks apart we were able to tour with our babies with a nanny on the road it was idyllic and crazy and amazing and um i remember early on in that process uh my daughter was three months old and hers her daughter was seven weeks younger um and like the second show, I remember my, like, just not worrying about what I was going to say on stage and also not, just not sweating the small stuff in a way that I had never experienced and that I found really freeing.
24:26And I have also found that it has made me, I think, a much better performer because I'm focusing on things, bigger things that matter a little bit more and letting the small things that I would might've gotten hung up on just kind of float by. I still very much care. And I still think a lot about what I'm going to do or say, or how I want something to come across, but it's not the life or death situation that it was.
24:55Jon McLaughlin:Yeah. Yeah. That's one of the things John and I were prepping for this. We do a six hour prep for every episode. And one of the things that we talked about, six hours and seven minutes. Well, we just started over. I'm assuming you put that time to work. We did. We did. I just picked up the fiddle for the first time, just as a sort of appropriate. But something that's so particular, I think, to your career is that you've always, it seems like between people you've played with or for and in your own bands, your solo act, but I'm with her, like you put yourself around these incredible, incredibly talented people, which is such a cool thing.
25:34how do you um how have you learned to navigate that in those different iterations of bands or playing for people like how because i can't imagine uh that the same rules work all the time because obviously with nickel creek probably looks like one thing and then with i'm with her it's another but i would imagine you have to be really good at knowing how to traverse all of those different things like there's a lot of languages you speak there yeah every band is different yeah um i really love that um each project i love noticing how each project helps the next um i also like in doing solo records like i've often said early on like when um my brother and i also a big part of my musical life is the watkins family hour which is a monthly residency that we've had in los angeles for like 20 literally 23 years and we do it in between tours yeah yeah yeah i've been it's a largo we've we've we've done like little tours oh really yeah it's awesome um we've done little tours here and here and there you know around a record but but mostly it's just this residency in la and that uh that specific gig has informed so many of so much of the rest of my musical life and personal life.
27:01So many friends have come through that gig. But when we were doing Nickel Creek, that was the only band that I was in until I was 20 or so when we started doing this family hour residency, which we didn't even consider a band. It was just a gig. It was basically a bar gig where Sean and I play a bunch of bluegrass songs that LA people didn't know and were very impressed by. like we were just straight up ripping up skags and rice sorry ripping off skags and rice yeah and la bunch of hollywood people be like this is insane oh brother where art thou what and um but we were also just playing songs that we loved yeah and that we knew inside and out because we grew up with it so like singing linda ronstadt and dolly parton and jackson five and all this stuff and i did not know how to do anything other than nickel creek at that point aside from like sitting in on a song like i didn't know how to lead a show sean and i didn't know how to do a show as the two of us yeah because we had never done that before and we didn't know a lot of stuff we'd never just done this thing on stage in this format and it's very different if you change one person add or remove a person or in every band it's it's a totally different dynamic and you kind of have to find your way especially when there's no distinct leader.
28:19And so we, uh, through that, through singing in Largo, which at the time was this like dinner bar, dinner club bar with a hundred people, I learned how to feel like I learned how to sing there. I feel like I learned how, uh, what kind of songs I want to sing. I learned, I learned, you know, like another, another addition of how to collaborate with people this time with musicians who don't know anything about bluegrass. And that made me a better side person so that if I go on tour supporting another band, I can do that. And that those gigs helped me be a better front person because I see how that dynamic is from the sidelines.
29:05Like as I'm playing fiddle in a band, I get to see how that front person treats their audience, how they interact, like what resonates with me, what, you know, if there's anything that I would do differently, how I would do it. And I see how people treat their crew, how they treat their band, you know, like things that are amazing examples, things that are like things I don't want to do. And it's a very interesting thing to get to have these different perspectives. And then I get to apply that to my solo shows. And then I get to apply being a great, not a great, but being a stronger front person than I was before.
29:44Jon McLaughlin:Yeah. I get to apply that to being a teammate in Nickel Creek or I'm with her and be a stronger bandmate because I can bring this, this, this new muscle to the band and all of that stuff just keeps cycling around and, and everything helps everything. Yeah. That's great. Hi friends. It's Annie F Downs here. And I am so beyond excited to share with you that I have a brand new TV show called I Gotta Ask that begins airing Thursday, May 28th on The Wonder Project, which you can find through your Amazon Prime video app. You may have heard of The Wonder Project because they're the ones who brought you the House of David.
30:26And I am so honored and honestly have zero chill that I get to partner with them to make this dream come true. I love how Wonder Project is not only creating great original TV and movies that audiences can experience together, but also curating content via their subscription on Prime Video filled with meaningful stories. The first two episodes of my talk show, I Gotta Ask, premiere on May 28th, followed by two episodes each on June 4th and June 11th. In every episode, I sit down with a group of friends, some experts in their fields and some thought leaders, some just my real life people. And we talk about things like, why is dating so hard in 2026?
31:07Or how do I build a business? What do I do with fear and anxiety? And so many more questions that I just had to ask. I cannot wait to hear what you think. You can subscribe today at igottaask.com.
31:22Jon McLaughlin:So on that note, I've never asked anybody this question before. I was at the dentist yesterday. Okay. This will be your question. Hot tea, hot scoop. I mean, I feel like we should cut that out. That sets it up way too much. When you started, I was at the dentist. I was like, oh, this took a left hand turn real quick. Yeah, this is a twist. This is going to be really awesome. I was at the dentist. But I was at the dentist yesterday, and the woman who was cleaning my teeth, we were chatting, and she's, I don't know how old she is. You know, I'm guessing she's in her 50s, maybe. and she was talking about how she gets up.
32:02Jon McLaughlin:She got a new dog. And so she has to get up at 5 a.m. and take this dog for a run. And she's like, this is new for me, but I work early and all of a sudden, I'm getting up at 5 a.m. and I'm running with my dog. And she said, she was like, I'm my most impressive self right now. She's like, I'm the most impressive version of myself right now. Which I loved that she said that, you know. And so my question to you is, what is that moment for you when you were like, I think I'm my most impressive self right now?
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32:45Well, it's depressing if it's not this moment, right? Because it's like the lead had already peaked.
32:51Jon McLaughlin:It was 19.
32:54Jon McLaughlin:Let me rephrase it. Let me rephrase it. It doesn't have to be the most impressive. I think what I loved about her saying this at the dentist's office is that often is not something that we allow ourselves to feel, you know, which is why I love that she not only she felt it, but she said it. And it was not in a bragging kind of arrogant way at all. It was just in a sort of like celebratory way. Realization. So not the most impressive, but what's a moment where you felt that? The first thing that came to my head was when I got to be, when I got to open for and be in Jackson Brown's band on tour.
33:42When it was, I was pregnant when that happened. It was 2016, I think. Well, there were several tours that I got to be on, but they were all around 2016 and 17, I guess. And I loved that tour. It was one of those examples where I get to just be a side person. But I'm hearing these songs every night. You know, he was doing these shows where Sean and I were both on this tour with our friend Tyler Chester. We would open the show and then be in his band all night. And we didn't know what the set list would be. He would maybe start with a couple songs by himself. We would probably end with one or two common songs.
34:34But the whole center part of the set was, he was just calling audibles. Really? Because the audience would just be yelling requests at him. which sometimes it seemed like he liked it and other times it felt aggressive yeah I learned a lot and of the things that he was willing to play and and then he would occasionally try things that we didn't know and he was fine with the natural way that people would kind of fall in, fall out but But he would play, like, I remember there was this, like, four dancer that he would do. And I just remember, like, it was a long time before I would feel like playing.
35:24And so I would just kind of sit on the ground on the stage and listen to these songs. A lot of his songs have, they're sort of, like, through composed where, you know, each verse will be different. the bridge, there'll be a bridge, there'll be more verses, another bridge, and then a new part at the end. And they really develop lyrically and musically. And if there was a song that I wasn't supposed to play on, I would just walk off and sit on the side of the stage and listen. And so these lyrics would just sink in. And so many times I would just be sitting on the side of the stage hearing the third verse of something, you know, like for the first time.
36:08and putting together, you know, the connection between this first verse lyric and where he was bringing it in the end. And, you know, after weeks on tour, I would be doing these things. And I remember feeling like that was a very, very cool moment in my life. And not for nothing, I'm really happy with things right now. Like, I have a healthy family. I'm learning how to adult in ways that I have not learned how to adult yet
36:41Jon McLaughlin:You're finding plants in trash cans I mean it's just Guys It's really coming around Just like you dreamed in a lot of ways I can't imagine with a tour like that especially I mean to me it would be just such a tutorial I mean, you're sitting with one of the masters every night hearing his catalog. And I can't imagine just what osmotically that experience would be like, you know, much less playing along. You know, just to sit there and hear these songs. I mean, one of the kind of the architects of the singer-songwriter world, you know, would be unbelievable, you know? Yeah, it really was. It was a really special experience.
37:32And yeah, I'll never forget it.
37:37He's just such a presence in Los Angeles too. He goes to shows, sits in the audience. He loves seeing new songwriters come up. He'll talk to you about your songs. Wow. He'll do family hours. and he likes to say that we'll just tell him what to sing, like a sign, like, hey, learn this Levin Brothers song. It's only happened a couple of times, but he'll say, like, you know, what do you want me to play? And then he'll learn stuff and he'll just kind of participate and hang. And he's such a great example of how to be involved in, you know, and as someone who's had so many stages of career and he's um he's put out so many records and he's still present and engaged in the community and that's the dream that's it yeah what what yeah it's really something to aspire to yes yeah perfectly said okay so you kind of spoke to you know you talked about your daughter earlier and uh which i love because one of the things i wanted to ask was about your relationship to music which i thought you already did in such a beautiful way and and uh i think a lot of parents that are artists feel that where you're just like man this isn't the main thing and and you know as you're talking i was thinking i know for me it just felt like um where my career carried a lot of weight you know it was like it was something you just put a lot of time into a lot of your identity into you start having kids and all of a sudden that weight really shifts and then music can just be this wonderful thing again and it doesn't feel not that it doesn't carry weight but it doesn't like it used to and and uh and i I love that you said that.
39:21Question I had, I mean, this is kind of an obvious question, but I want to ask it. Like how, when you think about your daughter, how do you, because you started so young. I mean, you were, you know, rocking the mic at four, as we've learned with the dark, depressing songs. You were emo before that was even cool is what we're learning. Like how do you think, knowing your experience and your daughter, like is that something where, because I think I saw where she's taken or she took guitar at some point. And, you know, is that something where you're like, look, this has been so important to me. I really want you to do it.
39:57Is it like, hey, you figure it out or is it a mix? I mean, just knowing what you're knowing as a mom, how are you bringing that into a relationship with her? Well, she already quit fiddle. So...
40:11Jon McLaughlin:Okay, run us through sort of the arc of that. What a great way to start that answer. It was a very short arc. it started with her saying like i think i want to play fiddle and i was like great and i did all i was like went to the store right rented the violin found the teacher like two weeks later she's in a class with this teacher who's really great but a different style of relationship with the instrument like suzuki yeah um sometimes there can be a lot of uh great foundational work on on form and and not um and i think it did not you might spend like months before putting the bow on the string you're just working on technique and all that and um that can be really good for some kids but my kid is used to having instruments around that that anyone can pick up and play and strum and it think it was a it didn't relate to her so um that was short-lived but And it turns out she didn't really want to do it.
41:12She just like mentioned it and I jumped in. But at some point I realized like, you know, regardless of if she, you know, leads the way or not, I think it's important to play an instrument, just like it's important to learn your time stables. and it's important to learn how to cook a meal and it's important. It's good for brain development. It makes you a well-rounded person. You should know how to, you know, how to, I think it's helpful. A helpful way to listen to music is to partake in music. Wow, I love that. And it'll make you a better audience member if you learn a little bit about it. Love that, love that.
41:55um and it's good for your brain so we do it because it's good for our brain even when it's not the thing that we are inspired to do and um so much of our life we can do out of inspiration but there's some stuff that we just do and so i'm like there's you know it's not it's something she doesn't always want to do but we don't always want to brush our teeth either and that's good for us so here we go so what is the and i don't expect her to be a performer or anything it's it's truly just like another class subject in school yeah so she's playing guitar now yeah that's the that's the instrument and what what's the what is the daily great teacher sort
42:41Jon McLaughlin:of schedule look like because this is something i think about a lot with my two girls and piano And I want them, I really, really want them, I don't care if they want to do music as a profession. I have honestly mixed feelings about that, but I just want them to have music as a thing, as a like, I can't imagine my life without music. So I just want them to have that. And I haven't signed them up for lessons yet. I also at the same time swore that I would not be their teacher and so we've kind of been in this middle ground where I show them how to play something that when they ask me when they're like I like this song how do I play it I'll show them things like that but I've been scared to get them signed up for lessons because I'm afraid that's when it'll all fall apart and they'll be like no it's on the calendar I don't want to do it even though I agree with what you're saying it's like sometimes we don't want to brush our teeth you gotta brush you gotta know how to you know have yeah i mean there's i i don't think there's any there's no no um one way to to approach this um but i think for our family it it made sense just to do either like a weekly lesson great teacher who teaches sheet sheet music and also um learning individual notes as well as chords singing along with it and um and notes and just like you know basic basic uh music function and she can choose songs so like she wanted to learn a song from hadestown this musical because she was into it so the teacher learned how to teach it to her and it was great and you know mostly there's we just work out of a book and do the stuff that we have to that we're supposed to do and sometimes it takes 10 minutes and sometimes it takes 30 but um uh she's when she did a little busking at the newport folk festival really yeah and raked it in guys like i can't you know that these people at the newport folk festival are carrying around like only 20s and fifties.
45:02So they, she and her friend raked in like, Oh, like$120 to split. And, um, and that, that was an interesting moment for her because she was like, Oh, okay. Interesting. So bringing joy to people was not the motivator, but, um, busking this, now we're talking. Yeah. That, So with her, I'm so curious. I love asking professional musicians and artists this. Music that you listen to, do you find that when y 'all are driving to school or driving wherever together, do you feel or have a passion for sort of like, okay, honey, check this out. This is a thing. And then I guess, have you seen her gravitate toward a certain type of music?
45:55Well, right now, she's a big musicals kid. and when she goes when she goes in she goes deep so um so we're in our hamilton face right now um but yeah there there are these songs we you know we have our little playlist uh or that she'll add things to um and uh one interesting thing is i was part of a neil young tribute show and one of the songs that i was playing along with was ohio uh but it was katie cruitt's version and i haven't told this to katie yet but um what a singer by the way sam really loved she loved specifically that version of ohio so she'll just sing you know four dead in ohio like uh and she she sings along you know uh in the back seat and that that is a song that she calls for more than more than the average if we're following uh i know we're right in your lives we're really there's a young sarah that wants to sing don't think i didn't notice then yeah is there music like if you have a like what are the couple of records that um that you're like you know either when she got to the age you're like all right now it's time to finally listen to this do you did you have like a couple of those you're like it is so important that at some point even if it's in the background i want you to hear this album or these couple of albums or this artist or artists yeah well i mean there's there's um i keep i keep finding that like like it's it's been really nice yeah that's great to think about to to like revisit these like paul simon and like uh linda ronstadt was a really big one for me um the mcgarigle sisters like these they're these great you know beautiful old folk records that i internalized to the point that i you know i might not ever listen to them again yeah yeah because i just feel like i know um not necessarily even those artists but you know um but some classic classic records um and
48:11And I find myself kind of, you know, thinking about them, being like, oh, right, she needs to hear this record that, or like this, golly, I'm just like blanking right now. But, you know, she needs to hear this like Roy Orbison record or this whatever record that I want to have least played for her. and um to counteract some of the other crap that she do you feel an onus with like blue that way i have been uh i kind of have been um regretting that i didn't brainwash her more thoroughly into bluegrass yeah i thought i think i thought the brainwashing phase would last a little longer and it really just it's quick you won't you don't have you don't have as much You really don't.
49:03That's so true. You have to really indoctrinate them. It is so true. You've got to start early. It's amazing how quickly. I've never heard someone say that articulately, but the window is so short. Like when you can actually be like, this is what they're listening to, and they're like, this is cool, to when suddenly they have an opinion is so small. Yeah, like where they're actually, the age where she started really ingesting things and then rejecting them was very small.
49:35yeah she's like crossing her arms like mom i'm not into this you're like well i find yeah anecdotally can we can we like you know do a song swap oh yeah each choose a song oh i like that move that's a pro move it's it's fun yeah that's her way of getting out of it but yeah i'm a i'm a big um i'm a i can only do that for so long i can only if it's not being if it's not a thoughtfully pure procured playlist of people taking turns playing songs it's really hard for me to just bounce around and ricochet and i get exhausted yeah i would much rather listen to um a full album of something that's that i'm not into then like wow a bounce between three different people's taste for you know 30 minutes it's a lot it's a lot that we we the struggle when we get in the car i mean it's i love it i love it so much because they love music i feel like that's the one thing i really wanted to make sure that they did is if nothing else that they love it which is great but man it drives me batty when we get in the car to drive to school in the morning and it's like okay dad dad because i've got three and they'll know this this let's do that and i'm like guys i'm gonna and so then i get and then this is the worst and i've had to confess this on this podcast for but i will just be like the other day my son pulled up a song and I was like I can't listen that again and he was like what I was like I can't I can't I love you and that's a great I can't do it again we listened to it this morning twice blame it on my occupation I just can't do it it's too much for me and they've just gotten used to me it's like it's too much it's too much to me time
51:14Jon McLaughlin:you know so I wanted to ask as a mom what would you say your daughter is 8 now so what would you say is the biggest difference like if you you know took a time machine back to 2021 let's say when she's around three what do you think would be the the starkest difference between you five years ago as a mom versus you right now
51:49i don't know i feel like i'm pretty consistent um i don't i really don't know what what the what the difference would be um yeah i i don't think i can answer that question um i may maybe i um i think i've maybe gotten through some of the um lay down the law kind of era where the boundaries are being set and now I'm noticing that like, oh, right. I don't have to be that person as much. I can, I can kind of just like, I can be sillier in certain ways. My husband's very silly. And so I think I have to sometimes be the serious one, which is my default moment. I'm very, I'm a much more serious person in general, but, but it's fun to kind of realize It's like, okay, we don't have any huge behavioral issues right now.
52:53If we can kind of take the foot off that gas pedal and just kind of enjoy this coasting until something shows up.
53:03At which point we lock the doors and we lock the gates and we're like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no. Okay, I have – That's not how this is going. Yeah, that's right. That's right. you're in a trust tree by the way it's a safe space you can say that because we all can relate to it okay one more nerdy question before we get into the speed round which buckle up because it is it's bonanza it's just a bonanza I thought you were going to say buckle up because it is slow well it never is fast by the way just so you feel freedom okay one more nerdy question I meant to ask earlier that I wanted to ask you so with y 'all's self-titled record when it came out to me it felt like I had just moved to Nashville while I graduated from college and I'd just gotten here.
53:49One, everybody that I knew had that record. Like it was amazing to see how everybody liked it. I feel like I listened to that record so many times. I loved it. And I'm just curious as you guys, and again, I meant to ask this earlier, but I didn't want to let it pass. As you guys are in that season, you've made the records coming out. Was there a moment where you were like Where you guys collectively Or even just yourself were like Man this is really like connecting You know in a way that again I don't And you can correct me But in my life I can't think of another Bluegrass record that's done that A brother would be that But you guys were before that And so I think a lot of people would argue You guys might have said Well no We weren't Well we were A band before that But our first record came out alongside it oh it did and allison we were not a part of a brother we're at that but we completely benefited from this huge so it was a part of that okay because allison cross produced our record she was a huge part of a brother and we were mentioned in many articles that as a long as just kind of like that was going well a part of this bluegrass thing and almost like we were a part of it so we we really benefited from the time and place this is a let me explain this explain this because i know they're not the same but i was watching the thing on nirvana and that first track there you know the the first one that was the major label record but i loved hearing um hearing uh them talk about that like it was just pacing it was outpacing them so much that they would book venues and get there and there'd be like two lines around the block for an already sold out show at a 500 person room or something because the record was just so quickly and I know that's a different thing except to say to me it sort of felt like on a smaller version it sort of felt like that with y 'all in the sense that it comes out it's on cmt all the time but it's like it just in nashville it was like everybody knew it every time y 'all came within shooting distance of here I had a million friends driving shows and it just felt like for if you'd seen on paper like it's this you know bluegrass band they're young this record is going to be a monster in that world especially i mean were you guys feeling that you know were you were you kind of clocking like man i mean maybe i i like it's funny to hear you describe it like that because i don't remember it at all like that but i think um we were excited like there was momentum but it was also new to us that yeah we we were also like learning like our first tour bus experience was so funny and laughable and we were just so naive and and we were just kids yeah we were like kids who had done nothing and we except for play music and so i mean we it was very fun but it didn't i was driving this car that um i rented a house with two of my girlfriends in hillsborough village that i never lived in all the time but we were going through town so much that it was way cheaper to rent this room,$900 rent for three bedrooms split three ways.
57:04And I had a car out there and a bike. I had my Nissan Sentra driven out there for$800. And I just had a car in Nashville for like 10 years and all my friends would drive it. Like when I wasn't in town, like my friends would drive it, leave it somewhere. Like, like it was, it was so wild. And at one point, like, I remember like the hubcaps were off and my friend jenny and uh luke bull's sister actually like my friend jenny was like i pulled up to fido one day which was the only coffee shop besides bongo java and um and like you know the hubcaps are off and she was like i love how you're like just driving around in this trashy car i'm like what do you mean this is this is my car like i and she she she at that point was like you guys have like a big record or something and i was like what i don't understand Like, what are you talking about?
57:53This is just a dumb car that I'm driving because I'm in Nashville and this is what I do. And it was, that was a moment where I was aware that there was a perception that was different from my perception. Yes, yes. But I mean, it is all just this like little tiny bluegrass world. The other benefit that we had besides Oh Brother, We're Out Thou was CMT did play our videos like crazy. This guy, Chris, was in charge of it. I wish I could remember his last name, but he was basically single-handedly responsible for our career because he would play our videos all the time. And he was in charge of programming and he was nice and he wanted to do different things.
58:33And it was really, really cool. So we benefited from that. And I remember at one point we had to kind of separate ourselves from the country radio promo because the audience was a different culture where they would come wanting to talk and hear the one song that they knew, which is much more like a radio audience experience. But we weren't used to that. We were used to playing like 300, 400 seat rooms where the audience is quiet. And we took, as I said, ourselves very seriously. We want to be listened to. So these audiences were like clashing and half the audience wanted to listen and half the audience wanted to talk and have a social time.
59:15And so at one point we had to deliberately walk away from any radio obligations. If we did that dance that played the radio thing, we would be having an audience experience that we weren't into just because of the volume of conversation. So we walked away from that at some point and, and it became a really cool, like a very special relationship that we're still amazed that, you know, we did a show, we did a tour two years ago, three years ago for our most recent record Celebrant. And, and talked to a lot of people who, you know, have been listening to us all this time. And it's, it's, it's wild.
1:00:03It's such a privilege. Well, again, I think the thing that at least how I perceived it is it feels like you could put together three young bluegrass players. You could do 100 iterations of that. And I just don't think any of them would have the success that you guys had so quickly. And so I think you guys were just so good. And it was such a cool, weird moment in time that from CMT to y 'all's innate giftedness to Allison to other, It just felt like this really unique moment in music where it was like this genre kind of pokes through into the mainstream. And everybody, again, that I knew really embraced it.
1:00:42It wasn't a, I don't think it was, some of it might have been the novelty. But some of my, you know, sort of like nerdiest music friends loved it to people who just kind of loved music. And it was just fun to see that at that time. and be like how cool this little moment in music where it's like this really gifted group of people doing this music that's not really seen as a broad you know reaching music is doing it you know and it was just fun to sort of from the sidelines go isn't this cool you know i mean playing the rhyme and it's just you know it's so cool to see that you know and like the it gave us it again did i go back to this community because you know the the band that i'm touring in right now like just put the record Wild and Clear and Blew Out.
1:01:26And then, you know, we toured all last year and we're going to be touring again this summer. I'm with her, with Sarah Gerose and Aoife O'Donovan. I met them at festivals around that time too. I met Aoife at the Philadelphia Folk Festival when I was 18 and she was in the Wayfaring Strangers, which is a group out of Boston. And I met Sarah Gerose, she was nine years old and just playing mandolin at this festival at Dripping Springs, Texas. and you know we met her at a like a a little picnic table in the middle of the festival grounds and we would see her over the years that when we went to Texas she would she and her parents Gary and Mary would show up and and she and Chris would would play mandolin together and um and then to see you know become friends with with them over the years um Aoife and I are closer in age so I would see her at parties and then Sarah Drew was just admiring her career and her songwriting and her incredible presence.
1:02:27And then, you know, then become into this band with them and share so much life and so much of our family and worlds with each other in a way that is so rare to do as an adult. you know, find people that you dive so deeply in with and have this other familial experience. It's an incredible privilege. And I mean, all credit to the culture of bluegrass and folk music that invites people to, you know, intertwine their lives and, you know, sing together and play together and come together in an unfussy way and find your commonalities and invite people to, you know, to learn things that are new and grow together that way.
1:03:25because it's just been everything to me. Yeah, so well said.
1:03:31Jon McLaughlin:Okay, it's time, Sarah. It's time. Okay, I'm ready. Here we go. I'm going to kick us off. You performed with a lot, and I know you can't see our script, but LOT is in all caps. That's a lot. That's a lot of amazing artists and musicians. Is there someone that you want to play with that you have not played with, present company included? yeah sorry excluded included yeah don't say us because i know you're gonna shoot that changes everything that changes the answer um is there somebody that i want to play with who i haven't played with yes there are but i um i i wouldn't even know where to start with that list and i almost feel like mentioning them would jinx it um that's what you can truly truly truly the people who i um a lot of the most meaningful collaborations have been with people who are not famous and and not known by anybody you just you know have a incredibly meaningful moment with some random you know trumpeter on stage and yeah and And that's, you know, you can live on that for days.
1:04:44Jon McLaughlin:Yeah. So I would say I would love to be around Mavis Staples more. Oh, man. Yeah. Okay. So I'll put that. And, yeah, and Bonnie, right? Oh, my gosh. She's the goat to me. She's in the, yeah, that's rare air. Okay, we love, this is one of our, this is like a dadville. Is that fast enough for you? You're killing it. You're doing great. usually John's still reading the first question so what is we love asking this question, this is such a selfish question but because you are in our industry too what is your worst live moment and what we mean by that is the disastrous moments on stage that are so great make for great stories I want you to say I've never had one so bad right now you know Dave, I've never had one I don't know what you guys are talking about.
1:05:40Oh, is it hard for you? I think, I mean, there's a moment that I don't remember because it was the first time I ever had moonshine and I literally don't remember it. That's embarrassing for me. I was like, you know, 22 years old at a festival and I don't, it's just, I regret. But yeah, so I'll say that one. did you play or like yeah i was on stage playing and i'm just like i don't know how that song ended yeah not cool which the music is not like it's not like you're getting up there playing three chords yeah yeah yeah that's not no i was just yeah but but i you know i was just really excited to be sure uh in a room full of my favorite people and i have a hard time uh if there's a cup in my hand i have a hard time not just partaking and i just did not know what i was doing i think i was older than 22 because i didn't really start drinking until a little bit later but
1:06:45Jon McLaughlin:um yeah that would be it no okay uh best best live moment which i'm sure it's impossible to pick but is there a standout moment uh the thing that's coming to mind right now there are many standout moments the thing i'm going to say right now was is is when we were at the telluride bluegrass festival last june i'm with her we were playing a song called wild and clear and blue which is uh largely it was the first thing we wrote for this last record and it was largely inspired um by um the passing of nancy griffith and john prine um and but specifically not by their passing but by their music that affected us.
1:07:33And it's about when you're a kid, how you absorb these songs. And we wanted the song to be very literal and like, you know, the windshield wipers, the way it hits the music that everybody, you know, kind of finds these beautiful serendipitous moments. And we were at Telluride, our parents were there, which like makes us cry anyway. And then we're singing this song about growing up, listening to music with them and asking our parents, like, what lyrics mean and like, what, you know, tell me about this kind of thing.
1:08:09and this dog, Craig Ferguson, who runs that festival, he had his dog running around. And we were singing this last verse about John Prine and it references paradise and these lyrics sinking in. And the dog comes up and he stands in the front of the stage, this big festival stage, and he goes right to the middle and he just stands there and he looks at us and he looks at the audience in this beautiful box canyon surrounded by mountains and he just stands there for like 20 seconds and then finally you know our tour manager beckons him off stage and uh if i was just like that's john prine and it was it was just like it sounds silly to talk about it and and it sounds like just you know cartoonish i'm sure but in the moment it was just this very um this very like um just magical moment of serendipity and connection and uh with our families there at tell you right this you know beautiful magical place it was a very special uh john who we all knew and loved and um it was really special so i'll say that was a great live moment i love that uh okay last question um If you wrote a book on being a mother, what would it be called?
1:09:38Oh, golly.
1:09:53I've never thought about this, Julie. I put out a children's record During the pandemic Full of songs that I grew up with That I love A lot of Disney songs on there Pure Imagination Some cowboy songs And I wrote an instrumental And one vocal on that record And it's called Night Singing So I think I would call it Night Singing Sarah, you're the best Thank you so much for hanging Anything the people need to hear about you guys are doing? I know the record you just said is out. Is there anything? Summer, you said y 'all are touring. Yeah, we just put out a live record from the touring from last year.
1:10:36And we're really, really proud of it. I'm so glad that we found this collection of songs and performances. And we'll be out touring this summer. And then we'll do a bunch of dates with Brandi Carlile in the fall. but mostly it's some other festivals and headlining. And it's going to be really special. I love being in this band. I love touring in this band. And it's a good time. So hopefully we'll see people out there. Well, thank you so much for hanging. This was great. Yeah, we'll see you out there. Thank you, guys. Bye.
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From the publisher
We sat down with 4-time Grammy winner Sara Watkins to solve a problem every professional faces: How do you maintain a 30-year career without burning out or losing your creative edge? From founding Nickel Creek at age eight to touring with icons like Jackson Browne, Sara has mastered the "communal dance" of longevity.
In this session, we tackle the high-stakes pressure of performance anxiety. Sara reveals the counterintuitive secret that transformed her art: how motherhood taught her to stop "sweating the small stuff," making her a more fearless performer. We break down her blueprint for navigating complex team dynamics, the power of "side-person" leadership, and why she treats music as an essential life skill—like math or cooking—to avoid the traps of forced practice. If you’re struggling to balance ego with collaborative success, Sara’s "osmotic" approach to learning will revolutionize your workflow. This is your masterclass in staying grounded while scaling your talent.
Check out Sara here: https://www.sarawatkins.com/
Join us: http://dadville.substack.com
All Things Dave: https://www.davebarnes.com
All Things Jon: https://www.jonmcl.com
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