Sean Watkins Premieres Full Album on Billboard

Courtesy: Missing Piece Group

"Watkins merges a new batch of catchy hooks with engaging but not particularlyheavy lyrics.  It's a natural next step in his musical journey, with stellar acoustic playing by world-class musicians."
- Associated Press
 
Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Sean Watkins has long been known for his work as one-third of the Grammy Award-winning trio Nickel Creek and, more recently, for helming the itinerant and genre-hopping ensemble Watkins Family Hour with his sister Sara.  However, in the last year he has more assertively - and impressively - taken on the role of solo artist.  On March 18th, Sean will releaseWhat To Fear via Thirty Tigers, the follow-up to 2014's acclaimed All I Do Is Lie, which had been his first solo record in nearly a decade.  The entire record can be heard today in advance of its release exclusively on Billboard.

 
LISTEN: Sean Watkins - What To Fear on Billboard:
http://smarturl.it/hddlku
 
"In pulling ourselves away from [Nickel Creek] we really had to figure out who we were as individuals, and that's really important," Watkins told Billboard's Gary Graff.  "It's really easy to lose track of yourself and where you end and someone else begins musically.  It took some time but I've started to feel like myself, musically, with these last couple of records."

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On his own, Watkins displays tremendous warmth and soulfulness as a singer, a refreshing candor and humor as a lyricist, and prodigious skill as an arranger.  With What To Fear, he bolsters an acoustic lineup with a rock rhythm section, bringing drama and drive to these new tracks while keeping intact the emotional intimacy of all the stories he is telling.  Watkins deftly juggles the observational and the autobiographical, convincingly taking on the personalities of others - a stalker, a preacher, a cynical newscaster - and then juxtaposing them with a voice that is clearly his own.  Watkins' singing unites disparate narrative threads; he's disarmingly honest and sympathetic, no matter whom the character he is channeling might be.

What To Fear also includes guest-star turns from pianist Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and bassist Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing).  Having friends and family on board has long been a hallmark of every Watkins project, however What To Fear is all about Sean Watkins himself, front and center, as his songwriting matures and his persona as a solo performer blooms.
 
Unlike most of his peers, Watkins has been a performer for more than 25 years.  He was a mere 12 years old when he played his first gig with Nickel Creek at a San Diego pizza parlor who's star ascended quickly, including a "Best Contemporary Folk Album" Grammy with 2002's This Side.  Since then, Watkins has released three solo efforts as well as albums with Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman as the duo Fiction Family and with fellow guitarist Glen Phillips as Works Progress Administration, an eight-piece band featuring a stellar lineup of fellow L.A. session players.  He's also been regularly invited to record and tour with artists such as Jackson Browne and Lyle Lovett.

Pre-order is available on iTunes.