Sara Watkins (CD)

Sara Watkins's self-titled debut, eagerly anticipated by the significant fan base she's built after nearly two decades as fiddle player andvocalist for Grammy Award-winning trio Nickel Creek, boasts an easygoing virtuosity. The youthful Watkins, who joined Nickel Creekwhen she was barely in her teens, displays formidable skill as a multi - instrumentalist, playing the guitar and ukelele as well as the fiddle,and is just as versatile, and breathtakingly mature, as a singer. Watkins incorporates folk, country, gospel, and pop into her 14-song set,produced by former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and recorded in Los Angeles and Nashville. She's joined by a wide range of old friends and longtime heroes, including alt-country duo Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, and Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas; colleagues from the bluegrass world like Tim O' Brien, Punch Brothers ChrisEldridge, Ronnie McCoury, and Rayna Gellert; and Nickel Creek band-mates Chris Thile and Sean Watkins.