Hello everyone! For this week’s new girl we have the very talented Sara Watkins! If you’ve never heard of her, don’t worry. I just discovered her on Spotify this past year. Sara’s life has always been about music since she was a young girl. Sara, her brother, and a friend started a band called Nickel Creek when she was only eight years old. Sara played the fiddle and was homeschooled so the band could go on tour. Along with Nickel Creek and her solo career, Sara is involved with two other musical acts: I’m With Her and Watkins Family Hour. I’m With Her is a Bluegrass style band of three singer-songwriters (Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan) who came together in 2014 after they had an impromptu show four years earlier. Watkins Family Hour is a duo group of her and her brother that was formed in 2002. They did original and cover songs that they didn’t feel went with the style of Nickel Creek. For this blog post I’ll be focused more on Sara’s solo career. Her first album, Sara Watkins, was released in 2009 and was produced by Led Zeppelin's bassist John Paul Jones. Her other albums included: Sun Midnight Sun (2012), Young In All The Wrong Ways (2016), and Under The Pepper Tree (2021).
Now that you know that Sara is an insanely dedicated musician I can recommend the song, Young In All The Wrong Ways. I remember when I first heard this song. At the intro of the song Sara’s voice is so soft and delicate with an acoustic guitar in the background, but then it quickly changes to a hard rock electric guitar. At first I was very surprised by the sudden change in sound, but soon I was rocking my head along with the beat. This song has so much emotion behind it like anger, sadness, and empowerment. It’s about being in a relationship that was probably strong once, but over time started to realize that they weren’t living in a fairytale. At the chorus the song goes back to how the intro sounded; soft vocals and the instruments are not as noticeable. The sad part of the song is found in this section. Just look at the lyrics: “You were my future but that’s in the past. You’ll get another, and it might last. You remind me of the girl I was when we were young in all the wrong ways.” When Sara sings the last line in the chorus her voice becomes more harsh and the rock sound comes back. You can tell in the song that even though there is sadness, it turned into anger. Another lyric that I love is in the second verse when Sara sings “I’m not riding any longer on the back of your bike. I’ve gone the miles and God knows I’ve got the fight. I’ve gone the miles and God knows I’ve got the fight.” The reason why I love this line so much is because no matter how hard the relationship has been she knows that she’s been through the worst part and can get through it. The final chorus might be my favorite part because Sara adds the lyrics: “For you the only purpose I still serve is to remind you of the man you were. Yes, I remind you of the man you were. When we were young in all the wrong ways.” The lyrics give me chills and if you really listen closely to this part, the electric guitar in the background is amazing.
I hope you take the time to listen to some of Sara’s music, because I really think she is such a talented singer-songwriter. She definitely belongs in the Lydia’s Girls Library.
Author: Lydia MacDavid
Chief Editor: Jacob Tomeny