Seán Watkins plays guitar with the Platinum-selling, Grammy Award-winning trio Nickel Creek who play the National Concert Hall on Wednesday 30 August as part of the Perspectives series.
The band, which also includes Chris Thile (vocals and mandolin) and Sara Watkins (fiddle) released their latest album Celebrants earlier this year to much acclaim.
Formed in 1989 in Southern California, Nickel Creek broke through in 2000 with a platinum-selling self-titled album produced by Alison Krauss, which earned a number of Grammy Award nominations. Their album This Side won a 2003 Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
We asked Seán for his choice cultural picks
FILM
Doula is a movie I really enjoyed that came out last year. It was written by Will Janowitz and Aaron Shiver and directed by Cheryl Nichols. It’s a quirky and delightful story about an LA couple who carries on after their doula suddenly dies, with her son taking over.
MUSIC
Madison Cunningham is one of my all-time faves! She’s on fire creatively right now and making some of the best music I’ve ever heard. Her writing is incredible, her performances are electrifying and her latest album Revealer is just undeniably great.
BOOK
I’m currently reading The Overstory by Richard Powers and it is blowing my mind. It’s truly some of the most compelling and moving writing I’ve ever come across.
THEATRE
I don’t get to see plays often. It’s a shame. But one fun fact about me (and my sister Sara) is that in 2010 we were a part of a production of Much Ado About Nothing featuring Helen Hunt and Lyle Lovett. Lyle and his songs were interspersed through the play and we were his band. It ran for 3 or 4 weeks at the Kirk Douglas theater in the LA neighborhood of Culver City. So much fun!
TV
Curb Your Enthusiasm, I Think You Should Leave, Schitt’s Creek, Queer Eye, Alone and Stath Lets Flats.
GIG
A few days ago I saw John Mulaney at Largo in Los Angeles. He’s insanely funny. He was trying out new material and it was such a pleasure to get to see it in its raw unpolished (yet still brilliant) form. He’s one of the all-time greats.
ART
Rothko’s paintings were a daily inspiration while we were recording Celebrants. Before recording each song, we (as a band) picked one particular piece of his from a career-spanning book Chris had as our motivation/inspiration.
TECH
Radio Garden is an app that lets you listen to any radio station in the world live by spinning a virtual globe and seeing where the stations are coming from. It’s so cool!
THE NEXT BIG THING...
Bluegrass music.
Nickel Creek play the National Concert Hall on Wednesday 30 August - find out more here.
