The Watson Twins: They’re Really Funny…

By Jeannette Madden
Staff Writer

Alternative country/indie folk rock group The Watson Twins, made up of twin sisters Chandra and Leigh Watson, will be opening for Brandi Carlile at the historic Fargo Theatre on August 28.

The sisters have been performing together since they were children but did not go out on their own until they released their debut EP “Southern Manners” in 2006. Since then, they have released two albums under the Vanguard Records label and Leigh was kind enough to speak with me about their newest release, “Talking To You, Talking To Me.”

High Plains Reader: Can you tell me how you all got started singing?

Leigh Watson: Yeah, we grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and we started singing there when we were like 8 or 9 years old, singing in church. We just kind of stuck with it all through our high school years and learned how to play guitar when we were in high school. That led us to learning how to write our own songs and we didn’t really start pursuing music until we moved to California, and that was at the end of 1999? We hooked up with a band named Slydell. We sang backup vocals for them for five years and did three records. It was a really amazing experience. We learned a lot about collaborating and honing our skills as backup vocalists. In 2005 that band broke up and we got a call from our friend, Jenny Lewis, and she asked us to be a part of a solo endeavor she was doing. We started singing with her and that led to the recording of ‘Rabbit Fur Coat’ and that same year we released our first EP as solo artists called ‘Southern Manners.’ You know, after the band Slydell broke up we had started working more on our own music and trying to focus on writing and that sort of thing. It just kind of rolled out from there. We released ‘Southern Manners’ in 2006 and then we signed with Vanguard Records and released ‘Fire Songs’ in 2008 and our record ‘Talking To You, Talking To Me’ just came out this year.

HPR: You talked about moving to L.A. Is there a reason you that you chose to move to
L.A. instead of say, Nashville?

Leigh: You know, it was kind of random. We honestly planned on moving to New York and a few days before we left, the apartment we were going to be renting, they rented it to someone who gave them cash up front. They called us and said, ‘Sorry, some people showed up with cash’ and we were like oh no, what are we going to do? But then our friend from Los Angeles called and said ‘I heard what happened with the apartment and my roommate’s moving out and if you guys want to come out to L.A., you’re more than welcome, so we changed direction. It was kind of like a twist of fate, I guess. We always said that when a door opens we would walk through that door and to be honest, we were just trying it out. Within a year of living there we met so many great bands and like-minded musicians, people who were really excited about making records and that has been what kept us there.

HPR: Do you think you will stay there for awhile? Have you thought about going anywhere else?

Leigh: Our family’s in Kentucky and Nashville’s a great music city, so we talk about that. You know, it’s in the back of our minds. We want to be near our family.

HPR: How’s it been working with Vanguard Records?

Leigh: It’s been great. They’re a label that has a very deep history and we feel really honored to be a part of a long line of musicians that produced music with them. They’re very sort of family-oriented, the label, you know? Everyone’s tight knit and they’re just really great people and that’s hard to find in this industry, people who are honest and have their heart in what they are doing. We feel honored that they took a chance on us because we had just released an EP, and when we released “Fire Songs,” they were excited about it, stood behind it, and that was really cool.

HPR: Have you started your tour with Brandi Carlile yet?

Leigh: Tomorrow we start our tour with Brandi. We’ve been headlining our own tour up to this point. We just finished our headlining tour in Chicago last night and we’re really excited about it because she makes great music and we’ve heard nothing but amazing things and she also has twins in her band so she has to be pretty cool [laughing].
HPR: I talked to Brandi and she is awesome but I was kind of leery because I asked her a question about the twins [Tim/Phil Hanseroth] and I thought I hope she knows what twins I’m asking about. I even said “your twins” to her, not the Watson Twins.

Leigh: [Laughing] We’re going to have to find a way to define the two different sets of twins, which is going to be difficult, well beyond like…well, we’re friends with [musicians] Tegan and Sara and people call them the twins as well. They kind of don’t appreciate that as they like to be called Tegan and Sara but everyone always just calls us the twins, so we’ll see what happens. Maybe hi jinks will ensue.

HPR: I wouldn’t doubt it. Tell me about your writing process.

Leigh: My sister and I write separately and once a song is fully formed then we come together and play the music for each other and then we work on arrangement, production, things like that. Yeah, it’s a separate endeavor. We’ve written a couple of things collaboratively and those have been more for projects that haven’t been record projects, just kind of fun projects. Who knows, maybe that will be the next record.

HPR: I see that “Talking To You, Talking To Me” features somewhat of a different singing style than what you did previously. What’s different?

Leigh: On our previous records we did a lot of singing together and breaking off into two part harmony. The songs were very vocal-heavy and harmonies were sort of the focus. On this one we approached it more like we approached singing backup vocals for other bands, which I don’t know why we hadn’t thought of that before. We sort of took that thing that we’ve been doing for other people for years and used it on our own music, which was a change for us. We approached it was one of us singing the lead and then the two of us backing that person, making it a trio as opposed to just the two of us.

HPR: Tell me about you and your sister.

Leigh: [Laughing] Well, that’s an interesting question. My sister and I, we have a great relationship. We are our biggest supporters, our toughest critics and more than anything I think it’s important to remember that blood is thicker than water and that keeps us together but also we definitely have very much a mutual respect for each other. We can butt heads and walk away from it and not feel like the band is going to break up over it. We have a great understanding of each other and a friend of ours says that that’s the reason that we are best friends…it’s because we laugh at each other’s jokes. So, I guess if that’s what it is, that’s what it is [laughing].

HPR: That’s funny, really cute.

Leigh: Let me just tell you, we are really funny!

HPR: Okay, that will be the caption for the story: The Watson Twins: They’re Really Funny.

Leigh: Exactly! Or, at least they think they are.

HPR: What’s coming up for The Watson Twins?

Leigh: I don’t know. We’re starting to work on material for the new record. We also are really looking forward to maybe doing some more collaborations. We’re hoping to tour out the rest of this year and then start working on the next record.

HPR: Sounds like the future is wide open for you guys.

Leigh: Yeah, it’s great, it’s great. We’ve done a couple things here and there, singing backups for people and that’s something that we still really enjoy doing and that door is always open. If we can squeeze things in we like to diversify our musical experience. I think that’s exciting for training, for growth, for experience.

HPR: What kind of show do you put on? What can Fargo expect from The Watson Twins?

Leigh: It’s half performance, half standup comedy [laughing].

HPR: I love that.

Leigh: There’s definitely going to be some fire juggling [more laughing]. You know, it’s a really fun show. My sister and I love doing covers, we have a couple of new covers, we’re having a blast. Our band is amazing.

HPR: Well then, you should fit right in with Brandi Carlile. She does covers. It’s honoring other people’s music, making them standards. You don’t find too many musicians or bands that are seriously comfortable doing that.

Leigh: Yeah! We love it. We feel like it’s a testament to a great song and as we get older, the music that we loved growing up, it’s important to turn around and share that with the fans and maybe turn them onto something that they’re not aware of. So, look forward to some new covers and it’s a really, really fun show.

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If You Go

What: Brandi Carlile, Watson Twins
Where: Fargo Theatre
When: Sat, Aug 28, 8pm
Info: 701.239.8385