LYNDSI STEPHENS
Staff Writer
The Watson Twins launched a busy year of music-making with a concert at the Getty Center in February. With all their concerts planned and the recording of their second album, 2007 looks to be a busy year for the singing duo.
The singers kicked off the new year with a sold-out show in the Getty Center’s popular, free Friday night concert series. The twins, Leigh and Chandra Watson, are gaining more and more fans, about a year after they began performing on their own. Many fans knew them from working with other artists, including Jenny Lewis. But since their album “Southern Manners” debuted last April, they’ve been making quite a name for themselves.
The two began singing together when they were small children. “We grew up singing in church, and we had some formal training there,” Leigh Watson explained in an interview with The Graphic. “For the most part it was just us growing up singing together, and learning about music through our mom.” During their childhood, country and classical rock was always playing, which probably accounts for how their own music sounds.
“It’s a combination of a lot of things. It’s hard to pinpoint, especially on our record. We wrote somewhere between alt-country and indie and folk music,” Leigh said. This reflects their musical background in Kentucky, as well as their love of indie rock.
Their performing began in choir when the twins were in school. In high school they learned to play guitar, and began writing their own songs. These days, the twins work on the songs separately. “The songs are driven by one of us, and then the other comes in and puts their two cents on it,” Leigh explained. They try to tell a story with their songs. “We try to create a backdrop with the music and a picture with the words,” she added.
The two moved from Kentucky to Los Angeles in 2000, and at first, they really didn’t enjoy it here. They decided to stay for one year and were actually looking forward to leaving at the end of the year. “Now it’s seven or eight years later and we’re still here,” Leigh said. “The city is pretty amazing in the way that it has so many things to offer to people. Whatever you’re looking for is here.”
Their music has taken them even farther than Los Angeles. They have traveled with Jenny Lewis all around the country, as well as Japan and Europe.
But about a year ago, when they were on breaks from touring with Lewis, they began performing by themselves and recorded “Southern Manners.” After spending so much time performing with other artists, “the sounds were really skeletal when we started,” Leigh said. Because music had always been such a big part of their lives, they had always had music as a career in mind. “Last year it sort of got to a point where it was like, we either do it or we don’t.”
Leigh said that being sisters working professionally together has been “one of the best things we could ever ask for. Fortunately we have our entire lives we’ve been working out arguments and getting past disagreements.” There is a feeling of family in their music, because not only are Leigh and Chandra sisters, the other people they perform with are also like family.
The Watson Twins’ music has been featured on the popular TV show “Grey’s Anatomy” and in films for the Sundance Film Festival, giving fans a chance to listen in, and giving those who aren’t as familiar with their music to become addicted. Over the next few weeks, they will be performing in the Los Angeles area. Their schedule can be found at http://thewatsontwins.com.
Leigh Watson had some advice for aspiring musicians. “Especially in L.A., it’s important to just keep doing your craft and also to immerse yourself into a crowd of people who are doing the same thing you’re doing. Try other things. We tried to do as much as we could and I think it has paid off.”
The twins were pleased with “Southern Manners,” and they are going to record a new album this summer. “It’s an exciting time for us,” Leigh said. It is also an exciting time for fans, to follow their career as they record and perform more on their own.
When asked how they had become so successful, Leigh said: “It’s all based on luck. Luck is a combination of things. We got lucky, but we’ve been working really hard and for a long time.”
Luck, hard work, great harmonies, lyrics and guitar make the Watson Twins names to remember.
04-23-2007
