Sara Watkins’ new record,”Under the Pepper Tree,” is children’s songs for everybody
Hunting material to make a huge creativity, Sara Watkins clearly utilized hers, turning into resources which range from Stephen Foster to Willy Wonka into the Beatles. The enchanting end result is”Under the Pepper Tree,” children’s music for everybody.
A young mum, Watkins conveys innocence, wonder and maternal sweetness because she sings about the skies, the stars, dreams and rainbows — accompaniment for bedtime.
The arrangements are spare but diverse, with Watkins aided by her I’m With Her spouses, Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jarosz; her Nickel Creek spouses, Sean Watkins and Chris Thile; and Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, Amongst Others. The most adorable collaborator is Watkins’ 3-year-old daughter, Sam, to get a magical duet on”Edelweiss.”
Watkins goes Gaelic about the title cut, sings over a slinky bass line on”Moon River,” provides Harry Nilsson’s”Blanket for a Sail” a Hawaiian bounce, also ends twangy on”Tumbling Tumbleweeds” and”Blue Shadows on the Path.”
For those children in the audience she keeps things going, bringing 15 songs in 36 minutes, capped from the Beatles'”Good Night”