Harmonic duo the Watson Twins features identical siblings Chandra and Leigh Watson who fuse elements of rock ‘n’ roll, country, folk and indie-pop into one big amalgamation of sound. The twins were raised in Louisville, Ky., before achieving breakthrough success in Los Angeles. They currently call Nashville home. This week they will twice share the bill with the Wood Brothers at Charleston Music Hall on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9.
No strangers to the stage, the Watson Twins recently told Charleston City Paper they have been immersed in song for as long as they can remember. “We grew up in a music-loving household,” Leigh Watson explained. “There was an amazing record collection around and a real appreciation for music in general.”
Besides getting an early taste of tunes from Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris at home, there was also a lot of external encouragement too.
“Our journey really began in church choir when we were about 8 years old,” Watson said. “Our choir leader noticed that we were already harmonizing together on our own and creating a beautiful blend. So we were recommended for singing lessons, which our mom promptly signed us up for.”
According to Chandra Watson, they were also always paying attention to the powerful female artists of that era. “We watched stuff like the Barbara Mandrell & The Mandrell Sisters show on TV, which even now informs our costume choices and onstage presentation. And because we were children of the ’80s and ’90s, all the girl groups like the Bangles and the Go-Go’s were a constant source of inspiration,” Chandra Watson said.
Later, during their high school years, the pair became proficient at playing acoustic guitars. Much like fellow Kentuckian Will Oldham, the Watson Twins also took cues from the vibrant punk rock scene that existed in Louisville at the time.
According to Leigh Watson, in those days, the sisters were catching loads of impactful shows locally and throughout the region, although they hadn’t yet begun performing publicly themselves.
“We actually went to Bogart’s [music club] in Cincinnati to see Green Day before anyone really knew who they were and ended up meeting them and hanging out and having this insane night,” she recalled.
“Just hanging around the punk and hardcore crowd greatly expanded our vision. We had friends who were also in high school but whose bands were creating lots of original output. So I think it was at that point that we were first bitten by the songwriting bug realizing that we, too, could come up with our own material.”
To that end, the Watsons soon began “messing about at home and relentlessly making music,” Leigh Watson said. “But nothing really clicked until we moved to California after college.”
Musical meandering
In a fortuitous twist of fate, the singing sisters happened to land in an area of Los Angeles called Silver Lake and were again surrounded by a group of overachieving peers. Back then local mainstays included Beck, Jenny Lewis and Elliott Smith.
“In this profession, it’s 50% talent, 25% timing, 25% luck,” Watson estimated. “We ended up making a record with our neighbor Jenny Lewis called Rabbit Fur Coat in 2006. That pushed us into the national spotlight a bit and also opened up some space to make more of our own music.”
That’s when the Elliott Smith connection gave them a boost, albeit indirectly.
“We were super big fans of his music before he kind of blew up. We were all running in the same circles out there,” Chandra Watson said.
“Then,” Leigh Watson added, “after he passed, some of our mutual friends purchased his New Monkey Studio in the Valley. And we got to make our [first full-length] record Fire Songs there, which was a really special experience to be working with Elliott’s personal equipment, in his clubhouse, you know, where he made a lot of his demos.”
After maximizing their time in California, the Watson Twins eventually made their way to Nashville.
Since their arrival in Music City, they have continued to produce a unique blend of genre-bending tunes, most notably, the Butch Walker-produced LP Holler, which arrived earlier this year to widespread acclaim.
While the current roadshow draws heavily from the Holler sessions, the Watson Twins insist that both nights in Charleston will showcase high-energy career-spanning sets.
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