“There’s a lot of imagination in these lyrics,” Watkins says, “and a lot of beautiful imagery that I think really helps usher in a dreamy part of the day.” She does have another, perhaps rarer genre in mind to describe “Under the Pepper Tree”: It’s an evening album. I do think that because a lot of these songs have been around for a long time, the familiarity might lend itself toward older generations, in that it’s something they recognize and has probably held some place in their life at some point, in a distant memory, if nothing else.” And so I think my only reluctance in calling it a children’s record would be, like, ‘Well, maybe a grownup would like it too!’ But maybe that’s just me talking in terms of ego and hoping that a couple of grownups who I respect would listen to it, even though they don’t have kids. I would be so honored if this record became a part of children’s lives, in a way that they brought with them into their adulthood. But I’ve realized that I wouldn’t have made this record if I wasn’t a mom and I wasn’t experiencing the music of my childhood in a new way, through the life and times of my daughter. I think in other eras of my life, I have thought about children’s records as for children and not for me, if I’m not a child, so that was part of my reluctance in calling it that. “At this point, I embrace it as a children’s record. “I have gone back and forth” on that subject, Watkins admits. So, the inevitable question for any usually grown-up-focused performer who takes on a family-oriented project with broader appeal… would it be ghettoizing it to call it a “children’s record”? The mostly vintage material may have appeal for sixtysomethings as well as, you know, six-somethings. Other tracks on “Under the Pepper Tree” range from “Blue Shadows on the Trail” - which marks Nickel Creek’s first official reunion in the studio for many years - to “The Second Star to the Right” to “Edelweiss” to Nilsson’s “Blanket for a Sail” (which features a harmony vocal by Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith). We came up with our own ways to pay tribute to that original arrangement and orchestration as best we could, because it’s just so gorgeous, and the song needs to have that momentum and those soaring tempos where it pushes and pulls - these qualities that we remember from the original recording that are so in us and our expectation of the song.” I have to really give a lot of credit to (producer) Tyler Chester for his work on this song. His version seemed like a feat of magic to me - but nonetheless, we took it on. “We did our best to pay tribute to to the soaring tempo dynamics and emotional dynamics in the original version with Gene Wilder’s vocal. “What a song, man!” says Watkins, calling in to discuss the album, which comes out March 26 on the New West label (and is up for pre-orders now). For the project’s first preview track, she’s picked “Pure Imagination,” from the film “ WIlly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” Variety has the premiere of the new track and video (below). For 2021, she’s taking a perhaps surprising turn toward children’s music with the forthcoming release of “Under the Pepper Tree,” an album of family-suited classic material that runs the gamut from the Disney catalog to vintage cowboy songs to Rodgers & Hammerstein and Nilsson. With Sara Watkins - of Nickel Creek, I’m With Her and Watkins Family fame - there isn’t any way of knowing… which direction she is going, as Gene Wilder might say.
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