Watkins Family Hour Keeps It in the Family — a Very Extended One — in ‘Vol. II’: Album Review
variety.comChris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticThe term “residency” wasn’t always associated with big-bucks Las Vegas bookings designed for pop stars to make a lot of money while staying parked in one place.
And in Los Angeles, it’s still not: That’s thanks to Largo, a smallish theater (and formerly an even smaller nightclub) that rotates famous and semi-famous musicians and comedians through its lineup again and again, with the idea that, if you return after a month or four, you’ll usually see a different show.
Producer, film composer and one-man-band Jon Brion was a weekly presence starting in the ’90s, before that routine became too much for even that prolific a talent to uphold eternally.Bluegrassers-turned-folk-rock-royalty Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins, though, have been able to keep their “Watkins Family Hour” shows going on a more-or-less monthly basis for just over two decades now.
With a warm attitude and a constant, salon-like array of guests, they’ve turned the residency back into something the term actually suggests: In a city that can feel as musically impersonal as L.A., their shows feel like home.
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