They were singing before they could walk and talk. Identical twins Chandra and Leigh Watson have been harmonizing together since Day One, a lifetime pursuit of perfecting their vocal chops.
That pursuit began in their hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, where they’d get in trouble for singing at the dinner table. They jumped into Louisville’s punk and indie scene, which pushed them into learning guitar and writing songs, ultimately moving to Los Angeles after college. Living in the musically fertile area of Silver Lake, they began recording under the name The Watson Twins. The sisters ultimately ditched L.A. for Nashville, Tennessee, where they could be closer to home while living in a city whose main business is songwriting. They’ve flourished in Music City, owning a private event space while also continuing to write and release music, including 2023’s wonderful indie-roots record “Holler.”
If you go
WHAT: The Watson Twins play electric folk, indie rock and country.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday.
WHERE: Dolores River Brewery, 100 Fourth St., Dolores.
TICKETS/MORE INFORMATION: $25, at www.doloresriverbrewery.com.
The Watson Twins will make their Southwest concert debut next week, when they perform at The Dolores River Brewery in Dolores on Tuesday.
Music has always been their discourse.
“My mom said before we could really talk and form words we were singing together, making noises in our own little language or way. It’s just something that really came to us very naturally. When we were about 8 or 9, we had started going to this church and the choir for the children would put on a little musical production. The choir director had us come up and start singing and we started harmonizing together, and the director was like ‘OK, that’s unusual.’ She pulled my Mom aside and said, ‘I think there’s some natural talent here,’” said Chandra Watson, the younger of the two by four minutes. “It’s something that’s very intuitive for us. We’re obviously the same DNA. It’s a really special bond and it’s one of our true gifts in life.”
L.A. pushed them to pursue music professionally. They formed a friendship with indie-rock singer Jenny Lewis while she was in the rock band Rilo Kiley, who picked up the twins as backup singers on her solo release “Rabbit Fur Coat.”
“She lived a few blocks away and she called us up and said, ‘can I come over and play you some songs?’ She came over with her acoustic guitar and the first thing she played for us was the cut “The Big Guns” and we started doing our gospel harmonies with that and it just clicked,“ Chandra said. ”That was a more significant point in our music career for sure.”
Growing up in a house that “always had music playing,” they were reared on Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris, along with acts like Cat Stevens and Squeeze, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. Those influences carry over to their current sound, a sound on their most recent release that includes big harmonies that dig into a gospel sound, along with subtle honky-tonk country vibes and indie rock, ballads, lounge and cocktail jazz croons, and an old-school parlor music sound that hearkens the harmonizing of The Andrews Sisters. It’s clean, it’s cool, it’s wonderful.
It’s all about the harmonies and singing together.
“We had an article that we wrote that was about collaborating, collaborating since conception basically,” Chandra said. “And the truth is you know, we have been, whether we were in the womb fighting for space or sharing a cookie at 4 years old or whatever, we’ve by necessity had to collaborate our whole life, and for us, that’s where our strengths lie.”
While those harmonies and that vocal and musical collaboration will be front and center at Tuesday’s show, there will also be a lot of sound. This tour will feature their full band of guitar, drums bass and keyboards, offering rock with those harmonies.
“It’s going to be a rocking show,” Chandra said.
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
