Americana duo Watchhouse kicks off new tour at UConn's Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts
The North Carolina band's new album 'Rituals' won't be officially released until over a month after the Connecticut show, so this will be a chance to hear some of the new songs before anyone else does. 'Rituals' is Watchhouse's first album in four years. The band released six albums under the name Mandolin Orange between 2010 and 2019 before changing it to Watchhouse in 2021.
Watchhouse's captivating neo-roots folk sound has earned millions of streams on music sites and prestigious gigs at Red Rocks, South by Southwest, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Newport Folk Festival and Austin City Limits.
Watchhouse is based around the married couple Emily Frantz and Andrew Marlin. Much of the new tour will be done with a full band, but Frantz said the UConn show will be 'just us as a duo.'
'It's been a while ' since Watchhouse has played a college venue, Frantz said, though of course the duo is very popular in college towns. The band's last Connecticut show was at New Haven's College Street Music Hall in 2022. 'We do colleges every now and again,' Frantz said. 'Our last tour was last summer. One thing about it is we have two kids. We travel with them and that's OK.' But it sometimes determines where and how they perform.
Parenthood hasn't affected the Watchhouse songwriting process. 'Andrew loves to write late at night,' Frantz said. 'It's a pretty solitary situation for him.' When the basic song is finished, Frantz takes an active role in how it will sound.
'The arrangement is where I come in. Andrew is the songwriter. I hear the songs as they are progressing, not when they're finished. It's a natural process with the ideas forming subconsciously,' Frantz said.
'I think we'll be playing a lot of the new songs at UConn,' she added. 'There's a lot of playing off between the guitar mandolin and fiddle.'
As for what they're listening to themselves these days, 'I primarily listen to a lot of folk music, from the '60s on,' Frantz said. 'In the last couple of years I've gotten more into Irish music. Andrew's listening is more broad — it could be Pantera or Led Zeppelin.'
Watchhouse plays on April 11 at 8 p.m. at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, 2132 Hillside Road, Storrs. $35-$55. jorgensen.uconn.edu.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass adds Nathaniel Rateliff and more to 25th anniversary lineup
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has added soul-rockers Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, indie songwriter Margaret Glaspy and Cuban funk star Cimafun to the lineup for its 25th anniversary festival. The free, three-day event set for Oct. 3-5 in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park will once again showcase artists far beyond the festival's bluegrass origins. Bluegrass legend Peter Rowan is slated to appear with the Sam Grisman Project to revisit the music of the band Old & In the Way. 'Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is always the great homecoming,' Rowan said. 'Sharing the stage with Sam Grisman and his band of young talented players, infused with the legacy of Old & In the Way, is a real treat.' They join a roster that already features Americana pioneer Lucinda Williams, indie rocker Courtney Barnett, jazz vocalist Samara Joy, jam band the String Cheese Incident and folk trio I'm With Her, among others. 'For our 25th birthday, we're turning the volume all the way up,' said John Caldon, the festival's executive director. 'This year is one big love letter to the music, the fans and the joy that makes Hardly Strictly Bluegrass pure magic.' The milestone celebration includes a Sept. 13 concert at Davies Symphony Hall with Lyle Lovett and the San Francisco Symphony, and a sold-out Oct. 2 tribute to Emmylou Harris at the Masonic. Nighttime 'Out of the Park' shows will also return across Bay Area venues. Organizers will release 'Hardly Strictly Bluegrass at 25: The Big Twang!,' a photography and essay collection featuring contributions from Harris, Steve Earle and others. (The Chronicle reporter of this article contributed interviews to the book.) The festival, a San Francisco tradition since 2001, remains free to the public.
UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
Decision delayed in London flag display charge against Kneecap rapper
1 of 2 | Kneecap performed at the Glastonbury Festival on June 28. Kneecap's Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs as Mo Chara, faces charges in London for displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah. File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo Aug. 20 (UPI) -- The decision about a trial for a member of the rap group Kneecap accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah in London last year has been postponed. Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court Wednesday, BBC reported. He was met by a large crowd of supporters, many with Palestinian flags. Ó hAnnaidh, 27, performs under the stage name Mo Chara. The Belfast musician denies the charge and said the case is "political." He told a crowd of supporters after his court appearance that the case was a distraction from what is happening in Gaza. Prosecutors allege Ó hAnnaidh displayed a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, last November. Ó hAnnaidh has not entered a plea to the charge and is on unconditional bail. Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring will rule Sept. 26 on whether he has jurisdiction to try the case. In court, Ó hAnnaidh sat beside an Irish language interpreter. The court heard three hours of arguments about whether the charge was brought within the six-month time limit. His defense team is seeking to get the case thrown out, citing a technical error in the way the charge against him was brought. Metropolitan police also arrested a man outside the court on suspicion of supporting the Palestine Action group. "A man remains in police custody after being arrested on suspicion of supporting a proscribed terrorist group, Palestine Action, in Marylebone Road, NW1, this morning," a spokesperson for the police said. On July 24, Kneecap was banned by the Hungarian government "for anti-Semitism and glorifying terrorism" for their support of Palestine and criticism of Israel.
Boston Globe
4 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Not a fan of jazz? This Medford festival might change your mind.
Advertisement In the place of bebop and jazz fusion songs – which Linders says are many folks' main association with the genre – guests can expect tunes from between 1900 and the late 1930s, performed by acts like the the Berlin Hall Saturday Night Revue. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up From swing tunes to strumming washboards, the festival presents a sampling of area artists who perform prewar music. Linders discovered these various swing, traditional jazz, and jug band communities upon her move to Medford in 2020. As a Midwestern transplant from St. Louis, she holds a deep appreciation for the blues and traditional jazz – 'what you would hear on the riverboats' cruising along the Mississippi, she says. Advertisement While settling into her new home, Linders soon discovered that similar sounds thrived around Greater Boston. Swing came to life through dance organizations like the JP Jitterbugs and Boston Swing Central, traditional jazz and blues boomed at venues such as the Now, two years later, Linders has broadened the parameters of the festival to incorporate musicians from swing and jug band circles, whose standards sometimes overlap with the catalogs of traditional jazz acts. As a whole, Linders says the festival might be a 'reframe of what jazz is' for folks who aren't already fans of the genre. 'I think a lot of times, an everyday person listening to a bebop band or maybe a fusion band, can't really understand the music, because it's going by so much faster and the chords get more complicated,' she explains. In contrast, the styles on display at the festival have more in common with the blues and folk music, which Linders thinks many guests may find more accessible. For performers like Rahsaan Cruse Jr., those kindred musical roots and inherent call for connection help preserve early jazz's appeal in 2025. Advertisement 'Historically, this music carries the spirit of Black American life — joy, resilience, humor, and truth — and it reminds me that connection has always been at the heart of jazz,' explains Cruse Jr. 'The melodies are clear and soulful, the lyrics have space to breathe, and there's a conversation between the singer and the band that pulls the audience right into the music,' he concludes. 'That buoyant two-beat that slips into swing has a lift and a joy that still feels fresh today.' GIG GUIDE Following June's Green River Festival, Western Massachusetts receives another helping of Americana this weekend at the It's a busy week for anyone checking rock legends off their bucket list, starting with a wallop of hard rock from Advertisement Around the corner not on a farewell tour – with the latest installment of Taylor's virtual summer concert series, a recording of his James Taylor, posing here for a portrait outside of his home in the Berkshires, comes to MGM Music Hall at Fenway on Tuesday and Wednesday. Erin Clark/Globe Staff Following the sudden loss of producer and keyboardist Shaun Martin last August – and subsequent tour postponement – d4vd, performing here during the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, comes to Roadrunner Thursday, Aug. 28. Amy Harris/Amy Harris/Invision/AP NOW SPINNING BIA with Young Miko , Advertisement UMI , Los Angeles singer UMI swerves between backdrops of banjo, boppy piano, and sighing synths on her sophomore record, "people stories." Eric Nguyen The Noisy , 'Grenadine.' Take the sound of Chappell Roan's 'The Subway,' toss in an undercurrent of tasteful trumpet, and you have 'Grenadine,' the breezy new single from The Noisy. The Philadelphia group translate teen memories into bittersweet bedroom pop, which doubles as quite the teaser for their October album. Philly band The Noisy - fronted by Sara Mae Henke - release its new breezy new single "Grenadine" on Friday. Morgan Kelley BONUS TRACK This month, Massachusetts officials are putting homegrown artists on the map. Worcester celebrated hometown rapper will be honored with a public street naming ceremony Victoria Wasylak can be reached at . Follow her on Bluesky @
