Nickel Creek fiddler stops at Buskirk Theater

Sara Watkins has always been part of a team.

For the last two decades, she was a part of the Grammy award-winning band Nickel Creek, and she’s gotten used to sharing the stage and fame. Now she said she’s ready to strike out on her own.

Watkins, who will be playing at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, is currently on tour promoting her self-titled debut solo album and will be making a stop in Bloomington at 8 p.m. Friday.

Heavily influenced by her bluegrass roots, Watkins’ album features her skills on the fiddle, as well as the ukulele and the guitar, that fans of Nickel Creek have come to be familiar with. She said she will be showing off each of these skills and more in a largely acoustic set.

“It’s totally different, because for me I loved being part of a team,” she said. “I’ve had to develop certain strengths in areas I never really had to before, and it’s been really great.”

Watkins got her start in music as a child, she said, when her parents took her and her brother to see a band perform live for the first time. She attributed her desire to perform to seeing the band interact, improvise and have fun on stage. 

“Then I started taking lessons with me and my brother and a friend,” she said. “It just kind of tumbleweeded from there.”

Watkins, along with brother Sean and mandolin player Chris Thile, went on to produce five critically acclaimed studio albums and win a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album as members of Nickel Creek before their hiatus in late 2007.

Even with all the success as part of a trio under her belt, Watkins said she was never nervous about losing it when she ventured off on her solo career. In fact, she said she was pretty much counting on it.

“It was a challenge early on,” she said. “But it’s really satisfying, and I’m having a really good time traveling around with a revolving cast of band members and getting to perform these sounds with someone different.”

While she grew up listening to and playing bluegrass, Watkins said her music is influenced by all sorts of sounds. She will be playing songs produced by not only some big-name ers, but also by the likes of former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.

Fans and curious concert-goers will hear a mix of Americana and bluegrass, said Randi Seplow who handles Watkins’ publicity.

Buskirk Marketing Director Maarten Bout said Watkins will be joined on stage by brother and former bandmate Sean, among others,

“Audience members will first hear Chase Coy, the opening act, a very talented, very young songwriter from Greenwood, Ind.,” Bout said. “After that, Sara Watkins will head onstage with her brother Sean, her bass player Sebastian Steinberg and possibly a drummer to play a great set for us.”

Bout said he expects Watkins to be on stage for a little more than an hour, and he said that tickets are selling fast.

Watkins is also no stranger to the Bloomington scene. She said she has played here before as part of Nickel Creek and loves the city.

“I definitely plan on going back to Soma Coffee House and hopefully getting to walk around campus.”

Whether alone or with a group, Watkins said she plans on playing music for the rest of her life.

One of the best parts of performing, she said, is seeing the audience’s reaction.

“Recently, I’ve been really reminded about how crucial an audience is to the show,” Watkins said. “There’s a lot of teamwork there, and when that’s right and the audience is happy with what you’re doing, you can feel it. That’s the best part of being a performer, I think.”