The Watson Twins
It’s no secret that the idea of family is at the root of The Watson Twins’ music. Composed of identical twins Chandra and Leigh Watson, the duo has long captivated listeners with the interplay of their two voices, as well as their uncanny ability to sing in unison as well as in harmony. On the Watsons’ new album Holler, out Friday, that familial core expands to welcome longtime collaborators more closely into the mix, making for their most ambitious record yet.
To produce Holler, the twins tapped Butch Walker, a longtime friend and collaborator who understands their motivations and has an ear tuned to their two voices and the possibilities therein. The trio first entertained the idea of working on an album together when the twins sang backup vocals on Walker’s 2022 album Butch Walker as… Glenn.
“It’s just a really familial setting,” Leigh says of working with Walker. “We were chatting with him about a show that we had coming up at Musicians Corner. We had taken a break during COVID, of course, and Musicians Corner was our first show back after the extensive touring we did in 2018 and 2019. When we decided to do the show, we really wanted to have new music to release.”
The twins turned to a longtime staple of their live set that, somehow, they hadn’t yet recorded: “Two Timin’.” The playful, honky-tonk-inspired piece, which Chandra wrote, had become a fan favorite over the years, so much so that concertgoers would approach the twins after shows to ask where they could find a recorded version of the track.
“Musically, we never really found a home for it,” Leigh explains. “But we always just really loved the song. So we were having this conversation with Butch and we said, ‘We have this song and we really want to record it in a studio where all the musicians can be just recorded live and have that energy, because it’s really hard to capture it. And he just was like, ‘Let’s do it here. I’m here until Monday.’”
It had been six months since the twins had played with their band and they weren’t even sure that all of the players would be able to come together on such short notice, but after 20 minutes and a few text chains, everyone agreed. The time spent recording “Two Timin’” was natural and fun, and left the twins eager to do more.
On 2018’s Duo, Chandra and Leigh first tried their hand at writing songs together, something they’d only done as individuals until that point. They found that the process took a little getting used to, but it was fruitful. The scope of that collaborative approach broadened when they sat down to write what would become Holler, as they co-wrote with producer Jacob Sooter and The Lone Bellow’s Brian Elmquist. Both Chandra and Leigh say the spirit of collaboration shines through the entire LP.
The Watson Twins
“The beauty of this record is that we weren’t striving for perfection,” Chandra says. “We were striving for an actual feeling. We’ve done records before where we’ve been trying to be perfect. Sometimes you take the authenticity and the character out of it because you want it to be crystal clean. But our musical history has brought us to this point of understanding that the imperfections are what make it real.”
The LP’s best moments brim with those special qualities, epitomized in “Two Timin’” but found throughout the album. “Sissy Said” is a rollicking rocker punctuated by nuggets of wisdom, as they sing, “You gotta love your life or you’re gonna be dead.” The anthemic title track, which opens the LP, was written in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It’s anchored by a passionate resolve to remain hopeful and steadfast in the face of rising oppression. And in a turn that’s both nostalgic and reflective of the duo’s forward thinking, the twins recorded a new version of “Southern Manners,” a song that nods to their roots growing up in Louisville, Ky.
At the start of our interview, the Watsons were midway through practicing this new material for a string of tour dates to celebrate the album. Practicing isn’t their favorite part of being artists, but as Chandra quips, “Turns out after you make a record, you have to practice it.”
On Friday, The Watson Twins will play a release party at Riverside Revival. As both sisters live in the Inglewood area, they’re thrilled to play a venue that’s truly on their home turf. They’re also glad to see such a new space open up to artists following the closing of longtime local venues like those at Cannery Row, which offered space to artists small and large.
“We were like, ‘Wait, we can go home after soundcheck?’” Chandra says. “And most of our friends and family live on this side of town, so it just felt right to do it here.”
