Fiddler Watkins finishes solo tour in Bloomington

The roar of the crowd at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater was loud enough to mask the fact that the seats were only a little more than half full.

Sara Watkins, former fiddler of the band Nickel Creek, played to an audience of devoted fans Friday night as part of the final performance of a six-week tour to promote her debut album.

The show opened with a performance by 18-year-old Indiana native Chase Coy.  
Coy, who will release his first studio album next summer, entertained the crowd with original material he put together on the guitar and piano. Most of the songs, he said, were about his relationship with his girlfriend.

“Most of my songs are love songs,” he joked. “Because I’m 18, and let’s be honest, all I think about is girls.”

The young girls in the audience seemed to be thinking about him as well, as they rushed to buy his merchandise soon after the set.

But it wasn’t until the lights dimmed and the blue-and-red glow of the stage lit up the theater for Sara Watkins’ entrance that the crowd really came alive.

Three performers, three microphones and three instruments were the only things in sight as Watkins delivered songs about loving, losing and moving on in an entirely acoustic set.

The crowd clapped and whistled along with Sara Watkins, her brother Sean Watkins and bassist Sebastian Steinberg as they performed a mix of folk and Americana with a tinge of bluegrass thrown in.

In between each song, the performers always seemed to deliver a bit of comic relief.  
“Now it’s time for the warm and milky vocals of my brother Sean,” Sara Watkins said as they prepared for his song for the night.

“Those are two adjectives not normally associated with my voice,” he joked.
“Ok, then. Cold and ... cementy?” Sara Watkins said.

Sara Watkins played fiddle and ukulele throughout her set while also showcasing her vocals.

IU student Dana Wilkinson said she was a longtime fan of Nickel Creek and was excited to see Watkins come back to Bloomington.

“It was a great show, and she really showed that she can definitely stand on her own,” Wilkinson said.

Bloomington resident Michael White echoed that sentiment. White, a self-proclaimed “huge fan” of Nickel Creek and Sara Watkins, said that it was a “sincere, engaging and really comfortable” performance.

After wrapping of up the show with an encore of Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is a Long Time,”

Sara Watkins greeted the audience in the lobby until everyone who wanted to was able to say hello.

Sara Watkins said that the show was fantastic, and she attributed that to the audience.

“The audience has been more and more excited as we’ve gone along,” she said. “This was the last night in a six-week tour, and it made for a really great way to end the tour.”