Watson Twins bring beauty

For Leigh Watson most everything is beautiful.

It's a word she tosses around quite naturally in conversation using it to describe the home she and her sister share in Los Angeles to the unique experience of live music to the Laurel Canyon country sound that has influenced The Watson Twins' music since they moved west from Kentucky nine years ago.

It seems things are going well for Leigh and her twin sister Chandra.

When we spoke the duo was preparing to hit the road in support of Ben Kweller making a stop at Cat's Cradle Sunday night.

The group's pristine harmonies are something Watson said the group is protective of" but added that she understands the uniquities of the live setting give it its charms — its beauty.

""I try not to be as precious as I used to be about it. I want to nail my performance" but also realize that every show is different and that's the beauty of it. The interaction is different every time and we just live in the fact that we're experiencing something that will never happen again" Watson said.

That attention is apparent on record, as the Watsons' voices meld in harmony, influenced just as much as Crosby, Stills and Nash — California legends — as the hymns they grew up singing in their native Kentucky.

The act of leaving Kentucky still weighs on her mind, Watson said.

There are certain things about the Midwest and the South that are awesome things" and there are some things that I'm not so proud of" she said. There's a balance there and it's something that you obviously take with you.""

Those values are things the Watsons picked up in the church where the girls learned to sing" presumably developing the courage to let their vocals rise alone standing stark against sparse instrumentation.

But even for that seasoning" Watson said without the support of the fellow musicians living in Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood — where the twins have made their home for the last nine years — they may not have been bold enough to expand their sound as they have.

""The beautiful thing about the community that we're a part of is that none of us are really playing the same kind of music" she said.

Everyone was just sort of figuring it out" and now some people have found amazing success and others are still just plugging along. But we help each other out.""

They all exist in the shadows of Laurel Canyon"" the scene in the '70s that put California on the country/folk map. That fact isn't lost on Watson.

""The harmonies and the vocals are what we focus on because that's where we come from" but also the '70s California scene has influenced us as well. That whole Laurel Canyon scene is something we've been turned on to being out here" she said.

To think, they weren't even supposed to go West.

We were supposed to be moving to New York"" but at the last minute we ended up moving to the other side of the country. I told myself I'd give myself a year and then I'm out. And now I've been here nine years. And I'm happy.""

It's that contentment and sense of security that is audible when the Watson Twins sing. And when they speak. They are" after all two sisters who have found success leaving home" all while retaining the charm of a Southern past.



Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.