Sara Watkins (born 1981) is the fiddler and singer of Nickel Creek, the band she formed at age eight with her brother Sean Watkins and mandolin player Chris Thile in 1989. She has won four Grammy Awards with Nickel Creek and I’m With Her, released four solo albums, and plays in the Watkins Family Hour with her brother.
Why Watkins matters
Watkins showed young players that a bluegrass fiddler could front a band, write songs, and sing lead without giving up the fiddle. Nickel Creek’s 2000 album, produced by Alison Krauss, went platinum and put a fiddle solo in front of listeners who had never heard one. Her fiddle parts serve the song first.
Life and career
Watkins was born on June 8, 1981, and grew up in Vista, California. She took lessons from fiddler Dennis Caplinger and came up in the Southern California bluegrass scene. Nickel Creek formed in 1989 at That Pizza Place in Carlsbad, with Sara on fiddle, Sean and Chris Thile on mandolin, and Chris’s father Scott Thile on bass. Sara was eight. The kids were homeschooled so the band could tour bluegrass festivals through the 1990s.
Nickel Creek recorded Little Cowpoke (1993) and Here to There (1997) before signing with Sugar Hill. Alison Krauss produced Nickel Creek (2000), which went platinum, and This Side (2002), which won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2003. The IBMA named the band Emerging Artist of the Year in 2000 and Instrumental Group of the Year in 2001. Why Should the Fire Die? followed in 2005, and the band went on hiatus after a farewell tour in 2007.
Watkins signed with Nonesuch in 2008. Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones produced her debut, Sara Watkins (2009). She released Sun Midnight Sun (2012), Young in All the Wrong Ways (2016), and Under the Pepper Tree (2021). Nickel Creek returned in 2014 with A Dotted Line and released Celebrants in 2023.
In 2015 Watkins toured with Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan. The trio became I’m With Her and released See You Around in 2018 and Wild and Clear and Blue in 2025. Their song Call My Name won the Grammy for Best American Roots Song in 2020. In 2026 the trio won Best Contemporary Folk Album, and Watkins shared a second Best American Roots Song award for Ancient Light. She and Sean have released three albums as the Watkins Family Hour, which began as their regular show at the Largo club in Los Angeles.
Playing style
Watkins plays with a clean, singing tone and little vibrato. Her bowing sits close to the string, and her fills stay short so the vocal has room. On a Nickel Creek arrangement she often plays a counter line instead of a full solo, and her double stops shade the chord rather than fill it. She learned harmony singing and tight arrangement from the Louvin Brothers and early duo records, and her fiddle parts are written the same way.
When she cuts loose on a fiddle tune, the drive comes from a firm down-bow shuffle rather than speed. She also plays guitar and ukulele and played percussion on tour with the Decemberists in 2011. She holds time hard and lets the singers move around her.
Influences and legacy
Watkins names Alison Krauss, the Louvin Brothers, Strength in Numbers, Del McCoury, Ralph Stanley, and Chris Hillman and the Byrds as influences. Dennis Caplinger was her first fiddle teacher. She credits West Coast players Laurie Lewis, Kathy Kallick, John Reischman, and Scott Nygaard as teachers too. She has recorded with John Mayer, Phoebe Bridgers, and the Killers. Luke Bulla played fiddle beside her in Works Progress Administration. Her path from festival kid to Grammy-winning songwriter is the model for young players who want to play fiddle and write their own songs.
Signature tunes and songs
Long Hot Summer Days The Lighthouse’s Tale When You Come Back Down Smoothie Song Call My Name.
Essential recordings
Nickel Creek (Sugar Hill, 2000) This Side (Sugar Hill, 2002) Sara Watkins (Nonesuch, 2009) Young in All the Wrong Ways (New West, 2016)
Awards and honors
IBMA Emerging Artist of the Year, Nickel Creek (2000) IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year, Nickel Creek (2001) Grammy Award, Best Contemporary Folk Album, This Side, Nickel Creek (2003) Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year (2016) Grammy Award, Best American Roots Song, Call My Name, with Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan (2020) Grammy Award, Best Contemporary Folk Album, Wild and Clear and Blue, I’m With Her (2026) Grammy Award, Best American Roots Song, Ancient Light, with Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan (2026)
Watch and listen
Nickel Creek plays an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. Watch how short Watkins keeps her fiddle parts.
Watkins plays Jefferson for WNRN, so you can hear her bow tone without a band.
What to learn from Watkins
Learn Long Hot Summer Days, the John Hartford song she made her own on her first solo record. The fiddle hook is short, so you can sing and play it at a jam. The technique to steal is her backup. Put on Nickel Creek from 2000 and follow only what the fiddle does behind the vocal. It plays long notes, leaves gaps, and answers the singer instead of talking over her. Most jam fiddlers play too much behind a song. Copy her restraint.
Sources
Sara Watkins, Grammy Awards and nominations, Recording Academy Nickel Creek, IBMA award recipients Sean and Sara Watkins Talk Influences, Nickel Creek, and Virtual Concerts, Bluegrass Today Sara Watkins to Nonesuch, Bluegrass Today Sara Watkins, Wikipedia Nickel Creek, Wikipedia
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more players. Alison Krauss produced Nickel Creek’s first two Sugar Hill albums. Gabe Witcher plays fiddle in Punch Brothers with her former bandmate Chris Thile. Laurie Lewis was one of her West Coast teachers.