Easter Sunday didn’t do any favors for the Watson Twins when they took the stage at the Old Town School of Folk to a crowd that could barely have been 100 people.
But even if the show’s poor holiday attendance meant the Watson Twins couldn’t fill the McCormick Tribune Center Forum, the duo’s stage presence made up for it. Opener Daniel Knox, who looked and sounded like The Hangover’s Zach Galifiankis in a jazz bar, made the room feel like an open mic night. The Watson Twins by comparison looked like rock stars. They made the tiny venue feel grand without losing any intimacy.
Their latest album, Talking to You, Talking to Me, came out in February. The Chicago date was one of the first headlining performances showcasing the Louisville, Kentucky natives’ new material.
“This is kind of a kick off,” Leigh Watson told the crowd. “To have some smiling faces is really nice.”
“We’ve been traveling all day,” Chandra added. “We’ve only been up since 3 a.m.”
Although the identical twins share faces, it’s not hard to tell them apart. Dressed in black jeans, cowboy boots and a purple blouse, Leigh looks younger and has bangs. Chandra, also in black jeans and a red and black floral top, sings lead more often than her sister. Their voices aren’t identical — both sisters are equally talented singers with spot-on harmonies — but Leigh’s voice alternates between being bold and breezy, whereas Chandra is more consistent in tone but just as capable.
Most Northwestern students familiar with the band know them from their stint as back-up singers for Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis, who recruited the twins for her solo folk debut, Rabbit Fur Coat, in 2006. But even though the sisters trade off acoustic guitar duty, their time with Lewis’ support isn’t entirely representative of their musical identity.
For starters, they’re younger and hipper than they seem on Rabbit Fur Coat’s cover. Casually shaking hips and shoulders while the other sings, Leigh and Chandra are finger-snapping foot-tappers — far from the stoic impression they might have given off as Lewis’ support act.
But musically, trying to classify the Watson Twins’ sound is easier said than done. Backed by a four-piece band, the sisters aren’t as folk as you’d think. They manage to straddle the lines between rock, country and soul without tension, and in time, that sound will define them more than their prior collaborations.
The cheerfully upbeat “How Am I To Be,” a set list highlight from their first album Fire Songs, begins with a piano line reminiscent of She & Him, but it turns up the Southern flair faster than you can spell Zooey Deschanel. On Talking to You, Talking to Me, they continue to nail the sound they’ve carved out for themselves, although Chandra said playing new material for new audiences isn’t always easy.
“We’ve just started playing it,” she told the crowd of the new record. “It’s like having a baby. You’re showing it off to people. Some people are like ‘Aw, it’s cute.’ Some people are like, ‘It looks like a baby.’”
“Devil In You,” one of the lead singles off of the album, is bound to get more praise than indifference. A bluesy, piano stomper during the bridge, it’s straightforward country during the chorus. It’s their strongest hook yet, and it’s earned them an appearance on the CBS Saturday Morning Show later this week.
As Leigh handed the guitar over to her sister, making jokes about their upcoming television appearance, the sisters’ personality was also on display. Their informal dialogue is both charming, but also engaging — their set would likely run out of steam earlier were they silent between songs.
Their encore banter also scored them a few points in the adorable department.
“We live in L.A. now,” Chandra said, explaining the origin of the song “Southern Manners.” “When we first moved there, it was very different. I’d smile at people, and they’d be, ‘Crazy person? Homeless?’ I was homesick for a little southern hospitality.”
Chandra may have needed that hospitality, but by the time the twins walked off stage, everybody else — at least the people who showed up — should have gotten their fix.