When Sara Watkins used to go get pizza with her family on a Saturday night, little did she know it would spark a musical journey leading to I’m With Her’s debut album release on Friday.
The American folk trio, made up of Sara, Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jaroz, release the much anticipated See You Around having completed two dates in the UK last month.
But for Sara it all started at pizza parlours in Southern California where she grew up.
“I got into folk music because I grew up listening to Bluegrass music,” she said.
“For some reason, Bluegrass is always played out in most pizza parlours in the States.
“Pizza parlours are like your English version of your pubs, because it’s totally family friendly.
“Me and my family would be at the pizza parlour every Saturday night, we did this for years.”
Bluegrass is a form of folk music and from there Sara’s music career blossomed.
She joined Aoife and Sarah in forming I’m With Her, with all three having already released material, and this Friday are excited to unleash the debut album, which has seen rave reviews for lead single and title track See You Around.
The inspiration beyond the track is the revolution of relationships that come and go in people’s lives.
All the songs on the album are co-written by the trio and Sara said: “It’s a real joy to compose with Aoife and Sarah.”
The collaboration happened at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival during the summer 2014.
Sara said: “Even though we all come from very different musical cultures, we were all very collaborative anyway.
“From the beginning we had to sometimes lead or support so it felt natural to collaborate.”
The trio have already had two UK performances in January in Glasgow and London at Bush Hall.
Sara said: “Bush Hall was great, it is always exciting at the beginning of tours reading into these songs and figuring out different sequences, you only get this for a short amount of time where you are rediscovering the songs and how to do the shows.
“We are now rehearsing in Nashville before our first performance in Brooklyn for a special instore performance on February 20.”
The band are currently in the middle of a 50-date tour that includes Chicago, Illinois, Washington DC and New York before returning for a European tour which has five UK dates including Union Chapel in Islington on May 17.
