Style: The Watson Twins

Two Is Better Than One

Born in Oklahoma, raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Leigh and Chandra Watson “started” their musical career while singing for their church choir, where the Director told them they were “naturally harmonious with each other.” The “Watson Twins,” and “mirror” identical twin sisters are best friends, entrepreneurs, and musical artists hot on their latest release, “Duo”- their sixth studio album and their first with an entire Nashville team. After both attending the University of Evansville (Chandra majoring in Theatre, Leigh in Art) they were deep in the Silver Lake music scene of the early 2000’s, where they formed their first band, Slydell. Later down the road, and following the parting of ways from Slydell, Chandra and Leigh joined Jenny Lewis’ band and toured with her, in addition to collaborating with many other (well-known) musicians. “We did a lot of back-up singing, and still do! We just love being singers and musicians”. For the Watson Twins, that meant receiving a call from Ce-Lo Green’s manager one day while in the Kroger parking lot, wanting them in NYC for his performance on the Tonight Show (and in complete disbelief, they initially thought it was a prank call).

Eventually, they wanted to start a family, so the decision to move to Nashville was born. A combination of being closer to home (their Mom and Grandma), the city’s deep musical roots, and meeting more and more people from here is what ultimately led them to Nashville in 2013.

Since then, the “Watson Twins” have been taking Music City by storm, slowly and steadily rising.

WHO'S THE OLDEST?

Leigh: I am and as a child I always held this over Chandra’s head “listen to me, I am your older sister” and now that we are adults being the “older sister” isn’t something you want to broadcast! Ha!

Chandra: Leigh by 4 minutes!

SIGNATURE PIECE YOU WEAR/TREASURE

Leigh: My grandmother’s initial ring. Instead of a traditional style she had them engraved in an extra wide gold band. She was always a fashion inspiration, and this ring is a reminder that even though she passed years ago, her spirit is with me.

Chandra: Over the last few years I’ve begun collecting gold charms from different cities I’ve visited. One of my favorites is a “mano cornuto” Leigh gave me. It is an Italian symbol of protection against the evil eye. Our grandmother’s parents were from Northern Italy, so it has sentimental meaning.

YOUR FAVORITE SHOES FOR THE FOLLOWING

Sneakers/Daytime:

Leigh: Converse Chucks Canvas High-top

Chandra: High Top Ecco’s in Black or White

Work:

Leigh: Frye Boots! I love the Billy Short, looks great with a dress or jeans.

Chandra: Dr. Martens and Blundstone boots are my current “Go To”

JEWELRY DESIGNERS/STORES YOU LOVE

Leigh: Scosha, Melissa Joy Manning, Judith Bright, Consider the Wldflwrs

Chandra: Scosha all day every day. Her pieces have just the right amount of refined meets organic.

FAVORITE LOCAL BOUTIQUE(S) FOR

Leigh: Imogene + Willie, Anaconda Vintage, Billy Reid & H.Audrey

Chandra: Whenever I’m looking for something extra special I head to H. Audrey. They always feature designers that are often hard to find here in Nashville and their sale section is on point.

DID YOU HAVE EVERYTHING MATCHING?

Leigh: We had nothing matching until we started singing with Jenny Lewis. When we made the record Rabbit Fur Coat Jenny asked us if we would dress alike for the album artwork. That started our wheels turning and we adopted it for our live show. Whenever we sing back-up vocals for an artist, we do our best to look uniform by dressing alike and synchronizing our movements. Now matching is kind of our thing.

Chandra: When we were born, people gave us lots of matching outfits, so we were often dressed alike for the first few years. Around age 3-4, our mom started letting us pick out what we wanted to wear… so very rarely were we dressed identically. I guess we need to thank our mom for cultivating our individual styles… however, there were undoubtedly some “style fails” over the years! HA!

WHAT WAS THE FIRST INSTRUMENT YOU LEARNED TO PLAY, AND DOES IT HAVE A LARGE PART WITH YOUR MUSIC TODAY

Leigh: Violin when I was in middle school. I moved to guitar in high school and learned enough chords to be able to write music and that’s where it all started. We didn’t really play shows until we were in college and had a band with some other friends.

Chandra: Piano, then cello, then guitar… but from the beginning sis and I sang together, evidently even before we could actually talk we were babbling together.

WHO/ WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BE AN ARTIST?

Leigh: Singing in church and harmonizing for the first time felt like nothing I had ever experienced. I think being a twin, you learn to collaborate daily, and having that collaborative spirit multiplied in a group singing inspired me… People also would talk about how well we blended voices, and it came very naturally and with practice, something we were good at and enjoyed.

Chandra: Our house was always filled with music growing up. Our mom had a vinyl record collection filled with everything from Willie Nelson, The Eagles, Pink Floyd, and The Rolling Stones. She was a music fan and shared that with us, which definitely made an impression.

EARLY BIRD OR NIGHT OWL

Leigh: Night Owl for sure… as a musician, it comes with the territory. We are used to doing our craft after “normal business hours” and late nights are usually when the creative spirit moves for me.

Chandra: Definitely not an early bird, but not a night owl either. I love to ease into the morning with some coffee, reading and exercise then spend the day TCBing and the evening with the family and friends.

YOUR GO-TO WORK ‘UNIFORM’

Leigh: My Outerknown Black jumpsuit.This brand is from professional surfer and world champ, Kelly Slater. It’s sustainable and I love the fabric! This piece is something you can just “throw-on” and it’s an outfit.

Chandra: BLACK! Always works for any occasion, day or night, and a little or A LOT of jewelry with vintage kimono jacket and cowboy boots.

ALWAYS IN YOUR BAG

Leigh: My Swell water bottle… don’t go anywhere without it!

Chandra: Lipstick and Mints

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC?

Leigh: Folk Americana

Chandra: Indie Folk… with a little touch of soul