No Static by Kellin Watson

After Watson’s 2003 debut album, “Paper Bird,” and her 2005 Live album, Red Flag, came together so “picture perfectly,” it began to feel somewhat discouraging when material for “No Static” seemed to be “coming in drips.”

Watson took to the road for inspiration, spending parts of 2005 and 2006 traveling and absorbing herself in blues, roots and Americana music. Watson and producer Aaron Price began work on her latest release, No Static in October of 2006 at world class recording studio, Echo Mountain in Asheville NC. A who’s who of musicians appears on “No Static,” including Bill Reynolds, Gordie Sampson, Tyler Ramsey, Sarah Dugas and Scott Senior of The Duhks, Mike Rhodes, Matt Smith, River Guerguerian and Ozzy Orengo to name a few. Jenny Greer of Sound Mind Media designed the cover.

She comes by it naturally

Watson’s father, Fox Watson, is an accomplished guitarist and fiddler who toured with Bruce Cockburn and Jerry Jeff Walker and in the late 1970s recorded an album of traditional music on the Smithsonian label. Her mother, Bebe Watson, appears on two tracks of “No Static.”

While music has called her since she was a child and she can’t quite shake the “art thing” eating at her, Kellin Watson sometimes wonders at her decision to be a musician.

“It’s like being born into a really wealthy family or something,” she said, “Where you try to question if becoming a lawyer like your dad was a lawyer is really what your supposed to do or something that wasn’t so obvious.”

She's been rubbing elbows with the right people

Making the decision to record her album at one of the most desirable studios in town, Echo Mountain Recording, was a step in the right direction. After the recording, production and mixing was complete, Watson was given the golden opportunity to have the album mastered at one of the Worlds best mastering facilities, Sterling Sound in NYC. Once the making of the album was finished, Watson began to make valuable friendships and connections with some of the industry's top recording artists. Over the years, Kellin has found herself with more options to explore. Watson has recorded with and shared the stage with Award Winning Canadian Band, The Duhks. She has opened for national acts such as Jessica Simpson, Amos Lee, and Veinna Teng. More recently she caught the attention of Smashing Pumpkins front man, Billy Corgan in Asheville NC this past summer, while performing at a local cafe, which helped Watson form a valuable friendship and musical mentor in Corgan.

She’s not afraid of Sara Evans

Marking Kellin's first official national television debut, Watson was chosen by award winning artist, Sara Evans as one of the top two finalists out of some of Asheville's best and brightest musical acts to be a part of CMT show, "Big Break". Watson not only gained national exposure, but a new fan in Evans as well.

When asked about why she liked Kellin's music, Evans remarked, "There is nothing contrived or fake about Kellin, she's just one of those people who has a whole lot of talent and sings from her soul".

She’s got a plan

At the moment she’s focused on advancing her music career and is set on finding a booking agent. In the meantime, understanding that most agents want acts that already have a large fan base, she’s working the phones herself to set up a tour to promote her stellar new album, No Static.

In the coming year, Watson hopes to gain more fans and supporters who will help progress the already steady success of the new album.

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