Few young performers enter the arena as a solo artist with two decades’ worth of experience under their belts, but Sara Watkins can claim just that. She, brother Sean and friend Chris Thile have played together in the groundbreaking bluegrass trio Nickel Creek since 1989. While her bandmates occasionally released albums on the side, Sara has preferred to collaborate with other artists while finding her solo identity. She was wise to wait—Sara Watkins finds the 27-year-old California native seamlessly fusing Nickel Creek’s tuneful bluegrass with the pop and rock influences of collaborators like Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones into a smart, coherent and emotionally resonant whole.