Watchhouse

Watchhouse
Watchhouse (as Mandolin Orange) at the Folk sur le canal Festival, Montreal, Quebec, 2018
Watchhouse (as Mandolin Orange) at the Folk sur le canal Festival, Montreal, Quebec, 2018
Background information
Also known asMandolin Orange
OriginChapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
Genres
Years active2009–present
LabelsTiptoe Tiger Music
Yep Roc (2013-2020)
MembersAndrew Marlin
Emily Frantz
WebsiteWatchhouseBand.com

Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange) is an Americana/folk duo based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group was formed in 2009 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and consists of songwriter Andrew Marlin (vocals, mandolin, guitar, banjo) and Emily Frantz (vocals, violin, guitar), who are married to each other. Watchhouse has produced six albums of Marlin's original works of American roots music. In the last three years, the group has toured throughout the U.S and Europe, including appearances at Austin City Limits, South by Southwest, Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Pickathon, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Rooster Walk, MerleFest, and the Omagh Bluegrass Festival. Watchhouse was the featured artist on CBS This Morning's Saturday Morning Sessions on December 7, 2019.[2][3]

They signed to Yep Roc Records in 2013[4] and have produced four albums under their umbrella, This Side of Jordan, Such Jubilee, Blindfaller and Tides of a Teardrop.

Marlin recorded an instrumental album, Buried In a Cape, under his own name in 2018. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Marlin recorded his second and third instrumental albums without Frantz, Witching Hour and Fable & Fire.[3] In April 2021, the band announced that moving forward, they would change the group's name from Mandolin Orange to Watchhouse. Of the change, Marlin said "Mandolin Orange was born out of my 21-year-old mind. The name isn't what I strive for when I write" and that Watchhouse is a name that reflects their "true intentions" as a band.[5]

In 2021 the band was part of the Newport Folk Festival in July.[6]

  1. ^ a b Linda Fahey (2015-02-24). "Songs We Love: Mandolin Orange, 'Old Ties And Companions'". NPR. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
  2. ^ "Saturday Sessions: Mandolin Orange performs "Paper Mountain"". www.msn.com. Microsoft News. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Crone, Madeline (19 February 2021). "Andrew Marlin Uses Time During Pandemic to Make Two New Albums, 'Witching Hour' and 'Fable & Fire'". American Songwriter. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  4. ^ Lawrence, Jordan. "Mandolin Orange's third album, This Side of Jordan, out on Aug. 6 via Yep Roc Records". Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  5. ^ "Watchhouse on Spotify". Spotify. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  6. ^ "Newport Folk Festival stage schedule 2021". newportfolk.org. Retrieved 2021-09-21.