Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange) continues creating ever-evolving music, performing at the VPAC in Beaver Creek on Feb. 11
Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz bringing folk music to the Vilar Performing Arts Center
=====
If you go …
What: Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange)
When: Friday, Feb. 11, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Vilar Performing Arts Center, Beaver Creek
Cost: $45
More information: Visit vilarpac.org/watchhouse
=====
Beaver Creek, Colo., Feb. 8, 2022 — Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz, who have performed for a decade as Mandolin Orange (and at the VPAC in 2016), are now pursuing a new musical journey and returning as a dynamic duo known as Watchhouse.
“We’re very excited to share some foundational news today,” the band wrote on Twitter on April 21. “Our band is now called Watchhouse. It’s a new name to carry this music you know as Mandolin Orange into the future.”
Marlin (mandolin, guitar, banjo, vocals) formed Mandolin Orange along with Frantz (violin, guitar, vocals) in 2009 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, after meeting through mutual friends at a bluegrass jam. The now-married couple play soothing, meditative and disarmingly frank folk songs that are well-fitted for smaller venues.
Enjoy an evening out at the Vilar Performing Arts Center on Friday, Feb. 11, when Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange) take the intimate stage in Beaver Creek at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $45. Visit vilarpac.org/watchhouse for more information.
“We are lucky that Mandolin Orange means something to many people, and have no intention of leaving behind our older material,” the duo wrote on Twitter. “It’s as important to us as ever, and we can’t wait to bring it back to your ears as Watchhouse, alongside a brand new album that we’re particularly fond of. Thank you for hearing our music.”
As a duo, they have released six albums – five under the Mandolin Orange name and one under Watchhouse. They also became parents in 2018.
“We’re different people than when we started this band,” Marlin said. “We’re setting new intentions, taking control of this thing again.”
After their big announcement of the Watchhouse name, the band went on to sell out Red Rocks Amphitheater this past fall. This intimate VPAC performance will also be the kickoff show to their spring tour.
Their self-titled debut album as a new group, “Watchhouse,” is a record about growing up without growing old and experiencing the world while letting it change you – whether through the mystery of a newborn or the vagaries of improvising or the comforts of familiar and wondrous love.
Watchhouse is a perfectly rendered link between their longtime allure as Mandolin Orange and an unwritten future as the band Watchhouse, one that’s as hopeful as we can imagine it might be.