Emily Frantz of Watchhouse Talks Bluegrass, Creative Growth and Being a Woman on the Road
Photo by Brooke Billick
In the heart of North Carolina, resides an otherworldly Folk duo whose songs engender feelings of introspection, connection, and understanding. Emily Frantz and Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse (formerly known as Mandolin Orange) released a 9 track self-titled album in the summer of 2021, their first album under their new band name. Despite releasing an album during the pandemic, the duo experienced some significant creative blocks during this time at home. “[The pandemic] was not a very creative time for us if I’m being honest,” Frantz admits. “Most of this record was done right before the pandemic started… We could kind of be at peace knowing that we could just sort of release all of that and not feel a ton of pressure to be generating something new during a really stressful time.”
Frantz’s recent creative growth is most notably evidenced on this recent release. While her husband, Andrew Marlin, is the duo’s primary lyricist, Emily Frantz shines through her stunning harmonies and keen vocal intuition. With much of her vocal background in bluegrass, she had previously been accustomed to the more set in stone singing style that the genre demands. “Bluegrass is an interesting genre because it has such specific parameters that are supposed to be met to make something truly bluegrass. And in a lot of ways it can be limiting, but it's also cool because it has a very defined structure,” states Frantz. She has recently found herself breaking out of the norms of traditional bluegrass, challenging herself to sing in ways that are more comfortable for her individual voice. In bluegrass, “there's only one real way to sing and you have to use your full voice and you have to sing in the highest register that you can, and as loud as you can. And that's not something that I've necessarily subscribed to, but sometimes these things work their way into your head without you realizing it...[I’m now allowing] my voice to come out in a way that feels physically comfortable and when I listen back to it, I like the way it sounds.”
Singing in this new way is a constant learning and unlearning practice that takes place in both recorded and performance settings. However, with live performance being taken away during the pandemic, Frantz had fewer ways to express herself and ease into that growth. “My creative role comes in a lot more when we're arranging things for stage or recording video. Because we weren't able to be productive in those ways the last few years, it felt a little stifling at times.” She describes the relief she feels, knowing that she can soon return to performing live and arranging a show that allows the listeners to engage with the music in the way that it was meant to be experienced. In speaking about her future shows, she also reflected on her early days of touring and what it felt like to be on the road as a woman, describing experiences with sound techs doubting her knowledge of her own equipment, and the unique experience of touring as a woman whose musical partner is also their husband. [Touring with Andrew] made people regard me in this other way... Like they could almost disregard me as an individual more easily or an autonomous person, because they just saw a unit,” Frantz stated, thinking out loud about a dynamic she previously hadn’t given much thought to. Despite feeling overlooked at times, she also noted some of the benefits of touring with her husband. “I feel like my experience as a woman on tour has also been sheltered a lot by the fact that I'm touring with my partner...I feel like maybe some of the ways that I might have felt vulnerable if I were just on my own in a van with nine guys never really came up for me.”
With shows booked around the world through mid-2022, Watchhouse is eager to reunite with their fans, to offer them the glimmer of hope and connection that we have all so badly needed. “Lyrically, the songs that Andrew writes are super personal for him, and a lot of them are very introspective. Even the ones that look more outwardly at the world, lyrically, are still sort of an introspective journey. So I feel like that's where this music takes people a lot. But within that, feeling seen or feeling like you hear something you've experienced in your life reflected back at you in a song, even though it's super personal, grows this camaraderie. Also feeling like you're not alone and feeling like something you're experiencing or thinking about is normal. And so I guess that's what I hope for when people hear the music, is that they're hearing something about their own life experience that helps them connect with the world around them.”
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