Sara Watkins closed out her brief tour supporting Vienna Teng and Alex Wong in California with two shows this weekend, including a hometown show at Anthology in San Diego on Saturday, about which she had spoken earlier with the San Diego Union Tribune for a feature article.

While on the road, Sara and her band, including her brother Sean, recently performed a short set for a Daytrotter session. They perform several songs off Sara's 2009 self-titled Nonesuch debut album—"All This Time," "Too Much," "Long Hut Summer Days," and "Jefferson"—plus the song "Steal Your Heart Away."

Daytrotter's Sean Moeller cites the John Hartford tune "Long Hot Summer Days" as an example of the finer points of the album. "It's romantic in an old-timey way and it's the kind of sentiment that Watkins does so well," Moeller says of the song. "There's a chivalry to the loves that are being offered and sought in the timeless, countrified tales that Watkins pens, as well as the ones she hand-picked to make up this first record."

Moeller goes on to find elements from Nickel Creek, Watkins' former band with her brother and label mate Chris Thile, to recommend in her solo debut. "The self-titled album brings all of the aspects of hers that were so loved in the Nickel Creek songs where she sang the vocal lead," he writes, "displaying all of the vulnerability and swooning moonlight into the storylines that slipped into every young heart, corralling their intentions and their every thought ... And even as she sings, 'Never thought we'd get so good at feeling so bad,' the feeling bad isn't really all that much of a concern. It somehow feels good in and of itself."

Read more and listen to the live session at daytrotter.com.

For information on Sara Watkins' upcoming tour dates, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour. To pick up a copy of her solo debut, visit the Nonesuch Store.