Album Notes

'Little Cowpoke' is the amazing first album by the Grammy winning group Nickel Creek. Sara Watkins was 11, Sean Watkins was 15 and Chris Thile was also just 11 when they completed the tracks on this CD. They were 'discovered' playing at the Gene Autry Museum in Los Angeles in the late summer of 1992. They were performing like professionals, but they still had a child-like, unspoiled joy for what they were doing. I felt I had to capture this, since soon they would be grown, and there would be no memory of how they were as children.

The result of this collaboration is 'Little Cowpoke', a collection of cowboy songs from real cowboys to movie cowboys. Sara Watkins sings up a storm on "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart", the whole band plays blistering bluegrass on "Deep in the Heart of Texas", with Sean Watkins on mandolin, and Chris Thile foreshadows his cross-over mandolin playing on his solo for "I'm an Old Cowhand". At this stage in its career, Nickel Creek included Chris' dad, Scott Thile, on bass and occasional vocals (Pecos Bill). There is even an example of harmony yodeling! (Sara was a champion yodeler in her younger days). Chidren love this CD because they get to hear other children sing and play, and this is exceptional,fresh and virtuostic performing. An inspiration to the young and the not-as-young!