I’m With Her never intended to be a one-off project. But it took seven years — a lifetime in the music industry — for Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz, and Sara Watkins to reunite and release new music. Wild and Clear and Blue, which arrived May 9 via Rounder Records, leans heavily on their heavenly harmonies, while building upon their individual instrumental strengths.
Over the course of this near-decade, the three songwriters locked down, endured deaths, gained spouses, and birthed children. They toured the world as solo artists, duos, and members of other famous and beloved bands. Together, as I’m With Her, they even won the Grammy award for Best American Roots Song for their moody folk song “Call My Name” in 2020.
Still, there was not a single spark that led the three women to pinpoint now as the time for a new record. “We had every intention of coming back together after we were able to dig into other projects that we were invested in and cared about,” says Watkins. “There was never like a, ‘Let's like reunite’ [moment] because I think we always felt united. We always felt like a band.”
O’Donovan, Jarosz, and Watkins chatted with No Depression on release day for Wild and Clear and Blue, each calling in from across the country. O’Donovan sits on her porch in Orlando, Jarosz is at home in Nashville, and Watkins is traipsing along somewhere beautiful and green in Los Angeles that looks not unlike the scene from the album’s cover photo.
