Sun Midnight Sun is the second solo album from acclaimed singer, songwriter, and fiddle player Sara Watkins. Produced by guitarist, singer, and songwriter Blake Mills, co-founder of the band Simon Dawes, the album features special guest appearances by Fiona Apple, Jackson Browne, Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Benmont Tench, and Sean Watkins.
Sun Midnight Sun follows Sara Watkins' critically acclaimed 2009 self-titled solo debut produced by John Paul Jones. NPR said Sara Watkins "puts her great instrumental breadth on display as she plays the guitar, ukulele and fiddle in addition to her sweet-voiced singing," and the Kansas City Star called it a record "for anyone who likes the sound of a good singer and a good band hammering out good music."
In the three years after her debut release, Watkins toured the world as guest fiddle player and vocalist with the Decemberists and joined Garrison Keillor on his nationwide Summer Love performance tours, as well as acting as his first and only guest host for A Prairie Home Companion broadcasts.
Sun Midnight Sun was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Shawn Everett at Zeitgeist Studio, Los Angeles, and includes songs written by Watkins ("You and Me," "Take Up Your Spade") as well as several collaborations with Mills ("The Foothills," "Be There," "The Accord," "Impossible," and "Lock and Key"). It also features songs by Dan Wilson ("When It Pleases You") and Willie Nelson ("I'm a Memory"), and a rendition of The Everly Brothers classic "You're the One I Love," on which Fiona Apple duets with Watkins.