Sara Watkins, Sun Midnight Sun, CD review Sara Watkins has some splendid cover versions in her catalogue - yet they were very much country-folk interpretations of Tom Waits's Pony and John Prine's The Late John Garfield Blues. On her new CD, Sun Midnight Sun, her second solo album, the former Nickel Creek fiddler lets loose with pop-style version of Willie Nelson's song I'm A Memory. Nelson's lyrics, as ever, are potent I'm A tear that falls out of sight, Close your eyes. I'm A Memory and Watkins turns this mournful ballad on its head with a throbbing, gutsy version, helped by having Jackson Browne, with whom Watkins is soon to tour, on harmony vocals. The song is one of two covers on an album produced by Blake Mills. The other, a duet with Fiona Apple on the Everly Brothers' song You're The One I Love, has been much-praised but which I found oddly unengaging and, at 1min45sec, almost a deliberate curiosity. Lock And Key is a strong song and the highlight of the 10-track album is the seven-minute When It Pleases You, with its grungy guitar and clever arrangements. Watkins's own song You And Me, with its sultry vocals, and the moody Be There, about the loneliness of a travelling musician, are both top notch. Watkins, who was on the recent live album by the Decemberists, also plays guitar, ukulele and fiddle on the album. There are two instrumentals: the short and cacophonous The Foothills and the melodic and graceful Accord. Sun Midnight Sun is a bold album, and much of it seems to be about casting off the comfortable. But when it works, it works very well. Sara Watkins: Sun Midnight Sun (Nonsuch Records)