Daily Inspiration: Meet Daniel & Jenna Watters

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel & Jenna Watters.

Hi Daniel & Jenna, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Jenna and I first sang together in 2005 at our high school graduation in Sedona. We realized there was something special there and we started playing shows in coffee shops around Arizona. We temporarily parted ways when I went to college at LMU in Los Angeles and she traversed around Europe, but we would always meet up and plays shows whenever possible. In 2009 we decided to move to Denver, CO together and formally start a band. We rented a tiny apartment for three months just to make sure this was what we wanted to do, and by the end of those three months we were convinced and had already begun dating.

We spent the next four years playing around Colorado, Arizona and California as The Oak Creek Band, a name that was a tribute to our hometown of Sedona. The band decided to move to Nashville in 2013 to try our luck at “making it” in the music industry, but after a year and a half, we realized Nashville was not for us. We felt lost and didn’t know what our next move was. We decided to head back to Sedona and regroup. On our trip back to AZ, we were convinced to make a long detour to Austin to visit a friend. By the end of that visit, we were fairly certain Austin was where we needed to be. In February of 2015 we moved to Austin and started over. We changed our band name to “The Watters” and things have been going our way ever since. Austin has embraced us and our music with open arms and we feel blessed to be here doing what we love.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Things have been pretty smooth since we got to Austin, but the 10,000 hours it took for us to master our craft in Colorado and Tennessee were fairly bumpy. Being in a band means working with lots of people very intimately and it took us many years to find like minded musicians. Going to Nashville was a punch in the gut because we felt very isolated and alone. We didn’t know anyone and we would tour the Midwest and play to hardly any people. We realized we couldn’t be the hometown band all across the country, like we had been in Arizona and Colorado. We struggled getting any attention from Nashville industry and we didn’t feel welcome. Starting over from scratch in Austin was very difficult, but ultimately, it was the best decision we’ve made.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Songwriting, record production and live performance are what we specialize in. Jenna and I have collaborated on 9 albums together since 2006 under various monikers. What I am most proud of is our tenacity, perseverance and continuity. We like to say the reward is in the experience so we just keep moving along and doing our thing. We are probably most known for our songs and for our expression of those songs in our live shows. Jenna’s voice is bone chilling and has an immediate effect on people.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
We are in love with Austin. We have been here six years now and we love it more and more every day. The music scene is unbeatable in regards to the community and camaraderie that exists here. The people here are friendly, unique and down to earth. The food is stellar and the coffee is exceptional. What do I like least? Well, the Tex- Mex here can be really good at the right place, but most generally don’t hold a candle to Arizona Mexican food 🙂

Contact Info:

• Email: wearethewatters@gmail.com
• Website: www.wearethewatters.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/wearethewatters
• Facebook: Facebook.com/wearethewatters
• Twitter: twitter.com/wearethewatters
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWatters/videos
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/wearethewatters

Image Credits
White Light Exposure