Sean Watkins shines, with & without Nickel Creek

There are at least two surprises on “What to Fear,” the terrific new solo album by Sean Watkins, the 39-year-old co-founder of the bands Nickel Creek, the periodically active Fiction Family and the all-star Watkins Family Hour.

The first is the absorbing title track. It is the first politically oriented song the Vista-bred singer, songwriter and guitarist has written in a career that began three decades ago, when the highly precocious members of the Grammy Award-winning Nickel Creek were all in elementary school.

The second is that another of his new songs, “Last Time for Everything,” is largely autobiographical, including the couplet: Some years ago / There were lights in my rear-view / So I pulled over / Me and my girl / Who’d just turned 20 / Tried to act sober / The bottle was hidden in her purse.

Granted, this ranks as a fairly mild disclosure, especially in an era when bad behavior and illegal or life-threatening actions seem the norm for a sizable number of musicians and celebrities.

But the seemingly squeaky-clean Watkins, who performs Saturday with his latest band at the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, was raised in a devoutly Christian home. So far as is known, he has never come closer to controversy than standing near a gossip magazine at a supermarket check-out stand.

A number of Watkins’ previous songs are unmistakably inspired by spiritual and theological matters. His new album also includes a wonderfully reverent version of “Trials, Troubles, Tribulations,” a bluegrass-tinged gospel ballad first recorded in 1959 by E.C. Ball and inspired by the Book of Revelations.

Asked how much of “Last Time for Everything” is true, Watkins replied, “All of it,” then elaborated. “The story of avoiding a DUI, I made up some elements of it to rhyme,” he said, speaking from his home Eagle Rock, northeast of Los Angeles. “But essentially, there are a lot of ‘realization moments’ that happen to us all in life, to one degree or another.”

While written before the current presidential primaries, the title track of “What to Fear” seems perfectly timed to an era in which the level of hysteria that fuels more and more current events and TV news is reaching surreal levels.

“I don’t think I’ve written anything remotely political in the past,” Watkins said. “In recent years, TV news seems to have grown (even) more extreme. ... It’s important to read a variety of opinions and publications to really get an honest look at what’s happening. Its also important to delay judgment when something is happening, and not react to what you hear first. Because the media is all about shocking you, and I don’t want to play into that.”

Was “Last Time for Everything” in any way inspired by the intensely polarized state of the nation, or the unusually barbed presidential primary campaign?

“In the sense that the political situation now is bringing out people who weren’t politically engaged before, yeah, absolutely,” he replied. “A lot of people feel there’s not really a candidate for them, so they don’t vote and don’t care. They’re just apolitical, And I think that there are a lot of people who are new to politics – whats the word?”

Neophytes?

“Yeah, people who are neophytes, on both sides, because we have two extreme candidates who are both evoking a lot of emotions, and that’s good. But when you have a whole lot of people who are new to politics, it’s very complicated. I don’t claim to know anything much about the political world. But I find it fascinating and like to follow it. I know enough to know there’s not one easy answer.”

Another highlight on Watkins’ new album is “Where You Were Living.” The sole instrumental track, it shines a light on his bluegrass roots and his prowess as a guitarist, without being in the last bit flashy.

“I love the instrumental side of things and it will always be a part of what I do,” he said. “That song is a direction I’m heading in. I want to incorporate more of that in my songs, because that’s how I grew up and it’s a big part of who I am. It’s fun to veer into new areas of music for me, after not doing much instrumental stuff, which I grew up doing. Now I like having it in there. It’s a big part of who I am, and it’s something I’ll try to do more of.”

Watkins’ Saturday concert in Carlsbad takes place not far from where he grew up with his sister — singer, violinist and Nickel Creek co-founder Sara Watkins, now 34. She performs on her brother’s new album, while he performs on her upcoming third solo album, “Young in All the Wrong Ways,” due out July 1.

Both siblings trace the start of their careers to the weekly bluegrass jam sessions they attended as kids at Carlsbad’s That Pizza Place, where they met future Nickel Creek partner Chris Thile.

“Our whole family discovered bluegrass, then and there, and all fell in love with it,” said Watkins, who performed a surprise mini-set at the Carlsbad pizza mainstay Wednesday night. “I’m very surprised That Pizza Place is still there.”

After a 7-year hiatus, Nickel Creek reunited for a terrific album, “A Dotted Line,” and tour in 2014. The time apart allowed both Watkins siblings and the group’s third member, mandolinist, singer and soon-to-be-new “A Prairie Home Companion” radio show host Chris Thile, to grow and to delve into other artistic avenues.

They returned to the Grammy-winning Nickel Creek with a new appreciation for each other and their unique musical blend. The positive ripple effects of that reunion are still being felt, Watkins noted.

“When we got back together and started writing songs two and a half years ago, we were all in better places,” he said.

“We’d explored all kinds of music individually that we wanted to do, and realized all this potential on our own. So all we had to do is let Nickel Creek be Nickel Creek, and not force anything unnatural into it, musically. That was really freeing and fun. We just talked about what is it we feel we’re good at. And we feel really good about our (vocal) harmonies. So we said: ‘Let’s put as much of those harmonies as we can into this record.’ It was really fun and the best experience we’ve ever had touring and making a record.

“I think I’ve taken that into my own life as a musician. I want to be the best version of Sean Watkins I can be, and not do stuff I don’t want to do. That’s not to say I don’t want to experiment and grow. But there’s plenty to do with what I am, and I want to focus on that. So I took that mentality from our Nickel Creek experience into my new record.”