Watchhouse

Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange) is an Americana/folk duo based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group was formed in 2009 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and consists of songwriter Andrew Marlin (vocals, mandolin, guitar, banjo) and Emily Frantz (vocals, violin, guitar), who are married to each other. Watchhouse has produced nine albums of Marlin's original works of American roots music.

They signed to Yep Roc Records in 2013^[2] and have produced five albums under their umbrella, This Side of Jordan, Such Jubilee, Blindfaller, Tides of a Teardrop, and Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater. Marlin recorded an instrumental album, Buried In a Cape, under his own name in 2018. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Marlin recorded his second and third instrumental albums without Frantz, Witching Hour and Fable & Fire.^[3]

The group has toured throughout the U.S and Europe, including appearances at Austin City Limits, South by Southwest, Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Pickathon, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Rooster Walk, MerleFest, and the Omagh Bluegrass Festival. Watchhouse was the featured artist on CBS This Morning's Saturday Morning Sessions on December 7, 2019.^[4][3]

In April 2021, the band announced that moving forward, they would change the group's name from Mandolin Orange to Watchhouse. Of the change, Marlin said "Mandolin Orange was born out of my 21-year-old mind. The name isn't what I strive for when I write" and that Watchhouse is a name that reflects their "true intentions" as a band.^[5] Later, in July the band was part of the Newport Folk Festival.^[6]