The local trio Wildwing ended the Random Acts Community Performance Series at the Ellen Eccles on Aug. 28 with a sophisticated mix of Celtic folk music and original compositions. The performers were (from left) Amy Nelson, Jessa Young and Ana Watkins Anawalt.
LOGAN – The Random Acts Community Performance Series at the Ellen Eccles Theatre ended Aug. 28 on a high note in terms of vocal and musical talent with a sophisticated performance by the local trio Wildwing.
Anyone attending the Wildwing show expecting to see only three performers got more than their money’s worth. Proving that the family that plays together stays together, there were eight members of the multi-talented Watkins family on the stage at one point in the show, representing three generations of the musical clan from Mendon.
The official members of Wildwing are sisters Ana Watkins Anawalt, Jessa Young and Amy Nelson. During their Random Acts performance, the trio members were superbly backed up by their mother Paula Watkins, playing keyboard and accordion, plus Emily Ashcroft, temporarily borrowed from the popular local band Mama Long Legs, on drums.
The youngest generation of the Watkins clan were represented by Alina Anawalt, Grace Watkins, Clara Watkins and Evelyn Watkins, plus their friend Maeve Loveland, performing amusing impromptu dances.
The too-short concert by was about evenly divided between lyric vocal and lively instrumental selections including Celtic tunes from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The most familiar of those selections was the beautiful Skye Boat Song, a haunting lament to the Scottish defeat in the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
The family band also performed original compositions by Ana Watkins Anawalt and Jessa Young that gave the sisters a chance to display their prodigious vocal talents. Ana has a lovely crystal-clear soprano voice. Her sister Jessa has a stronger, throaty voice that was ideally suited for an original ballad about spring that evolved into a jam session on native drums.
The Wildwing concert was the final musical performance in the Random Acts series, which were low-key events featuring local artists that were intended to lure Cache Valley’s performing arts community back to the Eccles Theatre during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Watkins sisters certainly achieved that goal, performing for an enthusiastic near-capacity crowd under the limited seating conditions allowed by social distancing guidelines.
The next live shows at the Eccles Theatre will repertory performance of the small-cast musicals “Forever Plaid” and “The Taffetas” by Music Theatre West from Sept. 18 to 26.