Erisy Watt

Erisy Watt is a nonstop adventurer. The outdoorsy folk singer and Cabin By the Sea series founder came westward as a teen to attend UCSB in a horizon-broadening move to look beyond the river-rope swings and Smoky Mountains of her Tennessee youth. Though she arrived a stranger, Watt quickly found a new home and purpose in the surf, sand, and skies of Santa Barbara. It’s here she first discovered her songwriting abilities and made her debut at a UCSB open-mike night as a freshman. “I thought, no one knows me, so I’m gonna give it a go,” said the former dancer, who took up guitar at 17 after too many injuries.

Her daring spirit led to her hosting a regular open-mike night, and last year, while completing her environmental studies degree, Watt pioneered a whole new SOhO concert series: Cabin By the Sea, which has hosted acts like Mango Mango, The Dustbowl Revival, and the T Sisters. For each concert, SOhO is festooned with cabin coziness, and the proceeds of each show go toward a different area environmental nonprofit. Watt was inspired to found the series by her love of the land. “My perfect day would be to wake up, jump in the ocean first thing, make an amazing breakfast, then go trail running or camping in the mountains at night. I’m never not grateful for it,” she said.

When not singing or fundraising for world betterment through music, Watt can be found digging in the dirt and teaching kids at Fairview Gardens or promoting access to green transportation for the Coalition for Sustainable Transportation (COAST). Who knows how far her adventurous spirit will take her next? But for now, Watt seems quite happily situated in her newly made home by the sea. - Richie Demaria, Santa Barbara Independent

The strumming and whistling pair of Erisy and Raff have quietly become a local gem of a musical act. In their opening set for The Shook Twins on Wednesday, September 14, at SOhO Restaurant & Music Club, the audience could be seen sitting in contemplation, heads tilted thoughtfully, as if struck by a profound thought provoked forth by Watt’s unexpected poignancy. Her whispery voice and tranquil guitar lulled us in, but the lyrics on songs like “Foolish Things” and “House of Sage” – “I’ve learned to love from where the water meets the land” – lingered with us, bits of thoughtful poetry that stayed in the soul. And Raff is a powerhouse unto himself, as we beheld his expert whistling in a set-closing cover of “Cecilia.”

Continuing with the lulling theme of the evening, headliners The Shook Twins showed SOhO their unique brand of folk-pop, which incorporates groovy lock-rhythms more akin to hip-hop than bluegrass. New single “Call Me Out” was lullaby-like in its incoming and receding lushness, soft then thundering with its chorus and its distant vocal echoes, but “Time To Swim” was the real highlight, rolling a Sufjan Stevens-esque banjo riff into a satisfyingly ripping slow burn of a song where the twins’ rhythmic interplay with the band most stood out, hammered happily into our heads. Ending with “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” the lightly psychedelic and assuredly soothing set was a very good one indeed – in parts relaxing and in parts rollicking, making us shake our hips and stir our innermost spirits. - Richie Demaria, Santa Barbara Independent