With his deep voice and towering stature, Garrison Keillor can be an imposing figure. So pairing him with a diminutive singer with a sweet, soft . . . may be best known as the fiddler/singer in the string trio Nickel Creek, but she stepped out on her own with her self-titled solo debut last year.

Even Sara Watkins feels awed by the legacy of Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion." A seasoned performer with revered progressive bluegrass . . . traveling show delivers "a new kind of showmanship" for her, including singing duets with Keillor and "walking around a stage with a mic in my hand."

If you are known for your acoustic, bluegrass-inspired country-folk, opening your set with a Fleetwood Mac song may seem odd. Not if you're Sara . . . the other third of Nickel Creek, Chris Thile, also forming his own band, Punch Brothers, Sara has gone the solo route, and it seems to become her.