Sean Watkins (born February 18, 1977) is a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter, and is one third of the contemporary folk band Nickel Creek and one part of the alt. folk duo Fiction Family with Jon Foreman from Switchfoot . His sister Sara Watkins, also a member of Nickel Creek, plays violin and sings background vocals on the second of his two solo albums. As a whole, Nickel Creek recently participated in a project dubbed Mutual Admiration Society, a collaboration with former Toad The Wet Sprocket singer Glen Phillips.