Watchhouse

{{short description|American folk duo}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| image = File:Mandolin Orange au Folk sur le canal 2018.jpg

| caption = Watchhouse (as Mandolin Orange) at the Folk sur le canal Festival, Montreal, Quebec, 2018

| landscape = yes

| alias = Mandolin Orange

| origin = Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

| genre = {{flatlist|

• Folk
• Americana{{Cite news| url = https://www.npr.org/2015/02/24/388716335/mandolin-orange-old-ties-and-companions| title = Songs We Love: Mandolin Orange, 'Old Ties And Companions'| author = Linda Fahey| work = NPR| date = 2015-02-24| accessdate = 2016-11-19

}}

}}

| years_active = 2009–present

| label = Tiptoe Tiger Music
Yep Roc (2013-2020)

| website = {{URL|https://watchhouseband.com/|WatchhouseBand.com}}

| current_members = Andrew Marlin
Emily Frantz

| past_members =

| associated_acts = Kate Rhudy

}}

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 six albums of Marlin's original works of American roots music.

They signed to Yep Roc Records in 2013{{Cite web|url=http://www.indyweek.com/music/archives/2013/05/09/mandolin-oranges-third-album-this-side-of-jordan-out-on-aug-6-via-yep-roc-records|title=Mandolin Orange's third album, This Side of Jordan, out on Aug. 6 via Yep Roc Records|last=Lawrence|first=Jordan|access-date=2016-06-29}} and have produced four albums under their umbrella, This Side of Jordan, Such Jubilee, Blindfaller and Tides of a Teardrop. 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.

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.{{cite web |title=Saturday Sessions: Mandolin Orange performs "Paper Mountain" |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/saturday-sessions-mandolin-orange-performs-paper-mountain/vp-BBXTpmC |website=www.msn.com |publisher=Microsoft News |accessdate=December 22, 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Crone |first1=Madeline |title=Andrew Marlin Uses Time During Pandemic to Make Two New Albums, 'Witching Hour' and 'Fable & Fire' |url=https://americansongwriter.com/andrew-marlin-uses-time-during-pandemic-to-make-two-new-albums-witching-hour-and-fable-fire/ |access-date=8 May 2021 |work=American Songwriter |date=19 February 2021}}

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.{{Cite web|title=Watchhouse on Spotify|url=https://open.spotify.com/artist/2WqEbbet6L2ndAbvhRVb2S|access-date=2021-04-21|website=Spotify|language=en}} Later, in July the band was part of the Newport Folk Festival.{{Cite web |title=Newport Folk Festival stage schedule 2021 |url=https://newportfolk.org/2021-schedule/ |access-date=2021-09-21 |website=newportfolk.org}}