When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, Watkins was already hard at work on his opera, No Exit. After finishing its orchestration, the composer faced the same reality that the rest of the classical world was grappling with—an abrupt halt to live performances. He realized that such an enormous scaling back of performing also meant a severely reduced demand for new music and commissions. He decided to pivot.

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From 2007 through 2014, there had been omegaZmusic. Watkins wrote, recorded, and produced in many different styles and collaborated with artists of all stripes. And even though he retired the OmegaZ name when he went back to school to pursue classical art music full time, those production skills remained and continued. In the years since, he developed a deep fondness for the mellow, meditative sound of Lo-Fi. It was a simple decision to begin recording once again.

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The result is Collected Shorts—a full-length studio album of 20 tracks released under the moniker “Old Man Z” now available across all streaming platforms. 

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Sign up for the mailing list to get the latest updates, and be sure to head over to Old Man Z’s Bandcamp website to pick up a digital download or other merchandise—like the full album on limited edition vinyl!