How To Grow A Band is the title of a new film, currently in production, that chronicles the life and times of Punch Brothers. It follows Chris Thile and his merry band (Chris Eldridge on guitar, Noam Pikelny on band, Gabe Witcher on fiddle, and Greg Garrison and Paul Kowert on bass) during their first [...]
Mike Marshall has prepared a book of transcriptions from his 2003 CD Into The Cauldron, a set of stunning duets with fellow mando-wizard Chris Thile. It contains transcriptions from 9 of 11 tracks on the CD, including the main melody, harmony parts where applicable and a few of the solos taken during these tunes. Mike [...]
Never one to rest on past accomplishments, Chris Thile is forging ahead into new territory once again. This coming Sunday, July 19, Thile will perform as a soloist with the World Youth Symphony Orchestra, in Interlochen, Michigan. They will be performing a concerto he composed, for mandolin but with complete orchestration. Thile views this performance [...]
Almost Live, the latest CD from flatpicker supreme Bryan Sutton, is out today (7/14) on Sugar Hill Records. It is a set of ten songs and tunes featuring Bryan in the studio with many of the artists with whom he has performed in recent years. Punch Brothers make an appearance (sans regular guitarist Chris Eldridge) [...]
Bryan Sutton is on everyone's short list of top flatpick guitarists, something that has made him Nashville's #1 call for recording and short term tour work. This has given him a stable career and a fairly normal home life, by most professional musicians' standards. But it also means that his many admirers have precious little [...]
Merlefest gets underway today. It's one of the biggest festivals in the country and many, if not most, of your favorite bluegrass acts will be performing at some point during the week. If you're not there, but you'd like to know what's going on. Or, if you are there, but you'd like to know what's [...]
Punch Brothers are continuing to use their semi-regular Thursday show at The Living Room in New York City to try out some of their more adventurous undertakings. We posted a video of them performing Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major a month ago, and now there is video of them tackling Mozart's Spring [...]
There is a wealth of Punch Brothers media recently posted online, showcasing them both as exquisite musicians and fun guys. First off, video from their 2/9 appearance on The Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour has been made available online. This program was wholly dedicated to Chris Thile's ambitious composition, The Blind Leaving The Blind, which [...]
Continuing in their quest to prove that the familiar bluegrass ensemble (banjo, bass, fiddle, guitar, mandolin) is primarily a group of musical instruments - as opposed to bluegrass instruments - Punch Brothers are hard at work on a transcription of the 3rd Brandenburg Concerto from Johann Sebastian Bach. This piece, officially titled Brandenburg Concerto No. [...]
Chris Thile is the subject of a multimedia interview in the January edition of WebMusicBox, the online publication of the American Music Center. It is a conversation with Frank Oteri, founding editor of the webzine, presented both in text and video snippets online. Thile talks about his impressions of various musical styles while growing up [...]
