Acclaimed as one of the most interesting and inventive musicians of his generation, 26-year-old phenom Chris Thile has changed the mandolin forever, elevating it from its origins as a relatively simple folk and bluegrass instrument to the sophistication and brilliance of the finest jazz improvisation and classical performance. Since his first recording at the age of 12, he has effortlessly won over fellow musicians and critics alike while attracting an immensely devoted fan base throughout the world.
Mr. Thile’s newest album, How to Grow a Woman from the Ground, was released in September 2006 to great critical acclaim and received a Grammy® Award nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance for the song “The Eleventh Reel.” The band that he formed for the album, now called Punch Brothers, is comprised of young and blazingly talented musicians Gabe Witcher on fiddle, Noam Pikelny on banjo, Chris Eldridge on guitar, and Greg Garrison on bass. They have been playing sold-out performances throughout the US and completing work on “The Blind Leaving the Blind,” a long-form, four-movement chamber suite composed by Mr. Thile. The piece received its premiere at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall in March 2007 and will be released as a recording in early 2008 on Nonesuch Records.
For more than 15 years, Mr. Thile has played with Sean and Sara Watkins in the wildly popular band Nickel Creek, with whom he released three albums for a combined 2 million records sold and toured the world playing in packed halls and arenas. He has also released four solo albums, on which he conquered a dizzying range of instruments, songwriting challenges and musical styles.
Mr. Thile has performed and recorded extensively as a duo with double bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer (with whom he will release an album in 2008) and with fellow eminent mandolinist Mike Marshall, and has plans for a project with celebrated violinist Hilary Hahn. In addition, he has collaborated with a pantheon of bluegrass innovators including Bela Fleck, Dolly Parton, the Dixie Chicks, Jerry Douglas, and Sam Bush. In April 2007, Mr. Meyer and pianist Emanuel Ax performed a piece for double bass and piano that they commissioned from Mr. Thile for a tour including Zankel Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and the new Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville.
Every major mandolin-related award has been presented to Thile over the course of his career, including the National Mandolin Championship at age 12 and the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Mandolinist of the Year. He won a Grammy® Award in 2002 with Nickel Creek for their album This Side in the Best Contemporary Folk Album Category, and most recently he won the 2007 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Musician of the Year.