Punch Brothers

Punch Brothers arose among the most ambitious string bands of the early twenty-first century, anchoring their approach in exceptional instrumental command and elaborate arrangements. They formed toward the end of the 2000s once mandolinist Chris Thile’s prior group Nickel Creek had dissolved, at which point the ensemble’s fusion of bluegrass drive, classical sophistication, and jazz-derived improvisation became evident at once. Regular Nonesuch artists, every album but one reached the summit of the Billboard Bluegrass charts and registered notable showings on the pop, rock, and folk tallies as well. This roots-music supergroup made its concert debut at Carnegie Hall and served as the focus of the 2011 documentary How to Grow a Band. Their fifth album, 2018’s All Ashore, captured the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album; early in 2022 they issued the tribute project Hell on Church Street.

During 2006, as Nickel Creek prepared for an extended hiatus, Chris Thile convened an all-star cast to record his solo album How to Grow a Woman from the Ground. Guitarist Chris Eldridge of the Infamous Stringdusters, bassist Greg Garrison known for his work with Ron Miles and Leftover Salmon, banjoist Noam Pikelny formerly associated with John Cowan, Tony Trischka, and Leftover Salmon, and violinist Gabe Witcher linked to Jerry Douglas took part. From that session emerged the new collective Punch Brothers, whose name derives from the Mark Twain story Punch, Brothers, Punch!. After presenting Thile’s ambitious four-part suite “The Blind Leaving the Blind” at Carnegie Hall, the musicians signed with Nonesuch and delivered their debut album Punch in 2008; later that year Greg Garrison departed and Paul Kowert assumed the bass chair.

To pursue their progressive leanings, Punch Brothers recruited Los Angeles pop producer Jon Brion, whose credits include Fiona Apple and Aimee Mann, to oversee the diverse follow-up Antifogmatic in 2010. Filmmaker Mark Meatto’s documentary How to Grow a Band premiered in 2011, and the next year the band enlisted rock producer Jacquire King of Kings of Leon renown for the third album Who’s Feeling You Now? together with the EP Ahoy!. They also contributed the song “Dark Days” to the science-fiction blockbuster The Hunger Games and appeared on the T-Bone Burnett-produced soundtrack for the Coen Brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis. Recognizing a sympathetic collaborator in Burnett, they chose him to produce the acclaimed fourth album The Phosphorescent Blues, issued in 2015. Between 2016 and 2019 Thile hosted the long-running NPR program A Prairie Home Companion, later retitled Live From Here, while fellow Punch Brothers members served as the house band, accompanying sketches and guest artists. Amid this schedule the group self-produced their fifth album All Ashore, earning their first Grammy for Best Folk Album after several prior nominations. At the start of 2022 they returned with a complete cover of bluegrass figure Tony Rice’s 1983 album Church Street Blues; the Punch Brothers’ version, titled Hell on Church Street, paid tribute to the influential Rice, who had died at the close of 2020. Rice’s original recording had likewise comprised covers honoring his own musical forebears.