Chris Thile

Chris Thile’s Laysongs is his first truly solo album: It’s just Thile, his voice, and his mandolin, on a set of nine new tracks, combining original songs with three wisely chosen covers that contextualize and banter with his ideas. While Thile’s critically lauded interpretations of Bach on mandolin (2013’s Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1) also showcased him on his own, that was a kind of duet, a dialogue between Thile and his beloved J.S.  Bach. Laysongs, on the other hand, is more of a soliloquy, and it’s very much a soul-searching one. Thile confronts, cajoles, and cozies up to his personal—and our shared—angels and demons, an effort made more poignant, dramatic, and universal by the enforced isolation of the pandemic.

At the heart of the album is a three-part piece, “Salt (in the Wounds) of the Earth,” that Thile premiered during a fall 2018 composer’s residency at Carnegie Hall. It was, he’s noted, “the first (and so far only) music I’ve made specifically to perform alone, which felt like an opportunity to sing some words that it wouldn’t necessarily be fair to put in a collaborator’s mouth.” Little did Thile know he was merely at the start of what would become a solitary adventure, professionally and, lord knows, philosophically.

Thile had been inspired to write “Salt” after revisiting C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters—a satirical collection of letters from a senior demon to his apprentice—during a long-haul plane trip. The novel cleverly addresses temptation and the undermining of faith. In each movement of “Salt,” Thile plays a variation on a devil’s advocate, nurturing superiority complexes in believers and non-believers alike, with a targeted spiritual disinformation campaign. Thile’s performance is broad and full of mischief, and his playing is just as lively, but there’s a gravity to the questions he poses that lays the foundation for the rest of Laysongs.

Thile played part one of “Salt” during a December 2018 episode of his public radio show, Live from Here, broadcast from Manhattan’s The Town Hall. It was a memorable installment that also featured Thile and his stellar house band performing Randy Newman’s “God’s Song” and Regina Spektor’s “Laughing With.” Thile had built the evening around questions of faith, or the lack thereof, responding to the mixed spiritual and secular messages he’d been encountering on the streets of New York City during the holiday season.

Nonesuch Chairman Emeritus Robert Hurwitz was in attendance and, afterwards, he came backstage to encourage Thile to elaborate further on these ruminations. He saw the makings of an album that could tap into Thile’s own experiences of being raised in a Christian household, an early life that Thile regards with equanimity, not rancor. As he explains, “Bob said, ‘Man, you should do a God-themed record of some kind, it’s all over your work. I was touched that Bob had that suggestion. It is a lifelong obsession of mine, even post-Christianity, what the impact of that kind of devotion to any organized religion is, the extent to which it can be a force for good or for bad. It has probably woven itself through all the work I’ve ever made. And it’s true of so many of the people I make music with, who grew up singing in church—starting with Sean and Sara Watkins [his Nickel Creek bandmates].”

Nickel Creek

Nickel Creek is mandolinist Chris Thile, violinist Sara Watkins and guitarist Sean Watkins. Together a sum of more than their staggering parts, the trio revolutionized bluegrass and folk in the early 2000s and ushered in a new era of what we now recognize as Americana music. After a nine year absence, the Platinum-selling, Grammy Award-winning trio are set to return in 2023 with the highly-anticipated album, Celebrants—a bounty of 18 disparate but loosely connected songs written collectively during a creative retreat in Santa Barbara in early 2021. The result is perhaps the most audacious yet accessible release of the Grammy-winning trio’s 34-year career. The entire enterprise is, naturally, shot through with the trio’s virtuosic picking and shiver-inducing harmonies. The lyrics—addressing love, friendship, time, and the universal travails of travel—combine the poetic and plain-spoken, hitting a sweet spot of ethereal and relatable as bridges are built, crossed, burned, and rebuilt. In celebration of the release, the trio will return to the road including three sold-out shows at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium with more dates to be announced soon.

Madison Cunningham

Madison Cunningham is a 26-year-old GRAMMY award-winning artist and songwriter known for her “wonderfully tangled imagery and cutting self-awareness” (NPR). As a guitarist, Madison has pushed the boundaries of a conventional singer-songwriter as her “guitar work is both classic and wildly emotive, and her soaring vocals are pristine and inspired” (Consequence). Madison first picked up a guitar at age seven, and by age twelve was singing and performing alongside her five siblings in church. In her teenage years, she met Tyler Chester who would later go on to be a close collaborator and producer of several of Madison’s projects including Who Are You Now (2019) which Atwood Magazine described as “a guitar-driven record, full of twisting, meticulously arranged parts and interlocking melodies. It’s almost labyrinthine; you could get lost in her swirling words.”

Cunningham’s latest effort, Revealer, won the GRAMMY for ‘Best Folk Album.’ Revealer finds her working once again with producer Tyler Chester along with Mike Elizondo and Tucker Martine. Written and recorded over all states of the pandemic, Madison says, “To me, ‘revealer’ is the binding theme of the album. The hand that slowly chips away at the mirror in which you see yourself and the world and replaces it with the reflection that is most true.” The album is “full of intricate musicianship, alongside forthright observations” (All Music), intimations and hard truths—a self-portrait of a young artist who is full of doubt and uncertainty yet bursting with exciting ideas about music and life.

Michael Daves

Heralded as “a leading light of the New York bluegrass scene” by the New York Times, Georgia-born guitarist/singer Michael Daves has garnered attention for his work with Tony Trischka, Steve Martin, and Chris Thile, with whom he shares a Grammy nomination for their 2011 album Sleep With One Eye Open. Daves’ unruly interpretations of American roots music standards have won him a place of almost fanatical admiration as a “renegade traditionalist.” His most recent project is the double album Orchids and Violence, (Nonesuch Records) which renders identical track lists in contrasting bluegrass and experimental electric styles. Daves is also a devoted teacher of over 25 years focusing on American Roots styles. In 2016 he launched an online school of bluegrass vocals on ArtistWorks.com.

Aoife O’Donovan

GRAMMY Award-winning artist Aoife O’Donovan operates in a thrilling musical world beyond genre.

Deemed “a vocalist of unerring instinct” by The New York Times, she has released three critically-acclaimed and boundary-blurring solo albums including her most recent record, 2022’s boldly orchestrated and literarily crafted Age Of Apathy. Written by O’Donovan and recorded with acclaimed producer Joe Henry, Age Of Apathy is “stunning” (Rolling Stone) and “taps into the propulsion of prime Joni Mitchell” (Pitchfork).

Age of Apathy received three nominations at the 2023 GRAMMY Awards including one for Best Folk Album. The song “B61” from the album was Folk Alliance International’s 2022 Song of the Year.

A savvy and generous collaborator, Aoife is one third of the group I’m With Her with bandmates Sara Watkins and Sarah Jarosz. The trio’s debut album, See You Around, was hailed as “willfully open-hearted” by NPR Music. I’m With Her earned an Americana Music Association Award in 2019 for Duo/Group of the Year, and a GRAMMY Award in 2020 for Best American Roots Song. O’Donovan spent the preceding decade as co-founder and front woman of the string band, Crooked Still and is the featured vocalist on The Goat Rodeo Sessions – the group with Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile. She has appeared as a featured vocalist with over a dozen symphonies including the National Symphony Orchestra, written for Alison Krauss, performed with jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas, and spent a decade as a regular contributor to the radio variety shows “Live From Here” and “A Prairie Home Companion.”

Chris Eldridge

As a member of Punch Brothers since the band’s inception, guitarist Chris Eldridge has been at the vanguard of acoustic music for over a decade. Although initially drawn to the electric guitar, by his mid-teens Chris Eldridge had developed a deep love for acoustic music, thanks in part to his father, Ben, a banjo player and founding member of the seminal bluegrass group The Seldom Scene. Eldridge later gained in-depth exposure to a variety of different musical styles while studying at Oberlin Conservatory, where he earned a degree in music performance in 2004. During his time at Oberlin, Eldridge studied with legendary guitarist Tony Rice.

After graduating he joined the Seldom Scene with whom he received a Grammy nomination in 2007. In 2005 he founded the critically acclaimed bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters. At the 2007 International Bluegrass Music Association awards Eldridge and his Stringdusters bandmates won Emerging artist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year for their debut album, Fork in the Road.

Meanwhile, in 2005 he had caught the attention of mandolinist Chris Thile, who enlisted him, along with banjoist Noam Pikelny, violinist Gabe Witcher, bassist Greg Garrison (and later, bassist Paul Kowert) to start working on an ambitious side project. Soon after they decided to focus all of their collective energies into band and Punch Brothers was born. The band has since released 6 critically acclaimed albums, won a Grammy for Best Folk Album in 2018 and toured the world.

Eldridge also plays in a duo with guitarist Julian Lage. They have released 2 full length records and an EP. Their most recent, Mount Royal, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album in 2017.

In addition, Chris Eldridge has worked with a diverse cast of musical luminaries including Paul Simon, Renée Fleming, John Paul Jones, Marcus Mumford, Justin Timberlake, T-Bone Burnett, Jon Brion, Fiona Apple, The War and Treaty, Jerry Douglas, I’m With Her, and Del McCoury.

In 2019, Eldridge was named Instrumentalist of the Year by the Americana Music Association.

Eldridge was the house guitarist on the public radio show, Live From Here (formerly known as A Prairie Home Companion), from 2016-2020. He is currently Visiting Associate Professor of Contemporary American Acoustic Music at Oberlin College.

Ashley Hoyer

Southern California based composer-instrumentalist Ashley Hoyer keeps a varied schedule of musical adventures. Described as a “mandolin phenomenon” by the San Diego Tribune, she performs in various venues ranging from great dance halls with The Syncopaths; to castles of Ireland with Sam ‘n Ash (featured in the Oscar-nominated movie The Sea Beast and the podcast Welcome to Night Vale); to classical concert halls with Fire, Grace, & Ash; as well as small listening rooms with her all-original-music folk trio Long Story Short. A frequent collaborator, Ashley’s playing can be heard on albums such as Karan Casey’s Nine Apples of Gold as well as Brian Finnegan’s Hunger of the Skin.

Ashley is an avid composer premiering and recording her folk and new music works with various bands, chamber ensembles, and orchestras. With her unquenchable curiosity for composition, she’s perpetually chipping away at writing projects and commissions. In her time at home, Ashley teaches violin, mandolin, and cello to her studio of students.

Julian Lage

Guitarist Julian Lage expands his horizons on View With A Room, a collection of 10 compelling original compositions that marks his second release for Blue Note Records. Having established a home base with his brilliant and deeply attuned trio of bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King—most recently heard on the guitarist’s acclaimed 2021 Blue Note debut Squint—Lage casts his gaze outward to discover new orchestrational possibilities with the addition of six-string icon Bill Frisell, who adds his inimitable voice to this absolutely stunning album.

Hailed as one of the most prodigious guitarists of his generation and “highest category of improvising musicians” (New Yorker), Julian Lage has spent more than a decade searching through the myriad strains of American musical history via impeccable technique, free association and a spirit of infinite possibility. The California-born New York-based musician boasts a prolific resume on his own accord in addition to collaborating with Gary Burton and John Zorn, as well as duo projects with Nels Cline, Chris Eldridge and Fred Hersch, among others.

Andrew Marlin

Andrew Marlin is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based out of Chapel Hill, NC. He’s known for his captivating songwriting and immersive mandolin playing presented in both his band Watchhouse (formerly known as Mandolin Orange) and under his own name.

In 2020, Marlin recorded two dynamic, instrumental albums, Witching Hour and Fable & Fire, which followed up 2018’s Buried in a Cape.

Witching Hour, which was released February 5, 2021, is redolent of bluegrass and American roots music soundscapes; rich fiddle and mandolin weave through powerful, coursing tunes. Folk Alley said the record “showcase(s) Marlin’s ingenious ways of dwelling in a tune and turning it inside out, grounding it in tradition but carrying it out to new heights through brilliant innovation.”

Fable & Fire, which was released two short weeks after Witching Hour, draws more from the sounds of Irish roots music and is reminiscent of the melodies that came over from the Emerald Isle to early Appalachia. Red Line Roots called the album a “masterpiece” and that “Andrew’s instrumental songs have a way of speaking volumes without actually having any words within them. Rich palettes of emotion, place, space and vibe that in all my years of listening to instrumental records, I am yet to find an equal to.”

In his latest project, Marlin joins Noam Pikelny, Chis Eldridge, Greg Garrison, and Alex Hargreaves to form Mighty Poplar, an all-star roots group formed from effortless back stage and late night bluegrass jams. The band releases their self titled debut album this spring.

Over the last decade, Marlin has toured with Watchhouse and his stringband throughout the U.S and Europe and appeared on high profile programs such CBS This Morning’s Saturday Morning Sessions and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. As a band Watchhouse has headlined and sold-out notable rooms including the Ryman and Red Rocks.

Paul Kowert

Paul Kowert is an American bassist and composer. His styles include classical, bluegrass, and progressive bluegrass. He is a member of the progressive acoustic quintet Punch Brothers and a founding member of Hawktail, an acoustic supergroup composed of Kowert, fiddler Brittany Haas, guitarist Jordan Tice, and mandolinist Dominick Leslie.

Kowert grew up in Middleton, Wisconsin. He transitioned to playing bass from violin at age 9. He studied under Edgar Meyer at the Curtis Institute of Music, graduating in 2009. While still pursuing his degree at Curtis, Kowert was recruited to join Punch Brothers. Though Kowert remains the only non-founding member of the ensemble, his arrival in Punch Brothers has been cited as the seminal moment in the band’s artistic formation. As bandmate Chris Thile recalls, “that’s when the band really became a band.”

Brittany Haas

Brittany Haas is widely regarded as one of the most influential fiddlers of her generation. Born in Northern California, Brittany grew up honing her craft at string camps nationwide, and developed her unique style of fiddling at the influence of her mentors, Bruce Molsky and Darol Anger. A prodigious youth, Haas began touring with Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings at the age of fourteen. At seventeen, she released her debut, self-titled solo album (produced by Anger). Haas continued to tour and record while simultaneously earning a degree in Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University (where she also minored in Music Performance). It was during her time at Princeton that Brittany was asked to join the seminal “chamber-grass” band Crooked Still, with whom she has made four recordings and toured the world.

Haas has always been a much sought-after collaborator and session musician. She has performed on Late Night With David Letterman and Saturday Night Live as part of Steve Martin’s bluegrass band, and features on Martin’s Grammy-winning album “The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo.” Over the years, she has performed with Bela Fleck, Abigail Washburn, Tony Trischka, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Waybacks, Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas (her cellist sister), and more.

Now residing in Nashville, TN, Brittany is currently involved in many exciting projects. In January of 2020, her quartet Hawktail (formerly Haas Kowert Tice, featuring bassist Paul Kowert of Punch Brothers, guitarist Jordan Tice, and mandolinist Dominick Leslie) released their follow-up album to 2018’s “Unless.” They continue to tour around the country with their original material. In 2015, Haas began touring with the Dave Rawlings Machine (featuring Gillian Welch) and can be found on their latest releases “Nashville Obsolete” and “Poor David’s Almanack.” In the fall of 2016, Haas began performing as part of the house band for Live From Here (formerly known as ‘A Prairie Home Companion’) hosted by Chris Thile. Brittany also continues to collaborate with her cellist sister Natalie Haas, Quebecois guitarist Yann Falquet, master Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser, Swedish fiddler Lena Jonsson, and percussive dancer Nic Gareiss.

In addition to her work as a performer, Haas is an instructor at various string and fiddle camps across the globe, sharing her knowledge and passion in hopes of inspiring the next generation of fiddle players.

Noam Pikelny

NOAM PIKELNY has emerged as the preeminent banjoist of his generation. He is a founding member of Punch Brothers, a 3-time Grammy Nominee and was awarded the first annual Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass in 2010.

Universal Favorite is the fourth record Noam Pikelny has released under his own name, but it’s truly his solo debut. His previous solo efforts—including 2014’s landmark Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe—were full-band affairs that revealed his abilities as a dynamic bandleader while reinforcing his reputation as an inventive accompanist. The new release features only the man himself, playing lovely originals and covers that showcase his unique approach to the instrument and compositional flair. He recorded them live in the studio without accompaniment, coaxing a wide array of sounds and colors out of his instruments, embracing the challenges and exploring the new possibilities of the solo setting. And, for the first time in his career, Pikelny even sings. It turns out he has a striking deadpan baritone that conveys humor and melancholy in equal measure.

This album, he says, “is the most personal statement I’ve put forward. The setting couldn’t be more stark and I think it lays bare my musical core. Most importantly, it’s an incredibly honest solo album, in that there are honestly no other people on this record other than me.“