Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
Group Members: Chris Thile, Noam Pikelny, Bryan Sutton
All Music Guide:
After Nickel Creek disbanded in 2007, mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile assembled an all-star quintet called Punch Brothers (the name comes from the Mark Twain short story Punch, Brothers, Punch!) with guitarist Chris Eldridge, formerly of the Infamous Stringdusters; bassist Greg Garrison, who has played with Ron Miles and Leftover Salmon; banjo player Noam Pikelny, who has worked with John Cowan and Tony Trischka; and violinist Gabe Witcher, a sought-after session musician and a member of Jerry Douglas' band for a half dozen years. The new group quickly signed with Nonesuch Records and issued a debut album, Punch, in 2008, which was anchored by Thile's ambitious 40-minute, four-part suite "The Blind Leaving the Blind." The double disc (plus a third DVD concert disc) Antigogmatic, produced by Jon Brion, followed from Nonesuch in 2010.
Wikipedia:
Punch Brothers are a progressive bluegrass band. The band consists of Chris Thile (mandolin), Gabe Witcher (fiddle/violin), Noam Pikelny (banjo), Chris Eldridge (guitar), and Paul Kowert (bass). Their style has been described as "bluegrass instrumentation and spontaneity in the strictures of modern classical."
History
2006-2007: Beginnings and Grow
Thile formed the band in 2006 to record the album How to Grow a Woman from the Ground. In an interview with the Nashville City Paper, Thile described the formation of the band:
We got together one night just to drop a ton of money, drink too much wine, eat steaks, and commiserate about our failed relationships. We had gotten to play together a few days before and we had said that we needed to do something musical together. With our hearts smashed to pieces, it became more urgent — our lives had gone the same way for so long. I knew I wanted to have a band with Gabe [Witcher], but I didn’t know if it would be a rock ensemble, an ambitious acoustic classical thing or a bluegrass group. We played, and there was a serious, instantaneous connection. Then I knew I wanted to put together a bluegrass band — one with a lot of range, but aesthetically a bluegrass band.Initially the band was known as "The How to Grow a Band." In 2007, the band officially changed its name first to "The Tensions Mountain Boys" and then settled on "Punch Brothers." The band names comes from the critical line of a virus-like jingle that is the centerpiece of Mark Twain's short story A Literary Nightmare (later re-published as Punch, Brother, Punch).
2007-2009: "The Blind Leaving the Blind" and Punch
On March 17, 2007, this group debuted Chris Thile's most ambitious work to date at Carnegie Hall: "The Blind Leaving the Blind", a forty minute suite in four movements. Thile says the piece was written in part to deal with his divorce of 2003.
On February 13, 2008, the band set off on their first countrywide tour as Punch Brothers.
On February 26, 2008, Punch Brothers released the album, Punch, on Nonesuch Records. The album features Thile's suite "The Blind Leaving the Blind", as well as other original songs.
In March 2008, when Chris Thile was asked in an interview if there would be another album by Punch Brothers, Thile said that "there will definitely be another album."
On November 8, 2008, the band announced on their website that they parted ways with bass player Greg Garrison. Paul Kowert, who studied under Edgar Meyer at the Curtis Institute of Music, takes Garrison's place on the bass.
2010: Antifogmatic
Antifogmatic, the second album by Punch Brothers, was released on June 15, 2010 and features both traditional bluegrass and newgrass styles on the ten-track listing. Though bassist Kowert toured extensively with the band in support of Punch over the last two years, Antifogmatic is the first Punch Brothers album on which he appears.
2011: Documentary How to Grow A Band
The band is also the focus of the documentary "How to Grow A Band" directed by Mark Meatto. It was filmed over a two year period and, according to the website, "explores the tensions between individual talents and group identity, art and commerce, youth and wisdom." The film premiered at the 42nd Nashville Film Festival in Nashville, Tennessee on April 15, 2011. The film also screened as part of the 38th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival in June 2011.
2012: Who's Feeling Young Now?
The band released its third album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, in February 2012. Shortly afterwards, they contributed the song 'Dark Days' to the soundtrack for 2012 blockbuster 'The Hunger Games'.
