2008 Woodie Awards
Innovative folk group visits Northwest Arkansas
Stacy Mossberger
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: Lifestyles
The Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile will be making their way through the Walton Arts Center tomorrow night on their promotional tour for their newest CD, Punch.
The band, whose name comes from the Mark Twain short story, "Punch, Brothers, Punch!," is made up of five members: guitarist Chris Eldridge, bassist Paul Kowert, banjo player Noam Pikelny, violinist Gabe Witcher and mandolin player Chris Thile, who handpicked each member of the band.
Each individual is well-known for performing folk, bluegrass and traditional music. Witcher, a long-time friend of Thile, has performed with artists like Willie Nelson and Beck, and has been featured on the soundtracks ranging from "Toy Story" to "Brokeback Mountain." Pikelny has collaborated with acoustic heavyweights John Cowan and Tony Trischka, while Eldridge is a founding member of the Infamous Stringdusters.
The group is led by Thile, who wrote "The Blind Leaving the Blind," the four-movement 40-minute suite which makes up the bulk of Punch. The composition, which was written over a period of a year and a half, is based off of the story of his marital breakup and its aftermath. The lyrics that Thile incorporated avoid the familiar set-up that can be found in pop songs.
"I wanted the work to be more anecdotal, conversational and episodic," said Thile, whose suite covers all of the possible range of emotions. "I wanted to present a broad spectrum of emotions and activities that the ending of a serious relationship contains."
Although Thile had the general outline of the suite lined out, a large part of it was influenced by his band members, with whom he co-wrote the remaining four songs on Punch.
"I've daydreamed about what I wanted it to sound like and what I wanted to hear," he said. "I spent a lot of time just thinking about what I wanted it to be. The piece was very much formed by the reactions of my bandmates to the little bits that I would show them."
When working on his pieces, Thile said he tries not to pay attention to specific composers because he is more concerned with what sounds good and what it is about the music that makes it sound good. He, however, does name Bela Bartok as a composer he admires.
"[Bartok] injected the lessons he learned from folk into his music, and he found a way to blend folk sensibility with regular sensibility," Thile said.
The Punch Brothers will mainly be performing from their newest CD, Punch, but Thile said that the band will probably add in some pieces that fans will be surprised to hear.
The concert will take place 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Walton Arts Center. Ticket prices range from $18-28 and can be purchased by calling the center's box office at 443-5600 or by visiting waltonartscenter.org.
The band, whose name comes from the Mark Twain short story, "Punch, Brothers, Punch!," is made up of five members: guitarist Chris Eldridge, bassist Paul Kowert, banjo player Noam Pikelny, violinist Gabe Witcher and mandolin player Chris Thile, who handpicked each member of the band.
Each individual is well-known for performing folk, bluegrass and traditional music. Witcher, a long-time friend of Thile, has performed with artists like Willie Nelson and Beck, and has been featured on the soundtracks ranging from "Toy Story" to "Brokeback Mountain." Pikelny has collaborated with acoustic heavyweights John Cowan and Tony Trischka, while Eldridge is a founding member of the Infamous Stringdusters.
The group is led by Thile, who wrote "The Blind Leaving the Blind," the four-movement 40-minute suite which makes up the bulk of Punch. The composition, which was written over a period of a year and a half, is based off of the story of his marital breakup and its aftermath. The lyrics that Thile incorporated avoid the familiar set-up that can be found in pop songs.
"I wanted the work to be more anecdotal, conversational and episodic," said Thile, whose suite covers all of the possible range of emotions. "I wanted to present a broad spectrum of emotions and activities that the ending of a serious relationship contains."
Although Thile had the general outline of the suite lined out, a large part of it was influenced by his band members, with whom he co-wrote the remaining four songs on Punch.
"I've daydreamed about what I wanted it to sound like and what I wanted to hear," he said. "I spent a lot of time just thinking about what I wanted it to be. The piece was very much formed by the reactions of my bandmates to the little bits that I would show them."
When working on his pieces, Thile said he tries not to pay attention to specific composers because he is more concerned with what sounds good and what it is about the music that makes it sound good. He, however, does name Bela Bartok as a composer he admires.
"[Bartok] injected the lessons he learned from folk into his music, and he found a way to blend folk sensibility with regular sensibility," Thile said.
The Punch Brothers will mainly be performing from their newest CD, Punch, but Thile said that the band will probably add in some pieces that fans will be surprised to hear.
The concert will take place 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Walton Arts Center. Ticket prices range from $18-28 and can be purchased by calling the center's box office at 443-5600 or by visiting waltonartscenter.org.
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