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[Audio] Chris Thile Talks Punch Brothers and Personal Projects

Courtesy of Nonesuch Records

The members of bluegrass band Punch Brothers are waist deep in personal projects and are just coming out of a 10-month break. As Chris Thile and “the boys” gear up for upcoming festivals, including ROMP Festival 2017 this Friday in Owensboro, Mike Gowen speaks with him about the interrelatedness of his projects and the theme of “The Phosphorescent Blues.”

That Chris Thile is a busy person is an understatement. Along with his work with the Punch Brothers, personal records, music festivals like ROMP and family life, he has recently added host of A Prairie Home Companion to his docket. But Thile does not seem intimidated by his workload. Rather, he says he finds it all so stimulating. He is able to bring what he might learn in one arena to the rest of his projects.

To illustrate, Thile describes the ease with which he and the other Punch Brothers members are able to make music together, especially within these last couple of weeks. When he returns to A Prairie Home Companion, he might ask “How can we make this more natural?” and bring about positive change on the show that stemmed from his experience with Punch Brothers. And it goes both ways.

 

Thile’s involvement in A Prairie Home Companion has not pushed out the music-making spirit of the Punch Brothers. He says it has allowed room for the band members to explore their status as individual music makers, as well. In the past 10 months, “Critter” (guitarist Chris Eldridge) paired with another guitarist. Banjo player Noam Pikelny did a solo tour. Fiddler Gabe Witcher explored the music community of the film and TV world. Bassist Paul Kowert played with a new band. But they are still part of Punch Brothers. As with A Prairie Home Companion, they all bring their experiences back to the band.

 

With all of this going on, the only time they are able to work on new music is on the road. They are in the process now of finding a theme for their new album.

 

Their most recent album, “The Phosphorescent Blues,” is centered around “...what the smartphone hath wrought,” Thile says. It is a meditation on what it means to be constantly connected with virtually the entire world, and how this connection affects us. Smartphones can take us across the planet, so to speak, but they can just as easily remove us from the moment we’re in. Thile points out that we become less connected in the name of becoming more connected.

 

Punch Brothers play at ROMP 2017 this Friday. The day after, they head to Ryman Auditorium in Nashville for a show that night. This show is particularly special because it’s one of their first together in 10 months, and because  “the Ryman,” as it’s been fondly dubbed, is like the “mother church of country music” for anyone who loves roots music.

 

Thile is still in the midst of recording solo albums and songs of the week for A Prairie Home Companion. Yet for all the excitement of his life now, he says he’s still a Murray boy at heart. When fall hits his Brooklyn apartment, he remembers the smell of tobacco of curing and it makes him want to rush to Dairy Queen in its last few days before closing for winter.

Mike Gowen is a lecturer in the Department of Wellness and Therapeutic Sciences. He visited Murray for the first time in 1988 and has called it home off and on for the last 23 years. He stays busy raising two children, Gabrielle and Jacob, two dogs, Sadie and Lakota and a cat, Socks. Mike is thankful for the Murray & WKMS community. He loves the local art & music scenes, as well as, the ever expanding farmer's markets. This is his second time around on Music From the Front Porch after a ten year hiatus. His words of advice, "go see more live music."
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