Charlie Poole and Loudon Wainwright III are two names you might not expect to find in close proximity. In fact, unless you were a follower of pop music in the 1970s or a serious student of old time string music from the 1920s, you may not even recognize them. If you do know their music, however, the pairing makes perfect sense.
Both men came to the public’s attention quite suddenly with a hit recording. Poole only lived another six years after his debut in 1925, and Wainwright never regained the spotlight after his 1973 hit, Dead Skunk. Both men’s music has a vein of cynicism, often directed inward, and both showed a knack for humorous, clever, yet insightful songs.
Wainwright has taken Charlie Poole on for his next project, a 2 CD set to be followed by a documentary film called High, Wide & Handsome - The Charlie Poole Project. The songs mix many of Poole’s songs with traditional favorites he recorded, and a number of Wainwright originals that either tell of Poole’s life, or are imaginings of his life and times.
The sound is a mish mash of styles that works well with Wainwright’s creaky tenor voice, and the occasionally oddball Charlie Poole repertoire. There are four audio samples available on the High Wide & Handsomeweb site, including a rousing version of Don’t let Your Deal Go Down with Chris Thile on mandolin, if you want a taste.
The CD was produced by Dick Connette and the film directed by Michael Grenadier. The 2 disc set also includes detailed liner notes on Charlie Poole by Poole historian Kinney Rorrer.
In another interesting coincidence, Poole’s early success is often credited as providing the impetus for record companies to seek out old time country musicians from the Appalachian region in the 1930s, leading to the emergence of artists like Jimmy Rodgers and The Carter Family. In turn, the success of historical music projects like T-Bone Burnett’s soundtrack for Oh Brother, Where Art Thou may have been an inspiration for this album.
Here is the trailer, which serves as a fine introduction to the two projects.
Merlefest gets underway today. It’s one of the biggest festivals in the country and many, if not most, of your favorite bluegrass acts will be performing at some point during the week.
If you’re not there, but you’d like to know what’s going on. Or, if you are there, but you’d like to know what’s going on backstage, here’s your chance.
Our pal Wichita Rutherford is there all week and hanging out back stage with Doc and the other stars. He’s going to give us all a window into what’s happening, by Twittering his experiences. He tells me he plans to let us know who’s backstage and what they’re doing, what they’re eating, and who they’re talking to. Apparently there will be no privacy this year at Merlefest! Wichita will also be catching a few parking lot jams and letting us know what’s happening there.
Wichita tells me there may even be a friendly slap fight match or two. He’s challenged Tim Stafford, Terry Eldrige and Jerry Douglas among others. Of course, if Chris Thile shows up…
If Chris Thile shows there will be an all out slap fight brawl; a loser leaves MerleFest cage match, if you will.
I’m sure Wichita will let us know all the details if it happens. Be careful buddy!
In addition to just Tweeting the events as they happen, Wichita will also be posting photos on his Twitter page.
If you want to follow Wichita’s Tweets, then just go to Twitter.com, you’ll need an account, and search for WichitaR or Wichita Rutherford, and enjoy!
Punch Brothers are continuing to use their semi-regular Thursday show at The Living Room in New York City to try out some of their more adventurous undertakings.
We posted a video of them performing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major a month ago, and now there is video of them tackling Mozart’s Spring Quartet with banjo, mandolin, fiddle and guitar.
They played the fourth and final movement of the quartet (Molto allegro), which carries the full title The String Quartet No. 14 in G major, K. 387. It was composed in 1782 while Mozart was living in Vienna, and is the first of six quartets he wrote and dedicated to Joseph Haydn.
Serious students of classical music can decide for themselves how successfully Punch Brothers interpret Mozart’s music, but we at The Bluegrass Blog salute them for taking risks with their music, and pushing themselves - and the instruments they play - into places where they aren’t familiar.
There is a wealth of Punch Brothers media recently posted online, showcasing them both as exquisite musicians and fun guys.
First off, video from their 2/9 appearance on The Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour has been made available online. This program was wholly dedicated to Chris Thile’s ambitious composition, The Blind Leaving The Blind, which serves as the primary focus of the band’s debut release, Punch. It is written in four movements, combining lengthy intricate instrumental sections with a song-like story that weaves through the nearly 40 minute piece.
You can watch them perform all four movements online in Windows Media Video. Folks who found this piece a bit daunting on the CD may find that seeing them play it live makes the music much more accessible. I’ve seen them do this piece live and it strikes me as a breakthrough accomplishment on several levels.
When you have time for the whole thing, treat yourself to this video - and try to approach it without preconceptions.
The “fun guys” part can be found in two posts on the Punch Brothers blog.
On 2/4, fiddler Gabe Witcher (aka The Judge) brought forth a 2008 Punch Brothers year in photos, with dozens of pictures of their life on the road - complete with a running commentary. The vibe is silliness, showing the band acting out and behaving oddly for the camera, plus a visit to the friendly confines for a Cub game during a day off in Chicago.
Here are a few samples…
Then late last week, new bassist Paul Kowert introduced himself to readers of the band blog with an overview of life on the road with the Brothers, which he closes as follows:
Band idiocy is central to our lives, especially on the road. Here are some of the ways we entertain ourselves:
–Pull pranks on each other, like stealing Holt’s wallet and phone (texting each other embarrassing messages from his phone), tying each other’s instruments to chairs and tables, unbeknownst to the owner. Stealing each other’s shoes.
Nota bene: most of these pranks are instigated by Pickles and directed at Holt.
–Reference band member lore. Add details to lore, and expand upon each other’s nicknames.
Nota bene: most of this is instigated by Pickles and directed at Holt.
–Talk about women.
–Play with the iFart application on Pickles’ iPhone.
Continuing in their quest to prove that the familiar bluegrass ensemble (banjo, bass, fiddle, guitar, mandolin) is primarily a group of musical instruments - as opposed to bluegrass instruments - Punch Brothers are hard at work on a transcription of the 3rd Brandenburg Concerto from Johann Sebastian Bach.
This piece, officially titled Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048, was composed in 1721 for three violins, three violas, three cellos, bass and harpsichord. It was arranged for Punch Brothers by violinist Rob Moose, who performs the 3rd movement with the guys in this hand held video posted on YouTube.
The video was shot at a recent band show at The Living Room in NYC where they play on Thursday nights when they aren’t otherwise engaged. These shows are intended as a place to try out new material and just have fun on stage.
Banjoist Noam Pikelny implys that it isn’t a simple thing to take the banjo out of bluegrass..
“It was my first time playing any Bach in front of people, and I successfully resisted the primal urge to end the movement with a behind the bridge backwards rake a la Flop Eared Mule.”
Punch Brothers consists of Chris Thile on mandolin, Pikelny on banjo, Gabe Wichter on fiddle, Chris Eldridge on guitar and Paul Cowert on bass.
Chris Thile is the subject of a multimedia interview in the January edition of WebMusicBox, the online publication of the American Music Center. It is a conversation with Frank Oteri, founding editor of the webzine, presented both in text and video snippets online.
Thile talks about his impressions of various musical styles while growing up as a child prodigy [my term], how he composes (individually and with collaborators), and his experiences with Nickel Creek, Edgar Meyer, and his current Punch Brothers band mates.
At one point he even touches on the reasons why many of his early fans have had trouble following him on all of his musical adventures.
FJO: In one of Monroe’s early line-ups, before Earl Scruggs joined the group, there was even an accordion in the band for a while.
CT: Yeah. And they had a snare drum at the Opry a couple of times. It’s a matter of taste and the way you exercise that taste. And some people choose, I guess in the literal sense of it, not to exercise their taste, and not to develop it. “I like this right here, and I’d prefer for it not to change at all. This is what I like, and I’m not really interested in ever learning to like other things.” It gets frustrating when people get frustrated with you for not playing by those rules.
But I understand. Every now and then, I’ll get locked into the way musicians that I love sound. And they might put out a record that no longer fulfills that place that I’ve allocated to them. And temporarily—before I come to my senses and go, “Oh wait, that’s what I’m always doing”—I go, “Wow, I just want them to do that thing they did [before]. Oh, it’s so nice. Why are they doing this other thing?” But then I remember it’s because things change.
It is a lengthy and detailed interview, and the video includes clips of Nickel Creek, Punch Brothers and Chris with Edgar Meyer. Even casual fans of this mandolin giant will find it of interest, while serious students of his music will be fully engrossed - as in this description of the structure of Punch Bowl, the odd and haunting opening track from Punch.
FJO: Your tune for “Punch Bowl” is polytonal; it’s probably even more harmonically out there than The Blind Leaving the Blind.
CT: It is in a way. Especially because it sets you up to want something. The structure of Blind sets you up to be less reliant on tonality, even though Blind is totally a tonal piece. There’s no doubt about it. Maybe to a bluegrass fan it sounds real funny. I think bluegrass fans think it has more to do with Schoenberg than it does with Bill Monroe, which is so not the case. But, whatever; it’s fine. Tonality is in the ear of the beholder, I guess. But “Punch Bowl” is a song. I mean, it’s, you know, 3 minutes and 30 seconds or something like that. And it starts with a lick that gives you a hint that you’re going to have two [different] thirds throughout and, and that they will be used sort of interchangeably and simultaneously. But the texture indicates that you would be getting some pretty standard bluegrass tonality. And so when you don’t, I think it’s all the more jarring. And then there’s the subject matter. The point was to somehow represent musically the danger of party scenarios, especially if one maybe has no business being in kind of a reckless party scenario based on circumstances.
Punch, the debut CD from Chris Thile’s Punch Brothers, is among the nominees in the Best CDs of 2008 listener poll at NPR.com. The band is encouraging their many fans and friends to register at the NPR Community site, and cast a vote for them in the poll.
Punch is certainly high on my list of 2008 releases, one to which I find myself returning again and again. It is fascinating to hear Thile among his musical peers, on material created especially for this ensemble.
You can hear audio samples from Punch on the band’s MySpace page, or in iTunes.
Cast a vote at NPR.com (quick/free registration required).
There are live versions of Punch Bowl and the first movement of The Blind Leaving The Blind, both tracks from the band’s current CD, Punch. They also cut a version of Wilco’s Poor Places which they have been doing in their live show.
All three are available at Daytrotter for either online streaming or free download.
There are two special bluegrass radio shows on Friday morning (10/24) that will be streamed live online. Unfortunately, their air times coincide, so you’ll have to choose your own best option.
First up at 10:15 a.m., Jeanette Williams will join Carol Beaugard on WFDU to talk about her new CD, Thank You For Caring, and her participation in the third release from the Daughters Of Bluegrass, Bluegrass Bouquet, a celebration of female bluegrass artists and musicians. Music from these recordings will be featured as well.
Then at 11:00 a.m., Carol will welcome the ear-shattering instrumental duo Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile into the WFDU studio. The two have been out in support of their CD, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile, a CD/DVD combo project of mandolin/bass duets, ahead of their final show at Carnegie Hall next week.
Carol is a huge Thile fan so she’s sure to talk about his meteoric career at length, in addition to his current work with Meyer. Expect lots of music early in the show and in the 11:00 hour from the Meyer/Thile album, plus Nickel Creek, the Punch Brothers and Chris’ various solo CDs.
Her show, Lonesome Pine RFD, is broadcast from 9:00 a.m. to noon (EDT) on 89.1 FM in the NYC area, and streamed live online at WFDU.fm.
Claire Lynch will be in the studio with host Lee Michael Demsey to spread the word about her show at The Birchmere Friday night. Guitarist Jim Hurst and bass player Mark Schatz will accompany Claire for an impromptu set in WAMU’s Studio 3. They will also talk about what The Claire Lynch Band is up to for the rest of 2008 and beyond, and whatever else Lee Michael might come up with.
Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer were the sole guests on Monday’s (10/20) Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour, with the full 60 minutes dedicated to the music of their recent CD/DVD project, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile.Host Michael Jonathan also conducts brief interviews with both artists.
Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile features both an audio CD with 12 new compositions the duo wrote for this project, and a 50 minute DVD with rehearsals, performances and behind-the-scenes conversations. All the tunes are performed as duets on mandolin and upright bass.
Video in the Windows Media format can be found on the Woodsongs site.
Each year when the IBMA Awards nominations are announced, there are a couple of glaring absences in the roll call. For 2008, neither Cherryholmes nor any members of Punch Brothers were nominated, and Punch received only a single nomination, for Graphic Design, which it did not win.
Perhaps The Bluegrass Intelligencer has stumbled onto the reason for Thile’s shutout this year in a piece entitled Punch Brothers Compose Ambitious New Piece.
Punch Brothers, hot young pioneers of through-composed music for bluegrass instruments, have begun work on their most ambitious piece so far.
The band, which features Chris Thile on mandolin and vocals, will build upon the vast achievements of its previous 40-minute suite, “The Blind Leaving the Blind,” this time employing even more advanced compositional tools towards a singular objective: to estrange every single traditional bluegrass enthusiast without exception.
Later in this article, the uncredited author explores the techniques in advanced alienation which the group has refined.
According to Noam Pikelny, Punch Brothers’ banjo player, the group has been tirelessly refining its new concepts and execution. Pikelny, a former engineering student, has established an advanced theoretical basis for Punch Brothers’ effort to alienate all bluegrassers, coining the phrase “Radical Acute Conceptual Metamorphosis (RACM).”
Briefly, RACM is a technique for quickly and unexpectedly shifting between bluegrass and various mutually exclusive genres in order to minimize traditionalists’ enjoyment.
Nonesuch is set to release a CD/DVD combo project from Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile, titled Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile.
The CD includes 12 new instrumental compositions the two have c0-written, performed with Thile on mandolin and Meyer on bass.
The companion DVD features 50 minute’s worth of live performances, rehearsals and conversation between these two stellar virtuosos, who both separately and together have been responsible for some dramatic rethinking about the capabilities of their respective instruments.
The release date is September 23, and pre-ordering is enabled on the Nonesuch web site, where you can also hear the audio for one full track.
Well… the vote is in and Punch Brothers were defeated in the ESPN Baseball Tonight band competition by country singer Gretchen Wilson.
The contest was in honor of the 100th anniversary of the venerable Take Me Out To The Ballgame, written by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilze in 1908. Several popular musical acts were invited to submit their interpretations of the song, and though Punch Brothers made it into the final three, they were unable to overcome the 9th inning rally by Gretchen Wilson fans in the online balloting.
Unfortunately, there is controversy brewing as Punch Brothers banjoist Noam Pikelny has suggested that a “swift boat” attack had been launched against them on the ESPN web site.
There has been a lot of buzz in inside circles that this campaign might go negative. The first round victory of Punch Brothers, the undisputed underdogs, with their primitive acoustic instruments and piecemeal wardrobes, sent shockwaves across the nation. People’s fears of negative smear attacks were unfortunately realized the morning of Tuesday July 7.
The first “Swiftboat” Style attack on Punch Brothers first surfaced on the ESPN.com messageboard:
“I remember the first time I heard about this… I was watching baseball tonight and the Punch Brothers came on. I remember thinking “man, who hired these circus freaks”… No offense too Punch Brothers fans, but do you really think you picked the right band????????? It isn’t that hard to do what they did. I mean I could probably pull some people off the street (”Hey homeless guys, do you have instruments, and also, do you know the lyrics to `Take Me Out To The Ballgame’?”) and no one would know the difference (again, no offense). ” -hockeyplyr99
As of 3:30 PM, EST, neither the Wilson or Ozomatli campaign have denounced the smear.
Major news outlets are scrambling trying to come up with any ties between the Punch Brothers and “Circus Freaks.” An image of Punch Brothers banjoist, Noam Pikelny, has surfaced online where he is seen performing in a Chicken Suit.
Pikelny immediately issued a statement: “I will not apologize for my misspent youth. I also will not allow Carnies or Circus Freaks to become the new scapegoat of American Society. I believe Americans will see right through these vicious smear tactics, and the good name of Punch Brothers will be restored.”
The Punch Brothers have advanced to the final three in the ESPN’s Take Me Out To The Ballgame - Battle of the Bands. The Brothers are now competing against Gretchen Wilson and Ozomatli for the top spot.
You can still vote for their bluegrass version of the song in this final round (even if you voted previously). The winner will be announced during the July 13th episode of Baseball Tonight.
The video of their performance is available on that page, but I’ve embedded it below as well.
Brance posted a few weeks back about the online fan poll on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight web site to choose among nine new versions of the venerable diamond classic, Take Me Out To The Ballgame.
The competition was arranged to mark the 100th anniversary of the song’s first appearance, and the show’s producers asked nine popular artists to submit their versions.
Among the contestants is an entry from Chris Thile and Punch Brothers, who offer a take on the song featuring the well-known bluegrass combo of banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar and bass.
Semi-final voting ends this weekend, and the top three videos will be announced on the Sunday July 6 edition of Baseball Tonight (7:00 p.m. EDT), with a final winner named on July 13.
Here’s the Punch Brothers video entry for your consideration…
Be sure to vote for Punch Brothers and help Baseball Tonight honor two traditions with their winner - baseball… and bluegrass!
Mandolin master Chris Thile has had a long love affair with America’s favorite pastime. Thile’s great-great-grandfather is Baseball Hall of Famer, Sam Thompson. Thile himself, at one time, hoped to be a ball player. His first solo CD, Leading Off, featured a baseball diamond as part of the graphic content on the cover. His second CD, Stealing Second, also bears out the baseball connection.
Just last week John mentioned to me that he happened to see Chris on Baseball Tonight. Chris was performing solo at the time, but he’s taking the band out to the ball game tomorrow night.
An avowed Cubs fan, Thile is surely aware that 1908 was the last year his beloved Cubs won the World Series. 1908 was also the year the baseball seventh inning stretch anthem, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, was written. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the song, Baseball Tonight is holding a “battle of the bands” event. Nine different musical guests were asked to record a version of the song to air during different episodes of the show. Once all nine have been aired, fans will be able to watch them online and vote for their favorite.
I’m not sure what the winning performance wins, but if you’re a baseball fan and you’re reading this (I’m assuming you’re a bluegrass fan), then make sure you vote for Chris’ band, Punch Brothers. Their performance will be aired tomorrow, Wednesday, June 18, after the Cubs at Tampa Bay game. Let’s hope the Cubs win that game, and Chris wins the contest!
Voting will begin on June 29th. It will be narrowed to three performances on July 6th, and the winner will be announced on July 13th.
The show will broadcast live from Las Cruces, NM on May 31 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. (EDT) over a great many stations in the US, and on XM Satellite Radio track 133. Broadcast times vary from one affiliate to another, with many carrying the live feed on Saturday afternoons, and others running it instead early on Sunday afternoon. Check local listings for air times in your area.
You can also listen live online, accessed using Windows Media Player from the PHC web site. Past shows are also archived online, with audio files usually available by the Monday morning following a weekend broadcast.
The Summer 2008 issue of The Fretboard Journal is set to be mailed to subscribers next week, with a cover feature on Chris Thile. The piece is an interview, conducted by fellow mandolin trailblazer David Grisman, who graced the cover of the inaugural issue of the magazine in 2005.
Also profiled in this issue is resonator guitarist Jerry Douglas, and a lengthy interview with noted guitar builder Jean Larrivee is included as well.
We have spoken highly of this glossy, full color quarterly in the past for its use of heavy, archival-quality paper and for the excellence of the writing and photography.
Subscription and single issue order information can be found on The Fretboard Journalweb site.
posted by John on 05.15.08 @ 9:50 am Tag: Chris Thile
Chris Thile has found himself frequently tagged as something of a controversialist in bluegrass circles. As a teen, he was welcomed with open arms by the bluegrass world, who also cherished his role in the early work of Nickel Creek. As that band began to veer away from traditional string music, some saw Thile as a traitor of sorts, a view reinforced by his subsequent fusion of bluegrass instruments with pop and classical themes.
In interviews where he has discussed this - including his interview with Brance for The Bluegrass Blog - you don’t get the impression that he has sought this sort of notoriety, nor sees any reason for people to look at him in this way.
I found another Thile quote this morning in a piece published online in The Hook, an arts and entertainment magazine in Charlottesville, VA where Thile and Punch Brothers are performing this weekend. The article is prefaced on this notion that Chris was once hailed as the incoming saviour of bluegrass, and is now seen as a pariah by some traditionalists among the music’s fans.
At the end, the interviewer, Vijith Assar, suggests that the role of the young ambassador of bluegrass was his if he had wanted it.
“Ever since I was little, I’ve heard people saying that I was bringing bluegrass to the next generation and stuff like that, and I just never really cared. I don’t like the idea of spending my career allying myself so inseparably to something. I certainly get, after shows, young people saying ‘I never really listened to bluegrass until I found your music.’ I tell them, ‘Well, I don’t think you’ve really listened to bluegrass yet.’ I love bluegrass– I hope I don’t sound like I don’t– I’m just not personally concerned with its fate. I think it’ll be fine without me.”
The concert contains a complete performance of The Blind Leaving The Blind, split between the two sets. This is Chris Thile’s magnum opus of a string quintet for the bluegrass ensemble in four movements from their recent release, Punch. If you’ve wondered whether they can pull it off live, here’s your chance to find out online.
One aspect that may really strike you is the contrast between the seriousness of the music and the playful personalities of the band - Thile and banjo player Noam Pikelny most particularly.
While this site is built on the open source weblog system Wordpress, along with a number of third party plugins, it has been heavily modified and appended to suit our needs, including but not limited to the user interface, contact form, commenting system, user registration system, and a whole bunch of administration features behind the scenes.
The design, layout, polls, and everything else were developed and programmed by Brance Gillihan with invaluable aid, consultation, and input from Rodger Gillihan and John Lawless.
The ad management interface and tracking system is built on the open source program phpAdsNew.
Charlie Poole and Loudon Wainwright III are two names you might not expect to find in close proximity. In fact, unless you were a follower of pop music in the 1970s or a serious student of old time string music from the 1920s, you may not even recognize them. If you do know their music, however, the pairing makes perfect sense.
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Chris Thile has found himself frequently tagged as something of a controversialist in bluegrass circles. As a teen, he was welcomed with open arms by the bluegrass world, who also cherished his role in the early work of Nickel Creek. As that band began to veer away from traditional string music, some saw Thile as a traitor of sorts, a view reinforced by his subsequent fusion of bluegrass instruments with pop and classical themes.
