The interview takes the form of a question and answer session. Some attention is given to songwriting, but much of the discussion concerned Sara’s music background and influences, her experiences with Nickel Creek, and of course, her new CD. One interesting exchange concerned the transition from being a band member to a solo artist.

Having played with Nickel Creek for most of your life, what was it like transitioning to life as a solo artist?

It has been interesting and really exciting, empowering and also frustrating. And I want to learn how to do it better‚Äì “it” meaning I want to learn to manage myself better. I have a manager but I want to learn to be more self-sufficient and to be more capable and to just be able to handle more, like multi-tasking. I don’t want to be so overwhelmed with details about travel and logistics. I want to be able to handle all of that and still be able to put everything into a show.

Check out American Songwriter for the entire interview.

From the label’s description, it appears that her new album will hew closer to the Nickel Creek mold than Thile’s more adventurous acoustic direction, mixing folk, pop and fiddle music.

Watkins segues gracefully from the lighthearted country and western swing of Jimmie Rodger’s Any Old Time, to the world-weariness and spiritual yearning of Norman Blake’s Lord Won’t You Help Me, to the romantic wistfulness of Jon Brion’s Same Mistake. Though she still considers herself a neophyte as a songwriter, her own work is as evocative as any of the material she’s chosen to cover. Her wordless fiddle tunes are exuberant, foot-stomping pieces, while the songs for which she wrote both music and lyrics have a heart-meltingly lovelorn quality.

Jones, who made his name as the bass player with Led Zeppelin in the 1970s, has been actively involved in folk and acoustic music of late. He produced the most recent project from Uncle Earl, Waterloo, Tennessee.

The folks at Sugar Hill were delighted when it seemed that the DVD would be released on their label next year, but it now appears that the plans for the video shoot at the end of November have been scrapped.

The show is everything you’d expect from this youthful bunch of seasoned pickers. They performed their hits, starting with the newest ones and working their way backward towards The Fox, intermingled with newer material. As a fan of the band, it was great to get to hear them perform these songs live one more time, but the fun came from the newer material.

It’s not uncommon for rock, pop, or country bands to espouse political views from the stage, but it’s somewhat unheard of at a bluegrass show. I guess the freedom Nickel Creek enjoys from not having the bluegrass label firmly affixed, gave them the liberty to venture into that realm. They firmly stated their pro-progress stance, Chris was very firm about it, and addressed an issue of national concern to all, the state of our National Policy on Breakups. That’s right, they feel we need drastic reform in this area. Chris has even written a political protest type song on the matter. His song is titled, If You’re Going To Leave Me (Set Me Up With One Of Your Friends). The whole affair, including the dialog leading up to the performance, was quite possibly my favorite moment of the evening. Great music, and great humor!

Following that song, which Chris described as “ridiculous,” Sara gave us a preview of an upcoming solo CD by singing a breakup song she hopes to include on the recording. I believe Chris described her song as “sublime.”

What gripped me about the band’s performance was the fact that they have been playing some of these songs for years, yet corporately, and individually, they still manage to find room for exploration.

Overall, the show was good, but in a way, somewhat melancholy. I’m excited about Chris’ new band the Punch Brothers, and I’m sure Sean and Sara will play some great music in the future, but it’s always sad to say goodbye to a band you love.

Farewell Nickel Creek…for now.

Don’t forget that the last two shows of the tour will take place at the Ryman Auditorium later this month, and both shows will be taped for a future DVD release. Both shows are already sold out, but the DVD will be available to all!

The band is in the home stretch of their Farewell (For Now) tour, after which the three members (Chris Thile, Sean Watkins and Sara Watkins) will go their separate ways, pursuing other musical ventures. Thile has been recording with his new group, Punch Brothers, and the Watkins sibs have done shows with The Watkins Family Hour, and Sara has started work on a solo project.

This evening’s concert begins at 9:30 p.m. (ET) and will feature Nickel Creek with special guest, Bruce Molsky. Live streaming will be available at npr.org.

Speaking on Nickel Creek… We have been told that the band’s two final concerts – 11/28-29 at The Ryman in Nashville – will be filmed for a concert DVD, expected in 2008 from Sugar Hill Records.

The band is counting on concert goers to help them compile some video from the shows, and has asked fans to upload concert clips to YouTube. They will choose the best clips, and feature them on the Nickel Creek web site, and on their MySpace page.

As soon as you upload a video, they ask that you send the link by email.

Nickel Creek hits the road next month on their much anticipated farewell tour. The tickets are hot commodities for fans that are eager for one last chance to see them in concert. The Washington Post reported Tuesday about a fan that had purchased tickets online through Ticketmaster, only to be told later that Ticketmaster wasn’t authorized to sell the seats she had purchased. The venue offered her alternative seating in a much less ideal position. She was, of course, upset by this turn of events and rightly upset that neither entity would take responsibility and make things right. She also found tickets, in the section she had originally purchased, for sale online at inflated prices. Yet neither the venue or Ticketmaster offered to buy those tickets for her after they messed up.

That was the story on Tuesday. On Thursday the paper ran a follow up to the story. In Thursday’s follow up, the story develops that Nickel Creek learned of the injustice and swooped in to save the day. The band replaced the fan’s tickets with three seats front and center, demonstrating that at least they understand customer service.

I’m glad to see Nickel Creek delivering a quality of customer service that is commendable. You don’t see that everyday in America, at least not anymore.

Given the excitement and interest that always accompanies “farewell tours,” anyone hoping to catch Nickel Creek live before they disband might be well advised to seek out tickets as soon as possible.

Four songs from Thile’s set can be accessed online, all performed with only Chris’ voice and mandolin accompaniment. Fans of the new CD should find these sparse arrangements forming an interesting contrast with the recorded versions. The songs are Heart In A Cage, Stay Away, You’re An Angel, and I’m Gonna Cry, and Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground.

The flack Chris took for including what strikes us as a gratuitous profanity in the opening line of Heart In A Cage must had had some effect, as the line has been bowdlerized for this show.

If the link for the Thile audio doesn’t show up on Reg’s Recent Shows page, it should be in their Archives.

There is also a live Nickel Creek set on Reg’s site, recorded about a year ago. That show includes six songs: When In Rome, Jealous Of The Moon, Nice Dream, Reason’s Why, The Smoothie Song and Scotch & Chocolate.

Sugar Hill is set to release a special retrospective on the band next month, which will include 12 audio tracks from their previously released projects, 2 live audio tracks and a companion DVD with 7 Nickel Creek music videos.

The pre-released tracks are fairly evenly taken from Nickel Creek’s 3 Sugar Hill projects, and include the songs that got the most chart and video attention – like Smoothie Song, When In Rome, and When You Come Back Down, plus songs like Sara Watkin’s lovely and plaintive Out Of The Woods and Chris Thile’s The Lighthouse’s Tale from their self-titled “debut” from 2000.

The two live audio tracks were recorded at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, CA in November 2000. They are the band’s take on Keith Whitley’s You Don’t Have To Move That Mountain, a bluesy Gospel song Sara sings, as well as Chris’ tour-de-force performance of The Fox.

Nickel Creek concert goers will recall The Fox as a real show stopper when they performed it live. This cut launches with a mandolin solo, joined shortly by Chris’ voice, with the band drifting in over the first verse and chorus. What starts as a fairly conventional bluegrass treatment of the old folk song eventually expands, including bits of Bill Monroe’s Jerusalem Ridge and Big Mon, Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues, and J.S. Bach’s E Major Partita over the course of a 9 minute romp.

The DVD includes all 7 Nickel Creek videos.

The two disk set will be entitled Reasons Why (The Very Best), and is set for a November 14th release. The full track listings (audio and video) can be found on the Sugar Hill web site. All pre-orders from the Sugar Hill site will also be entered in a drawing for a Nickel Creek prize pack which includes 14 CDs – all of the Nickel Creek releases, plus their various side and solo projects.

The Washington Post

These are terrific songs, and their rhythmic and narrative thrust focuses the leader’s talents as never before.

We recorded this interview yesterday evening via the thilephone. Chris is on the road promoting his new CD, How To Grow A Woman From The Ground, and took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to us. We discuss the new record, preview some songs from it, and yes, we do discuss Nickel Creek and the recently announced dissolution of that band. From there Chris talks about his plans for the future and more.

John adds: I was particularly struck by Chris’ obvious passion for bluegrass music, and how pained he is by folks who try to explicity exclude his music from being included in even a broad definition of the term. His comments about what this rejection may mean for new fans who are drawn to his music, or Nickel Creek’s, are worthy of serious consideration by those who seek to define bluegrass narrowly.

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From the article on the Billboard site:

“After seven years straight of touring and three records behind us, it’s in our best interest to suspend Nickel Creek by the end of next year,” says group member Chris Thile, noting that he and Sara Watkins have been in Nickel Creek since they were eight years old.”

Read the whole article here.

Brance adds: Rex Hammock has a nice post about this on his blog.

Three songs recorded at the Bonnaro Festival in June are available on the AT&T Blue Room site. Included are Scotch & Soda, Somebody More Like You, and an extended version of The Fox.

There is another live performance of Scotch & Soda available on the Farmer’s Almanac TV site. This segment also features an interview with the band.

AT&T Blue Room has Bonnaro video from Bela Fleck & The Flecktones as well, P’Lod, Frontiers and Stomping Grounds.

VH1 has several Nickel Creek videos available online, including the two music video releases from their latest Sugar Hill release, Why Should The Fire Die, plus three songs from that CD performed live in the studio for VH1’s Live @ VH1.com feature. Find all of the online video clips here.

Six songs are included in the live Nickel Creek show, taken mostly from their last two CDs: When In Rome, Jealous Of The Moon, Nice Dream, Reason’s Why, The Smoothie Song and Scotch & Chocolate.

They have an eCard available for the project which includes band bios, photos, audio, video, wallpapers, IM icons, and more. The music video is the song “When In Rome”. I sure hope that wasn’t Chris’ good suit!

The full text of the press release follows.

NICKEL CREEK TO RELEASE WHY SHOULD THE FIRE DIE?
ON SUGAR HILL RECORDS AUGUST 9
GRAMMY-WINNING BAND’S THIRD ALBUM OFFERS FURTHER FOLK-POP INNOVATION

Nickel Creek is set to release their third album, Why Should The Fire Die?, on August 9, 2005. Working with producers Eric Valentine and Tony Berg, the platinum-selling band found innovative ways to capture their singular sound, resulting in a record that makes the listener sometimes wonder if there isn’t more than mandolin, guitar, violin and bass at play. Recorded on analog gear, each song is uniquely crafted – some sonically enhanced with vintage plate reverb, while others are recorded around a single stereo-microphone.

Valentine, unlike the band, did not grow up around traditional bluegrass instrumentation and helped Nickel Creek hear new roles for their instruments. He recognized the aggressive potential of their style, which until now, had not been captured on record. “Seeing the band live is a powerful experience. There are a moments where they are just explosive on-stage, and I wanted that in the record,” says Valentine. “I wanted moments on this record, moments where you think, how can three people and their instruments sound this big”

Indeed, Nickel Creek’s live performances have garnered legions of fans in wonder of their virtuosity, and the hybrid of genres that concoct a truly unique sound. Time named them “?Music Innovators for the New Millennium,”? and their 2002 release, This Side, captured the Grammy for “?Best Contemporary Folk Album.”?

The band spent the three years between albums not only touring, but exploring their craft via solo projects and collaborations. Violinist Sara Watkins’ work can be found on many projects including Ray LaMontagne’s Trouble, while sibling guitarist Sean Watkins has found new co-writing partners and side projects. Both can be frequently found sitting in with Jon Brion at his legendary Largo gigs. Thile most recently issued Deceiver, a more rock-influenced album on which he played over 26 instruments, before hitting the road with classical bassist Edgar Meyer. As a band they have performed with not only John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin fame but also the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The past three years brought a new depth to their playing, and also enriched their songwriting, epitomized by the Chris Thile/Gary Louris song “Jealous of The Moon.” Fans will recognize favorite Nickel Creek songs from live shows – including the blistering instrumental “Scotch and Chocolate,” the powerful “When In Rome,” and the faith questioning “Doubting Thomas.” Sara Watkins’ penned show-stealer, “Anthony,” evokes a 1920-era flavor, while the title track has threads of CSN&Y harmonies.

Ultimately, Nickel Creek hopes that these songs will live beyond the album”?recreated and reinterpreted when fans get together to play in their own jam sessions. “We would love for people to adopt these songs into their lives.”