Punch Brothers Explain What Hasn’t Changed

The Bluegrass Situation interviewed all five members of Punch Brothers upon the release of their compelling new album, All Ashore. At the end of the individual interviews, we asked each member just one question that overlapped: “So much has changed in the music world – and even in your band’s musical evolution – over the last ten years. But what would you say has stayed the same between that first record and now?”

As one would expect from Punch Brothers – who are nominated for IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year – every member offered an interesting perspective. (Read the other interviews here.)

Gabe Witcher: “The thing that’s stayed the same is, I think, the level of excitement we all have, still, just to play music with each other. And the shared wish to keep exploring what this ensemble can do, and to keep reaching for new things. Making new discoveries. Finding new sounds. Everyone is so super committed to that on their own, but also, once we get together, it’s kind of a miracle in a way. This kind of spontaneous and natural thing that happens when new, exciting things keep popping up. Like, ‘Oh my God, that’s awesome! What is that? Remember that, save that. Let’s use that. Let’s figure out what that is.’ That has never gone away. And I think that as long as that thing’s there, we’ll continue to make music.”

Chris Eldridge: “To me, in a way it’s all the same and it’s all different. I feel like we’re doing now what we were doing then, and in a way, it doesn’t feel so different to me in terms of how we want to work on our music. … I feel like consistently from then until now, there has been a real sense of wanting to be a band. I think that’s kind of the thing. Whatever is cool about the Three Musketeers – all for one, one for all – that from the get-go was the thing and still very much is a thing.

“Everybody is playing pretty selflessly in Punch Brothers and everybody really just wants the music to be good. At the end of the day, that’s the overriding thing that’s what brought us together as people, that’s what keeps us together as people, as musicians. We all just really love music and we share a common vision about how it should be and what it can be.

“Even as people have different ideas to move things forward, most notably Thile, there’s always been a real shared sense of purpose in this band. It should be that way for any band, but somehow, sometimes, I don’t think it is. And I think that’s been one of the things that has really contributed to us still wanting to make music together and working hard on it when we do. We just love music and we always have.”

Paul Kowert: “So, we live in the most politically tumultuous time of our lifetimes. We’re in our mid-30s, that’s a big change. Among the bandmates, three of us are married and two of them have kids, so that’s a huge change. I mean, that influences the tour schedule a little bit. Besides that, I don’t know what’s really different, you know? I mean we’re just making more music.”

Noam Pikelny: “I think everyone in the band genuinely likes each other. That’s like a rare thing. Paul is in the corner, shaking his head. (laughs). But we genuinely like each other as human beings and I think we really respect each other musically. So there’s this real sense of responsibility to each other to keep this as part of our musical lives. To me that’s a beautiful thing, that this is something that we can keep coming back to over the years. It doesn’t always have to be the main project. It could go dark for a couple of years while people are doing other things, it could come back. And it feels like not that much time has passed.

“The reason we decided to transition from just an album [Thile’s 2006 project, How to Grow a Woman From the Ground] into a band is probably the same reason why we’re still making music together right now. It’s artistically rewarding and I think we decided to keep doing this beyond the first album because we felt we were just scratching the surface of what was possible. … And 12 years later, I still have this sense of, ‘Well, we’re just scratching the surface, so we’re gonna keep doing it.’ There’s still more we want to uncover.”

Chris Thile: “We love making music with each other. We crave making music with each other. When we are in the midst of other projects, no matter how much we are enjoying those other projects, there is always this feeling, like, ‘I can’t wait to get back with my boys and see what they think about this….’ I think that a mutual love and respect has resulted in a partnership that will last until one of us dies.”


Photo credit: Josh Goleman

Artist of the Month: Punch Brothers

To celebrate our Artists of the Month and their brand new album, All Ashore, we interviewed each individual member of the Punch Brothers, exploring the processes, circumstances, and factors that led to the creation of this latest crop of songs. The themes and responses are just as diverse as the five men themselves and their musical approaches.

Gabe Witcher, the fiddle player – and some might say secret weapon – in Punch Brothers, has been a performer for nearly his whole life. As a kid, he toured the Southwest playing bluegrass with his family’s band; that’s how he met Chris Thile, forming a musical friendship that has spanned more than three decades. Though his stage presence is low-key, his musicianship is undeniable, playing as joyously or mournfully as a song requires. This is also true on All Ashore. [Read Gabe’s interview]

Paul Kowert came on board as bassist for the Punch Brother about 10 years ago, stepping into a band of musicians he knew casually but admired greatly. In the following decade, he’s gained even more visibility in the world of acoustic music through his band Hawktail and a gig as bassist for David Rawlings Machine. His versatility is reflected in the list of bassists he cites as influences: Edgar Meyer, Mark Schatz, and Roy Milton “Junior” Huskey. He’s quick to admit that he’s not a lyricist, yet his musical contributions definitely shape the undercurrent of the new record. [Read Paul’s interview]

Chris Eldridge, the good-natured guitarist for Punch Brothers, comes by his bluegrass pedigree honestly. As a young man, he attended innumerable shows by Seldom Scene, a pioneering ensemble whose lineup included his father, banjo player Ben Eldridge. After studying at Oberlin Conservatory, he co-founded the Infamous Stringdusters, which won three IBMA Awards following their 2007 debut project, Fork in the Road. Indeed that album title proved auspicious, as Eldridge took a different path with the formation of Punch Brothers – a rewarding partnership that a decade later has yielded their newest project. [Read Chris’s interview]

Noam Pikelny has a dry delivery only when he’s joking around. But as the banjo player in Punch Brothers, his playing is crisp, inventive, and in step with his colleagues. This is especially true on All Ashore, which explores the personal challenges of relationships as well as the growing political divide in America. This year he’s nominated for IBMA Banjo Player of the Year, while his two previous solo albums earned Grammy nominations. His Twitter bio sums it up: “Widely considered the world’s premier color blind banjoist. Punch Brother.” [Read Noam’s interview]

Chris Thile is walking briskly into the venue while chatting agreeably about Punch Brothers’ new album. He’s used to multi-tasking, of course. In addition to kicking off an extensive tour with that eclectic band, he hosts the public radio show Live From Here, and he’s also a husband and father with a lot on his mind – particularly when it comes to the state of the world. [Read Chris’s interview]


Illustrations by Zachary Johnson

Punch Brothers’ Paul Kowert: Musically Driven

Paul Kowert came on board as bassist for the Punch Brother about 10 years ago, stepping into a band of musicians he knew casually but admired greatly. In the following decade, he’s gained even more visibility in the world of acoustic music through his band Hawktail and a gig as bassist for David Rawlings Machine. His versatility is reflected in the list of bassists he cites as influences: Edgar Meyer, Mark Schatz, and Roy Milton “Junior” Huskey. He’s quick to admit that he’s not a lyricist, yet his musical contributions definitely shape the undercurrent of Punch Brothers’ newest album, All Ashore.

This interview is the second of five installments as the Bluegrass Situation salutes the Artist of the Month: Punch Brothers.

I really like the bass line of “Just Look at This Mess.” What do you think that song is about? Tell me what you were hoping to capture in that song.

Well, I might as well cut to the chase here and say that I don’t really engage a whole lot with the lyrics, personally. I listen to them and everything, but in terms of my interaction with the music, I get most of what I need from just getting inside my bandmates’ musical expression. I attach to a feeling that comes with the way that they’re playing and they’re singing. That’s pretty much the extent of it. The songs have a trajectory that can be strictly musical. That’s how I interact with the songs.

That’s interesting, so you’re listening for the feeling. To me, that song seems ominous and disturbing. What kind of feelings did you hear in that song?

That song is divided into three segments that are really contrasting, but at the beginning, I think it’s simple enough to say that I can feel how Thile wants the song to feel, just by the way he’s playing the mandolin and the way he’s manipulating his voice. And you know, the sound of the words is as important as the feeling. And it’s all really the same thing. Like the sibilance and how long he holds on to an “s,” and where he places a hard consonant in the beat. That’s as expressive as anything to me. I latch onto those kinds of things.

If I had to put it into words – which I never have – I wanted it to sit there, like a … well, like a mess on the floor, you know? I mean, that’s not necessarily the meaning, per se, of the storyline necessarily. But he’s saying, “Just look at this mess.” And where he’s placing the mandolin, and the way that melody sounds, and the way he’s singing it…. For me as a bass player, I wanted the bass and the mandolin to kind of combine, to make something that didn’t really have any forward drive. It sits there. So, that’s my response.

I saw you at the Ryman, and I couldn’t help but notice how often you were brought up to the front, in comparison to some bands I see where the bass is always hovering in the back. And I wondered just how much time and thought goes into the staging — you know, where everybody’s going to stand during the songs?

It’s all musically driven. It has to do with how you monitor on stage, which means how you hear your band members and yourself. And the sound coming out of the speakers. That’s what I mean by monitoring. So, putting me in the middle makes the bass sonically accessible to everyone on stage somewhat. But also, it puts me in a position where I can get into the vocal mic. ‘Cause I sing harmony sometimes. And it puts me in a place where I can lock with my two most consistent rhythm counterparts, which are the mandolin and the guitar.

I can always hear Gabe on the fiddle, because he kinda occupies his own sonic space. And the banjo, I just put into my in-ear monitor so I can hear Noam. And sometimes I walk over there to hear him. Like I said, it’s all musically driven. It’s so we can hear each other and play together. And just play the best music that we can play.

You mentioned singing harmony. A lot of people talk about the musicianship, which is excellent, but do you think that vocal blend is also important to the Punch Brothers’ sound and vibe?

It’s something that we focus a lot on because we’re better players than we are singers. During soundcheck, we spend a lot of our time focusing on getting the vocals sounding better, because we need to. That’s just where we need to spend our time. It demands the most of our attention. But that’s because the playing is easier for us. In terms of whether it’s an important part of the sound, yeah, anything with vocals, the vocals suck up a lot of your attention, right?

But also, the way our music is written, the performance of the vocals, the precision, and blend of the vocals is an important factor. …. When you hear multiple voices come together singing, it’s a powerful thing. It’s just the way that across the board. It’s not just the Punch Brothers, it’s everybody who does that. Voices coming together in harmony – that’s a powerful thing.


How did you become interested in playing bass? What drew you to that instrument?

I was in violin, then when I was nine, I wanted to start playing another instrument to participate in the strings program [at] my elementary school. My friends were all starting an instrument for the first time, so I wanted to do that, too. So, I started playing the bass as well as the violin. I was just having more fun playing the bass, so I just stuck with the bass and I put the fiddle down for a while. In recent years, I picked it back up, and I play fiddle music on it now.

Plus, you know, as a young person it was fun for me to play the bass, because I could play in a rock ‘n’ roll band. I could play Paul Simon music or The Beatles on electric bass. And upright bass in a jazz combo, with a trumpet, drum set, and a guitar player or a keyboard player. And that was a social thing, that was fun, and it was musically expressive. I enjoyed playing bass for the collaborative reasons as much as anything.

I know you’ve got Hawktail still, and you’re touring David Rawlings Machine. I can imagine it’s a challenge to balance three different things. Is that hard for you or does it come pretty naturally?

Oh no, it’s hard. But it would be harder for me not to do it. To put it simply, Hawktail affords me a chance to pursue sounds that I really hear. I do more writing for that group myself. It’s instrumental music and I’m primarily an instrumentalist. It gives a chance to really let my instrument be the voice. Simply put, that’s the differentiation.

And playing with Dave and Gillian, these are just people I admire. I really love their music. And it’s a different angle, sort of, on a similar instrumentation. It’s a somewhat similar well of influences in the grand scheme of thing, maybe. You know, they wanted a bass and I’m not going to turn that down!


Illustration: Zachary Johnson
Photo: Courtesy of Red Light Management

The Hit Points, ‘Guile’s Theme’

Bluegrass, as a genre, is built upon nostalgia. Especially in its contemporary iterations. Modern bluegrass plays like a primer of the form itself, referencing the genre’s founders, its historical moments, its popular songs, and all of its favorite themes and buzzwords, no matter how trope-ish — because nostalgia is a commodity.

But, what’s that sound? It’s not pining for the hills and home, it’s nostalgia for an entirely different time, place, and feeling. The feeling being a creeping dread at the inevitability of your loss at the hands of Ryu, E. Honda, or Chun-Li. The decadent, joyful nostalgia that The Hit Points — fiddler guru Eli Bishop (Lee Ann Womack, the Deadly Gentlemen) and banjo wizard Matt Menefee (Cadillac Sky, ChessBoxer) — conjure on their blazing cover of “Guile’s Theme,” from Nintendo’s iconic video game, Street Fighter, will send you careening back in time. You’ll land on a couch, or high pile carpet, or flimsy futon in front of a TV, where as youths (or as youthfuls), you consumed hours and hours of video game entertainment. And with it, you also consumed hours and hours of incredible music, without ever realizing that the otherworldly, impossibly complicated tunes could actually be performed by human beings. Let alone by bluegrass musicians, on bluegrass instruments, with such ease and aplomb that it would nearly strike listeners as just another new acoustic, Dawg-grass tune.

The Hit Points’ debut, self-titled project is chock-full of nearly note-for-note covers of 8-bit music, crafted with loving care and aggressive creativity — and surrounded by a talented cast that includes Jake Stargel (Mountain Heart), Sierra Hull, Royal Masat (Billy Strings), and Paul Kowert (Punch Brothers), it shouldn’t be a surprise. This is instrumental acoustic music and bluegrass pickin’ at its best.

Hawktail, ‘El Camino Pt. 2’

Not long ago, the bluegrass-meets-old-time-plus-chamber-music supertrio that consisted of fiddler Brittany Haas, bassist Paul Kowert, and guitarist Jordan Tice stopped simply billing themselves by their last names, added mandolinist Dominick Leslie to the fold, and renamed their outfit Hawktail. Their debut album, Unless, solidifies their status as a concrete ensemble — a grown, autonomous entity, more than just a collection of friends and string band experts who happen to enjoy playing tunes together here and there, when tour schedules allowed and stars aligned. Fortunately, that solidification was not predicated upon the elimination of the spontaneity, whimsy, and kineticism that shone through their picking as they grew from a pick-up band to an established trio to this, their current, matured form.

On “El Camino Pt. 2,” you can hear the live audience responding to this kineticism, watching in palpable awe while these four young paragons of acoustic music dialogue with each other. As they ebb and flow, rise and fall, they demonstrate to every listener that that feeling among the crowd, the exciting premonition that everything could, at any point, careen off the rails, is purposeful and under precise control. After all, this is one reason why old-time and bluegrass are so appealing: When you are in the presence of true virtuosos, players whose musicality transcend their instruments, quite literally anything can happen. The fact that Hawktail never forsake their exquisite taste, their sometimes quirky, funky, or nerdy personalities, their supremely traditional influences, or their penchant for everybody-hold-onto-your-hats fun while maintaining their deliberate, cohesive voice as an ensemble makes it even more adventuresome to follow wherever they may lead.

Hangin’ & Sangin’: Caitlin Canty

From the Bluegrass Situation and WMOT Roots Radio, it’s Hangin’ & Sangin’ with your host, BGS editor Kelly McCartney. Every week Hangin’ & Sangin’ offers up casual conversation and acoustic performances by some of your favorite roots artists. From bluegrass to folk, country, blues, and Americana, we stand at the intersection of modern roots music and old time traditions bringing you roots culture — redefined.

With me today in the Writers’ Rooms at the Hutton … Caitlin Canty.

Hello!

I’m glad you’re here!

Me, too!

You have a new record, Motel Bouquet.

That is correct.

It’s your third record.

Yes.

We’ve hung out, but I’ve never actually gotten to interview you, so I have some questions.

Fire away.

The record, Motel Bouquet, produced by Noam Pikelny.

That’s right.

It’s such a dreamy record. The first time I listened to it was a snow day, and it was perfect … although listening to it on an allegedly spring day also works. But the pedal steel, the strings, the banjo, this web of dreaminess under your dreamy voice and your lovely songs. Let me ask, though, did you have trouble finding a decent banjo player? [Laughs] Because I know those are in short supply.

[Laughs] I started working on Noam with these … we played a couple shows together, and he and I had written two songs that are on this record. I’ve never worked with a producer I’d written with. He had already brought his ideas, when we’d played as a duo, he’d brought his thoughts to the table. So we went into the studio one day with some folks to catch one song, and we got three others that day, and it was so much fun and it felt so good that we booked two more days. That’s how this came together.

Because it came together really quickly.

Ooh, no.

Almost too quickly?

No! [Laughs]

Well, I mean the recording!

When I walked through the studio doors on that first day, everything since then has felt easy and fun and right and natural, like I won the lottery. The people I played with on the record … for people who aren’t scrolling through my press release right now … Stuart Duncan played fiddle, Jerry Roe played drums, Russ Paul played pedal steel, Noam played electric guitar, Paul Kowert played upright bass. That was the core band, and me and my Recording King. We were at Josh Grange’s studio in town, and it felt so good. We also got some backing vocals from my favorite singer on the planet, Aoife O’Donovan. Gabe Witcher also played some fiddle while they were on tour with Noam, weeks after we cut this. So the core thing was live in the room.

And with that limited time, you have to have the best of the best, and everyone has to walk in ready to go. The songs have to be solid — you can’t be sitting in the corner finishing the chorus.

No, we had charts and had thought through the arrangements. The folks who were coming to the table, they are those musicians who can turn on a dime and they are folks who have their own sound, their own ideas. What really struck me about this recording, more than a lot of situations I’ve been in was, when you have people with such strong personalities, but there’s no ego involved. That’s a really interesting balance, and I feel really lucky to have that — when people can bring their own thing, but also be supportive of the song and can put the voice in front. They have an idea of what they want to bring, but not step on the toes of another person.

They’re still there to serve the song.

It’s amazing. It was so fun. I wish it took 100 days to record! [Laughs] But the pre-roll, the reason I was rolling my eyes about it only taking three days was, before took so long! Constant editing and writing new stuff.

So you guys mapped it out pretty tightly going in, knowing that you were gonna be limited.

Yeah, and some of these songs I’d played.

You’d road tested them for a while.

Yes, and some were brand new — I’d never played them with anyone before. It was a good mix of the tried and true that had never found their sound, their place yet on an EP or the band hadn’t hit that sweet spot yet. It was just … I wish you could have been there!

I wasn’t invited, Caitlin, or I would’ve stopped by! [Laughs] What’s interesting to me, in listening to it, because I’m still somebody who listens to a record all the way through, a whole piece.

Thank you. Me, too.

And there are a lot of different things going on style-wise, but it’s still very cohesive as a piece. What do you think’s the magic there, the glue? It’s not just your voice.

Certainly not that. I think it’s the programming of this as only a handful of days means that you’re in the same mindset, you’re in the same time and place. You have the same people involved so they can see what we’re doing. It’s not like you just walk into a scenario and you leave it and hear about it three years later. They were the band.

Or you weren’t jumping around to different studios with different players, something like that.

I think the glue is when people can share that moment together. I almost feel like, when you’re in a van on tour, there’s an overlapping of our thoughts, in a way. Once you start eating together and hanging with each other, there’s just something that happens.

Watch all the episodes on YouTube, or download and subscribe to the Hangin’ & Sangin’ podcast and other BGS programs every week via iTunes, SpotifyPodbean, or your favorite podcast platform.


Photo credit: David McClister

WATCH: Hawktail, ‘Abbzug’

Artist: Hawktail (formerly known as Haas Kowert Tice)
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Song: “Abbzug”
Album: TBD
Release Date: April 2018

In Their Words: “Fiddle tune with a walking bass line. Britt wrote the melody. Her title is a tribute to Edward Abbey. This video is from the recording session of our forthcoming record at Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville.” — Paul Kowert


Photo credit: Jody March

‘Nashville Obsolete’

There's a reason why pretty much everything to come from the house of David Rawlings and Gillian Welch immediately goes to the top of every Americana list on planet Earth. They are a pair of formidable talents — artists who precisely evoke the essence of traditional country music yet never sound like Americana mockingbirds.

For this record — a compact set of just seven tunes spanning about 45 minutes — they once again sow the seeds of traditional country, nurture them with modern sensibility, and reap their own unique harvest. There's Nashville in the water and Southern California in the air on "The Weekend," a tune that presents Rawlings and Welch singing harmony from note one. It feels like a 40-year flashback in a Laurel Canyon time machine, with a short stay at Bradley's Barn. "Short Haired Woman Blues," too, has a certain cowgirl-in-the-sand brand of shimmer, a slow-weaving bonfire-on-the-beach sing-along punctuated by gentle string accents. The epic, 11-minute narrative of "The Trip" is a stream of consciousness expedition into the exquisite — their poetry like Dylan, their textures like the Byrds. "The Bodysnatchers" is a supernatural story of supernatural superstitions, the ghosts in the hollow, the monsters under the bed. Rawlings and Welch pick up the tempo for the rail-riding rumble of "The Last Pharaoh," get a bit buttery on "Candy," and shoot for the plaintive soul of the plains on "Pilgrim (You can't Go Home)." 

With Brittany Haas, Jordan Tice, Willie Watson, and Paul Kowert in tow, the team of Rawlings and Welch have made another strong record to add to their growing repertoire.

Guitarists of the Year: Bryan Sutton Points to 15 Emerging Stars

Awards acceptance speeches like this one are rare.

Just about a year ago, at the International Bluegrass Music Awards in Raleigh, North Carolina, Bryan Sutton (Hot Rize, Telluride House Band, five solo albums) accepted his (unprecedented) ninth Guitar Player of the Year Award. It was no surprise that the dominant flatpicker of his era won again or that he was magnanimous and humble.

But he did something incredibly gracious for a moment like this. Instead of thanking his business team, God, and family, he took his time to acknowledge 15 young guitarists who are out there ripping it up — no doubt with Sutton as one of their key generational influences. This was, in a nutshell, what’s wonderful about bluegrass music: It supports and nurtures its next wave of talent and fans without fear of being displaced or outgunned. And it was an interesting and very public forum in which to do so.

Here’s the speech followed by a quick guide, in no particular order, to the young pickers Sutton urged us to keep an eye on.

Seth Taylor: A North Carolina native, he won numerous contests including first prize on guitar at the 2008 Merlefest. He co-founded the band Monroeville and joined Mountain Heart in 2012.

Rebecca Frazier: She was the first woman to make the cover of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. The Virginia native swept awards as a member of Hit & Run Bluegrass. She still fronts the group and records under her own name, as well.

Chris “Critter” Eldridge: Son of Ben, banjo player with the legendary Seldom Scene, Chris was briefly with the Infamous Stringdusters before joining Punch Brothers where, for six years, he’s made some of the most complex and beguiling string band music of all time. He also tours and records with young jazz master Julian Lage.

Jake Workman: He grew up on AC/DC and the Beatles, has a jazz guitar degree, and plays bluegrass like a master. Based in Salt Lake City, he’s a member of the band Driven.

Trey Hensley: Adept at both acoustic and twangy electric country styles, Hensley has become a very popular musician in his home region around East Tennessee. Now he’s in Nashville, working in a duo with Rob Ickes and showing singing/writing chops that are impressing veterans like Marty Stuart.

Caleb Smith: A life-long resident of Haywood County, North Carolina, Smith began his bluegrass career chiefly as a singer. But, as he’s ramped up his guitar playing, now as a member of star band Balsam Range, he’s ramped up his guitar building, too. His hand-made dreadnaughts are prized posessions.

Chris Luquette: Straight out of Seattle, he’s capable of grace or grunge on acoustic guitar and many other instruments, as well. Find him shredding or tastefully touching up in the music of Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen.

Courtney Hartman: She moved from her native Colorado to Boston where she studied at Berklee and joined the mighty and creative Della Mae. With that band on hiatus, Courtney (an Acoustic Guitar magazine cover subject) is songwriting, collaborating, and readying a solo release.

Jordan Tice: His bluegrass picking family in Maryland helped get him ready to record his first album as a leader and composer at age 17. Since then, he’s collaborated with and supported the best acoustic musicians in the world. He tours in a chamber grass trio with bassist Paul Kowert and fiddler Brittany Haas.

Grant Gordy: This versatile, jazz-schooled player filled the guitar shoes of Tony Rice and Mark O’Connor in the David Grisman Quintet for six years before moving on to other pursuits, including his band Mr. Sun with fiddler Darol Anger.

Billy Strings: His aunt gave him the nickname Billy Strings when he was a boy and he’s sure lived up to it. The Michigan native came to notice in a flexible duo with mandolinist Don Julin. Now, as a band leader, he’s crafting an explosively powerful new twist on bluegrass tradition.

Jon Stickley: A North Carolina native who went West and became known in the band Broke Mountain. Now in Asheville, he leads a power trio dedicated to original instrumental jazz-grass. Stickely is an inventive player who finds new timbres and means of coaxing sound out of the flattop box.

Zeb Snyder: The young hotshot from North Carolina (that state again) spits notes and funky grooves on acoustic and electric guitar in the tradition-bucking Snyder Family Band. He channels much Southern soul and is especially gifted playing the blues.

Molly Tuttle: This slight young woman with spidery fingers grew up in California with a dad who was a performer and mentor/teacher to most of the up-and-coming bluegrassers in her area. Formal training at Berklee put a razor’s edge on her intricate and personal style. Nashville-based, she sings and writes beautifully, too.

Presley Barker: Okay, he’s ALSO from North Carolina and he’s barely 12 years old and he’s fantastic. So just enough already. Truly the next generation, Barker was raised on Doc Watson records and the tutelage of the great Wayne Henderson.

PREVIEW: Punch Brothers (+ LA ticket giveaway!)

 

For those of you in the LA area, perennial favorite and friends of The Sitch, the PUNCH BROTHERS, make their return to our fair city this Saturday, December 1 at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State’s LA campus, marking their third appearance in the city this year (including our own LA Bluegrass Situation festival this past May).  It’s been a busy year for the band.  After releasing their latest album ‘Who’s Feeling Young Now’ last February, the guys have been on the road almost nonstop throughout 2012.

As they begin to wrap up the fall leg of their tour, The Sitch spoke with PB bass player Paul Kowert about life on the road, favorite moments, and upcoming dates…..

‘We’ve been touring ‘Who’s Feeling Young Now?’ since January, and from the outset we noticed a more favorable response than we’ve seen for previous albums. We played in 

Europe quite a bit this year for the first time, which was hard, slow work since we’re pretty new there.

Some of my highlights from the year include playing Whelan’s in Dublin, because it was my first time to Ireland, and the people were very welcoming, enthusiastic, and gave me many pints; Boone, North Carolina, where we played our largest indoor headlining show to date, and The Roskilde Festival in Denmark, where we truly felt like rock stars. Memories of great coffee, food, and bars in places like Copenhagen, Melbourne, and London flood my mind when I think of the nearly full year of touring behind us on this record. Also, memories of the inside of a Sprinter van, all of us acting like idiots or insane people, and turkey sandwiches made from ingredients on the rider every day (load on the hot sauce, it fixes everything).

After some [recently announced] February dates in 2013, we’ll be taking some much needed time off to be at home and do other things (I’ll be touring with Jordan Tice and Brittany Haas for a bit, and working on music at home somehow). And we’ll continue getting together monthly to write the next Punch Brothers record.’

Want to see the PUNCH BROTHERS for free this weekend?  Simply email [email protected] and tell us the song you can’t wait to hear them play live, and a pair of tickets could be yours.   

Opening for the band are phenomenally talented LA-natives The Milk Carton Kids.  Tickets are still available for purchase here.  With such a lineup, Saturday’s show is sure to be a memorable one.

You can learn more about Paul and the rest of the band at punchbrothers.com.