Chris Thile | |
|---|---|
 Thile hostingA Prairie Home Companion in 2016 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Christopher Scott Thile |
| Born | (1981-02-20)February 20, 1981 (age 44) Oceanside, California, U.S.[1][2] |
| Genres | Bluegrass, progressive bluegrass,folk,country,classical,jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter, radio show host |
| Instruments | Mandolin,bouzouki,mandola,banjo,guitar,tenor guitar,drums,sitar,piano,violin,viola,cello,double bass,vocals |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Labels | |
| Member of | Punch Brothers,Nickel Creek |
| Spouses | |
| Website | www |
Christopher Scott Thile (/ˈθiːli/;[3] born February 20, 1981) is an Americanmandolinist, singer, songwriter, composer, and radio personality, best known for his work in the progressive acoustic trioNickel Creek and the acoustic folk and progressive bluegrass quintetPunch Brothers. He is a2012 MacArthur Fellow.[4] From 2016 to its cancellation in 2020, he hosted the radio variety showLive from Here.[5][6][7]
The three members of Nickel Creek met in 1989 atCarlsbad, California's That Pizza Place, listening to weekly bluegrass shows with their parents. Their first album,Little Cowpoke, was released on December 31, 1993. Later albums includedNickel Creek andThis Side, which went platinum and won aGrammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album, respectively.[8] In 2005, Nickel Creek releasedWhy Should the Fire Die?, which received critical acclaim and sold 250,000 units.[9]
Thile has also released solo albums, includingNot All Who Wander Are Lost (2001) and 2004'sDeceiver, on which he wrote, composed, sang, and played every part. In 2008, Thile released a collaboration album with bassistEdgar Meyer, and he also plans to release a collaborative album withHilary Hahn.[10][11]
In 2003, Thile married fashion designer Jesse Meighan. The couple divorced in 2004, after 18 months of marriage.[12]
Thile married actressClaire Coffee on December 23, 2013.[13] Coffee and Thile have a son named Calvin Eugene Thile, born on May 15, 2015.[14]
Baseball Hall of Fame memberSam Thompson is Thile's great-great-great-great-uncle.[15]
Thile was born inOceanside, California, in 1981. His earliest memories of music are listening toStan Getz's recording of "The Girl from Ipanema" before he even turned one year old. When he was two, his family started going to That Pizza Place, where he listened to John Moore's band Bluegrass Etc. When Thile was four, his family moved toIdyllwild, California.
Thile began playing the mandolin at the age of five, taking occasional lessons from John Moore. At age eight, Thile's family and the Watkins family formedNickel Creek. The band performed at many California bluegrass festivals, and as a result Chris had to behome-schooled. At age twelve, he won the mandolin championship at theWalnut Valley Festival inWinfield, Kansas.
That same year, 1993, Thile made a demo tape and sent it to the Sugar Hill and Rounder record labels. Both labels showed interest, but the Thiles went with Sugar Hill.[16] The next year, Chris Thile released his first solo album,Leading Off, featuring mostly original compositions.
In 1995, the Thile family moved toMurray, Kentucky, where Chris' father Scott Thile accepted a position atMurray State University as a musical instrument technician.[17][18] In 1997, Chris releasedStealing Second and Nickel Creek releasedHere to There. Chris went on to attendMurray State University for a few semesters, where he was a music major.[1] In 2000, he went toNashville to play mandolin onDolly Parton's bluegrass/Appalachian folk albumLittle Sparrow.
Following the major success of the albumNickel Creek, Thile releasedNot All Who Wander Are Lost in 2001. The album featured guest appearances from several well-known instrumentalists such as Stuart Duncan,Béla Fleck,Edgar Meyer,Jerry Douglas, andBryan Sutton.
In 2003, Thile teamed up with mandolinistMike Marshall for the duet albumInto the Cauldron, which included original pieces as well as pieces byCharlie Parker andJ. S. Bach. Also in 2003, Thile joinedMark O'Connor for his double CD set "Thirty-Year Retrospective" which was nominated for a Grammy. In 2004, Thile releasedDeceiver, an experimental album on which he recorded every track himself. This included electric guitar, piano, drums, violin, viola, cello, and bass.Deceiver demonstrated some pop/rock songwriting in addition to "newgrass".
In August 2006, Nickel Creek announced that at the end of the year, they would no longer be recording together as a group, and their tour scheduled through 2007 would be their last for an indefinite period of time. In February 2014, the group announced that it would be releasing another album.
Thile was a judge for the fifth annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.[19]
In 2006, Thile formedHow to Grow a Band, with whom he recordedHow to Grow a Woman from the Ground, Thile's fifth album. In an interview with theNashville City Paper, Thile described the band's formation:
We got together one night just to drop a ton of money, drink too much wine, eat steaks, and commiserate about our failed relationships. We had gotten to play together a few days before and we had said that we needed to do something musical together. With our hearts smashed to pieces, it became more urgent – our lives had gone the same way for so long. I knew I wanted to have a band with Gabe [Witcher], but I didn't know if it would be a rock ensemble, an ambitious acoustic classical thing or a bluegrass group. We played, and there was a serious, instantaneous connection. Then I knew I wanted to put together a bluegrass band – one with a lot of range, but aesthetically a bluegrass band.[20]
The band consisted of Chris Thile (mandolin),Gabe Witcher (fiddle/violin),Chris Eldridge (guitar), Greg Garrison (bass), andNoam Pikelny (banjo).Bryan Sutton has also filled in on guitar when necessary while Eldridge played out commitments toThe Infamous Stringdusters. In 2007, the band officially changed its name first to "The Tensions Mountain Boys" and then "Punch Brothers".
On March 17, 2007, atCarnegie Hall, this group debuted Thile's ambitious "The Blind Leaving the Blind", a 40-minute suite in four movements that Thile toldNPR was written in part to deal with his 2004 divorce.[21]
Punch Brothers released its first album, "Punch", February 26, 2008, onNonesuch Records. The album featured Thile's suite "The Blind Leaving the Blind", as well as other original songs.[11]
To promote "Punch", Thile and Punch Brothers planned a year-long tour in 2008, as well as a February 29 appearance onThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno.[22] In late 2008, Paul Kowert replaced Garrison on bass. Punch Brothers releasedAntifogmatic on February 15, 2010, and continued to tour. On November 5, 2010, the band performed "Rye Whiskey" on theLate Show with David Letterman withSteve Martin guesting on banjo.
Punch Brothers released their third album,Who's Feeling Young Now?, in early 2012.
In November 2014, Punch Brothers released a single entitled "I Blew It Off", from their then-untitled fourth album. In December 2014, the band announced the scheduled release of an upcoming album and simultaneous release of another new single, "Julep".
In August 2008, Thile andbassistEdgar Meyer announced the release date of the duo's planned debut album. The album was released on Thile's labelNonesuch Records on September 23, 2008.[23] Commenting on the collaboration, Thile said "Edgar is one of the biggest influences on my musical life, and now I'm in a duo with him and writing songs with him. This was my dream. I always wondered what it would be like to be playing music this hard."[24] The duo toured in September and October 2008 to promote the album.
In 2012, Thile won aMacArthur Fellowship.[25]
In 2014, Thile recorded a new collaborative album with Edgar Meyer entitledBass & Mandolin and embarked on a tour with Meyer to support the album.[26]
Also in 2014, Thile reunited with Nickel Creek to release a new album calledA Dotted Line in celebration of their 25th anniversary. The group also embarked on a national tour titled NC25.[27]
Punch Brothers releasedThe Phosphorescent Blues, their fourth album, and The Wireless EP in 2015. They also released their fifth and sixth albums,All Ashore (album) andHell on Church Street, in 2018 and 2022 respectively.
Thile is featured in the documentaryBluegrass Journey, along with the rest of Nickel Creek. He has also appeared on a number of other artists' recordings, includingBéla Fleck'sPerpetual Motion, playing arrangements of Baroque, Impressionist, Classical and other styles of music with Fleck and Edgar Meyer;Jam Session, withMark O'Connor,Frank Vignola,Bryan Sutton, and Jon Burr; theDixie Chicks'Home,Kate Rusby'sAwkward Annie,Julie Fowlis'sCuilidh,Dolly Parton'sLittle Sparrow,Dierks Bentley'sUp on the Ridge,Jacob Collier's "Djesse Vol. 2", andSarah Jarosz'sSong Up in Her Head andFollow Me Down.
Thile has performed as a duo with guitarist and vocalist Michael Daves since 2005.[28] They released their debut album,Sleep With One Eye Open, on May 10, 2011. Recorded atJack White's studio, the album consists of 16 classic bluegrass duets. Jack White also produced and played on the duo's 7" vinyl recordMan in the Middle onThird Man Records. Thile and Daves met in 2005 at a bluegrass jam at NYC's Baggot Inn.
In 2009 Thile completed a mandolin concerto entitledAd astra per alas porci. The work was commissioned by a consortium of orchestras including theColorado Symphony Orchestra,Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra,Oregon Symphony,Alabama Symphony Orchestra,Winston-Salem Symphony,Delaware Symphony Orchestra,Portland Symphony Orchestra, andInterlochen Center for the Arts. Thile performed the world premiere of the first movement with the Interlochen Arts Camp World Youth Symphony Orchestra under directorJung-Ho Pak, and premiered his entire concerto with theColorado Symphony Orchestra on September 17, 2009.[29][30][31][32]
In 2011, he recordedThe Goat Rodeo Sessions with cellistYo-Yo Ma, bassist Edgar Meyer and fiddle playerStuart Duncan.[33] On October 25, 2011, he appeared on the Tonight Show as a member of the Yo-Yo Ma and Friends musical act.[34] On June 19, 2020, the same group of musicians released a second album entitledNot Our First Goat Rodeo.
Thile released a solo album entitledBach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1 in June 2013. The work comprises three works byJohann Sebastian Bach written for solo violin: Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001; Partita No. 1 in B minor, BWV 1002; and Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BWV 1003.[35]
For 2018–19, Thile was named to theRichard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair atCarnegie Hall.[36]
In 2021 the artist was inter alia part of theNewport Folk Festival in July.[37]
In 2024, Thile provided the singing voice and mandolin performance of Wendell in theCountry Bear Musical Jamboree atWalt Disney World'sMagic Kingdom.
Thile made his first appearance onGarrison Keillor's radio showA Prairie Home Companion in 1996, at age 15 and has returned numerous times—as a solo artist, with Nickel Creek, and with Punch Brothers. On February 7 and 14 in 2015 and January 30 and February 6, 2016, he was the show's guest host.[38] On July 21, 2015, Keillor officially announced that he was leaving the show and that Thile would succeed him as permanent host in 2016.[39] Thile's first show as host took place on October 15, 2016, at theFitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.[6] On February 18, 2017, Thile announced that his version of the show had been renewed for another season. On December 16, 2017, at the Town Hall theater in New York, Thile announced that the show would be renamedLive from Here. The show continued airing live on public radio until its final show, on May 30, 2020.[40]American Public Media, the producer of the show, halted production as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on shows with live audiences;[41] on June 14, 2020, Minnesota Public Radio announced the show's cancellation.[42]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Grass | US Country | US Indie | US Heat | US Classic | ||
| Leading Off |
| — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Stealing Second |
| — | 12 | — | — | — | — |
| Not All Who Wander Are Lost |
| — | 13 | — | — | — | — |
| Deceiver |
| — | 3 | — | — | — | — |
| How to Grow a Woman from the Ground |
| — | 2 | 46 | 27 | 28 | — |
| Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1[46] |
| 72 | — | — | — | — | 1 |
| Thanks for Listening |
| — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Laysongs |
| — | — | — | — | — | — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||||
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Grass | US Country | US Heat | US Classic | US Classic Crossover | ||
| Into the Cauldron (withMike Marshall) |
| — | 6 | 71 | — | — | — |
| Live: Duets (with Mike Marshall) |
| — | 6 | — | — | — | 6 |
| Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile (withEdgar Meyer) |
| — | 3 | — | — | — | 3 |
| Sleep with One Eye Open[47] (with Michael Daves) |
| — | 3 | 34 | 3 | — | — |
| The Goat Rodeo Sessions[48] (withYo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer andStuart Duncan) |
| 18 | 1 | — | — | 1 | 1 |
| The Goat Rodeo Sessions: Live EP |
| — | 4 | — | — | 8 | 6 |
| The Auld Triangle (with Chris Eldridge, Marcus Mumford, Justin Timberlake and Gabe Witcher) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Bass & Mandolin (withEdgar Meyer) |
| — | 2 | — | — | 2 | 2 |
| Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau (withBrad Mehldau)[49][50] |
| — | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| Not Our First Goat Rodeo (with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Stuart Duncan) |
| — | 1 | — | — | 1 | 1 |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||||
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |