We’ve posted repeatedly about Punch Brothers, the most recent permutation of Chris Thile’s supremely talented band of acoustic superpickers.
Their debut release on Nonesuch Records is due on 2/28/08 built around Thile’s composition, The Blind Leaving The Blind – a magnum opus by the standards of the acoustic string world from which he sprang. The piece is written in four movements, mixing voice with banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar and bass in an orchestrated amalgam of Thile’s imagination.
You can get a taste of the music from the upcoming CD on Reverb Nation where one track, Punchbowl, can be previewed online. It is not as complex a piece as Blind, but does offer a taste of the direction the band is taking.
It isn’t clear whether Punch Brothers live shows will all feature a complete performance of The Blind Leaving The Blind, something that may offer a challenge to Thile’s many fans from his freewheeling Nickel Creek shows, and his more recent followers attracted to the sound of his How To Grow A Woman From The Ground CD.
