Chris Thile

A virtuoso mandolin player, singer, composer, bandleader, and radio personality, Chris Thile is one of the leading lights of progressive bluegrass. Thile has been at the forefront of bluegrass, creative folk, and roots music since debuting in the mid-'90s. In addition to his work as a solo artist, he is a co-founding member of the Grammy-winning outfit Nickel Creek. He also hosts NPR's A Prairie Home Companion, which he officially took over from longtime host Garrison Keillor in 2016.
Born in Oceanside, California in 1981, Thile grew up in Idyllwild in a musical family and first started playing mandolin around age four. It was while attending a weekly bluegrass show at a local pizza restaurant that he met the brother-and-sister duo of fiddle player Sara Watkins and guitarist Sean Watkins. Together, they formed Nickel Creek and recorded two albums before releasing their official debut, 2001's Nickel Creek. Produced by Alison Krauss, the album hit the Billboard 200 and quickly elevated the group's status as rising stars of the progressive bluegrass sound. With Nickel Creek, Thile released a handful of highly regarded albums, including 2002's This Side, which won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, 2005's Why Should the Fire Die?, and 2014's A Dotted Line.
On his own, Thile debuted with 1994's Leading Off... and 1997's Stealing Second. Largely traditional bluegrass productions, the albums were particularly impressive considering that he was only 13 years old and 16 years old, respectively, when they were released. They also found him backed by such bluegrass luminaries as Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Alison Brown, and others. That said, the albums were primarily showcases for his growing abilities as a gifted teenage performer.
Thile began to come into his own as a solo artist with 2001's Not All Who Wander Are Lost, for which he took home the title of Mandolin Player of the Year from the Instrumental Bluegrass Music Association. He returned with 2004's Deceiver followed by his eclectic 2006 effort, How to Grow a Woman from the Ground. The latter effort showcased a backing band comprising Noam Pikelny, Gabe Witcher, Chris Eldridge, and Greg Garrison. The group officially changed its name to the Punch Brothers in 2007 and debuted Thile's epic 40-minute, four-movement suite, "The Blind Leaving the Blind," at Carnegie Hall. The suite, along with a handful of other tracks, was included on the group's 2008 debut, Punch. Also that year, Thile collaborated on a recording with acclaimed bassist Edgar Meyer.
A second Punch Brothers collection, Antifogmatic, arrived in 2010, followed in 2011 by Sleep with One Eye Open, featuring bluegrass guitarist Michael Daves. Also in 2011, Thile collaborated with Meyer, fiddle player Stuart Duncan, and legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma on The Goat Rodeo Sessions, which took home a Grammy for Best Folk Album in 2013. A further collaboration with Meyer, Bass & Mandolin, appeared in 2014. The following year, Thile was back with the Punch Brothers for The Phosphorescent Blues, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album.
In 2016, Thile was named as the new host of the weekly public radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion, replacing retiring host and co-creator Garrison Keillor. As part of his new role, Thile put together a house band for the program that included Punch Brothers bandmates Paul Kowert and Chris Eldridge, fiddle player Brittany Haas, drummer Ted Poor, and folk singer/songwriters Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O'Donovan. Despite his newly adopted radio duties, Thile remained an active performer and in 2017 paired with jazz pianist Brad Mehldau for the genre-bending duo album Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau. Thile once again collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer for Bach: Trios, an album of original arrangements of J.S. Bach keyboard pieces released in April 2017. Thanks for Listeningfollowed that December. A collection of studio re-recordings of select Songs of the Week written for A Prairie Home Companion, it featured Thile on stringed instruments and vocals by Jarosz, O'Donovan, and Gaby Moreno.

Style musical : Progressive Bluegrass, Traditional Bluegrass, Bluegrass, Folk, New Acoustic

1910

2000

DISCOGRAPHY

Single

06/2011

SP THIRD MAN TMR083 (US)

Chris THILE & Michael DAVES - Man In The Middle / Blue Night

Albums

09/1994

CD SUGAR HILL 3828 (US)

LEADING OFF... - Shadow Ridge / Slime Rock / Holdin' Down The Fort / Faith River / Panhandle Rag / For All It's Worth / Shipwrecked / Trail's End / Salt Creek / Old Dangerfield / Old Favorites Medley / Chris Cross / How Great Thou Art

03/1997

CD SUGAR HILL 3863 (US)

STEALING SECOND - Ah Spring / Stealing Second / Kneel Before Him / Bittersweet Reel / Alderaanian Melody / Hyperdrive / Leaves Fall / A Night In Mos Eisley / Hop The Fence / The Game Is Afoot / Clear The Tracks! / Golden Pond / Road To Wrigley / Ryno's Lament

12/2000

CD SUGAR HILL 3931 (US)

NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST - Song For A Young Queen / Wolfcreek Pass / Raining At Sunset / Riddles In The Dark / Sinai To Canaan, Pt. 1 / Sinai To Canaan, Pt. 2 / Club G.R.O.S.S. / You Deserve Flowers / Eureka! / Big Sam Thompson / Bridal Veil Falls / Laurie De' Tullins

10/2004

CD SUGAR HILL 3976 (US)

DECEIVER - The Wrong Idea / On Ice / Locking Doors / Waltz For Dwayne Pomeroy / Empire Falls / I'm Nowhere And You're Everything / Jessamyr's Reel / The Believer / This Is All Real / Ready For Anything

09/2006

CD SUGAR HILL 4017 (US)

HOW TO GROW A WOMAN FROM THE GROUND - Watch 'At Breakdown / Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground / Stay Away / O Santo De Polvora / Wayside (Back In Time) / You're An Angel And I'm Gonna Cry / How To Grow A Woman From The Ground / The Beekeeper / Brakeman's Blues / If The Sea Was Whiskey / Cazadero / Heart In A Cage / I'm Yours If You Want Me / The Eleventh Reel

07/2010

CD OMAC 15 (US)

JAM SESSION - Mark O'Connor / Chris Thile / Frank Vignola / Bryan Sutton / Jon Burr / Byron House -Granny White Special / Gypsy Fantastic / Macedonia / Swingin' On The 'Ville / Soft Gyrations / Pickles On The Elbow / Don't Let The Deal Go Down / In The Cluster Blues / Minor Swing

01/2011

CD NONESUCH 827603 (US)

SLEEP WITH ONE EYE OPEN - CHRIS THILE & MICHAEL DAVES - Rabbit In The Log / Cry, Cry Darling / Loneliness And Desperation / Tennessee Blues / 20/20 Vision / You're Running Wild / Ookpik Waltz / My Little Girl In Tennessee / Sleep With One Eye Open / Rain And Snow / Mississippi Waltz / Bury Me Beneath The Willow / Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms / Billy In The Lowground / It Takes One To Know One / If I Should Wander Back Tonight

10/2011

CD Sony Classical 88697841182 (US)

The Goat Rodeo Sessions - Yo-Yo Ma / Edgar Meyer / Stuart Duncan / Chris Thile - Attaboy / Quarter Chicken Dark / Helping Hand / Where's My Bow? / Here And Heaven / Franz And The Eagle / Less Is Moi / Hill Justice / No One But You / 13:8 / Goat Rodeo

08/2013

CD NONESUCH 5353602 (US)

Bach - Sonatas & Partitas - Vol. 1 - Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001 : Adagio - Fuga: Allegro - Siciliana - Presto / Partita No. 1 in B minor, BWV 1002 : Allemanda - Double - Corrente - Double: Presto - Sarabande - Double - Tempo di Borea - Double / Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BWV 1003 : Grave - Fuga - Andante - Allegro

09/2014

CD NONESUCH 7559795383 (US)

Bass & Mandolin - Why Only One? / Tarnation / The Auld Beagle / Big Top / Look What I Found / Friday / El Cinco Real / Monkey Actually / I'll Remember For You / It's Dark In Here

01/2017

2 CD NONESUCH 7559794099 (US)

Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau :

CD 1 : The Old Shade Tree / Tallahassee Junction / Scarlet Town / I Cover The Waterfront / Independence Day / Noise Machine

CD 2 : The Watcher / Daughter Of Eve / Marcie / Don't Think Twice, It's All Right / Tabhair Dom Do Lámh

04/2017

CD NONESUCH 558933 (US)

Bach Trios - Yo-Yo Ma / Edgar Meyer / Chris Thile - Trio Sonata No. 6 in G major, BWV 530 : I. Vivace - II. Lento - III. Allegro / Prelude No. 19 in A major from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book I, BWV 864 : Prelude - Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645 / Fugue No. 20 in A minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book II, BWV 889 : Fugue - Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639 / Prelude and Fugue No. 18 in E minor, BWV 548 : Prelude - Fugue / Keyboard Partita No. 5 in G major, BWV 829 : Passepied - Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter, BWV 650 / The Art of the Fugue, BWV 1080 : Contrapunctus XIII: Rectus - Contrapunctus XIII: Inversus - Erbam dich mein, o Herre Gott, BWV 721 / Sonata for Viola da Gamba No. 3 in G minor, BWV 1029 : I. Vivace - II. Adagio - III. Allegro

12/2017

CD NONESUCH 7559793357 (US)

Thanks for Listening - I Made This For You / Feedback Loop / Elephant In The Room / Douglas Fir / Thank You, New York / Stanley Ann / Modern Friendship / Falsetto / Balboa / Thanks For Listening

05/2020

CD Sony Classical 19439738552 (US)

Not Our First Goat Rodeo - Stuart Duncan / Yo-Yo Ma / Edgar Meyer / Chris Thile - Your Coffee Is A Disaster / Waltz Whitman / The Trappings / Every Note A Pearl / Not For Lack Of Trying / Voila! / Scarcely Cricket / We Were Animals / Nebbia / 757 ml