Blog — "Punch Brothers"

I grew up with a lot of bluegrass. My dad played a lot of it, and still does, in band that he plays with these days. Bluegrass isn't the only thing that he plays, but that is how I was exposed to it. Needless to say, I love it. And one thing that I love about it is it's versatility. It can be percussive, jazz-like, or carry a bit of a twang.

I've been a bit obsessed with the Punch Brothers lately, a bluegrass quintet fronted by mandolinist extraordinaire Chris Thile. I first heard Chris Thile when he played for Nickel Creek. Myself and a bunch of college roommates had gone to see John Mayer, and Nickel Creek was opening for him. John Mayer is an amazing guitarist, but I was definitely impressed with Thile (consider Thile the rock star of all rock stars of mandolinists).

Most recently, Andrew and I were lucky to see the Punch Brothers open for Bruce Hornsby this past August. And they are absolutely fantastic. After buying their latest album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, I've quickly found that their music is some of the most original and experimental in their genre. It's hard not to like it.

No Concern of Yours has quickly become my favorite song on their album.



Movement and Location shows influence from greats like David Grisman and Stephane Grappelli.



Hope you enjoy the Punch Brothers just as much as I do! What have you been listening to lately?

Power outages that cause the first day of school to be cancelled. And why was I excited about that? We had planned to drive down to Wolf Trap to see Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers. I knew it'd be an hour and fifteen minute drive back up to Baltimore after the show so I was relieved that I wouldn't have to wake up early this morning for school.

Bruce Hornsby has been one of my favorites since I was a small child. He is an incredibly talented pianist, songwriter, and singer. He's played for and toured with the best of them including the Grateful Dead and Ricky Skaggs. He's one of those musicians that could play just about anything without even thinking about what he is doing-- a complete natural. And as if Bruce isn't an amazing musician as is, we were lucky enough to see the Punch Brothers open the show resulting in Chris Thile playing with Bruce for the majority of the set. What's better than a hurricane? School cancellations, Bruce Hornsby on piano, and Chris Thile on mandolin.


Excuse the craptastic sound quality, but I wanted to share anyway in the event you could hear just the slightest bit.

Unscathed by Irene, the evening turned out to be one of the best in terms of weather that we've had all summer long. We were lucky to have power the whole time. A bit of water leaked in under our front door, but was soaked by the towel we had put in place. Several trees were downed in Patterson Park, but that was about it. Of and our Black Eyed Susan trellis was a few inches askew. Needless to say, we were impacted nearly as badly as they had predicted. However, the majority of the west side of the city struggled with power outages as well as my school's neighborhood a mere five minutes away. Let's just say as an extreme weather enthusiast I was a little disappointed. Now I'll just have to hope for a blizzard this winter!

But back to the subject of Bruuuuuuuuuuce. Here's a better video of one of his most recent songs that seemed appropriate for this past weekend.