My guest this week is Chris Thile and he joins me to chat about The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers.
We talk about how the album came together and why, after 20 years as a band, it's only now they've got round to making a fully instrumental record. Chris also tells me how Brittany Haas joining the band and their first project together, Energy Curfew Music Hour, sowed the seeds for the album and why not having vocals on it left space for instrumental voices to shine.
Chris also talks candidly about why he didn't feel like writing lyrics right now was the right thing and how the tunes on this record grew out of musical nuggets, with each then being explored by the band and shaped in whatever way that particular idea needed.
We also explore the overarching narrative of the record, how that came together and the band's approach to reimagining the traditional tunes on the album, treating them as though they were new material and giving them the same level of exploration and development as the original tunes.
It was a fascinating insight into creativity, artistic process and how one of my favourite bands goes about making a record. I thoroughly loved this conversation.
You can buy The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers (and some cool related merch) via Punch Brothers' online store.
For info and updates, follow Chris Thile and Punch Brothers on Instagram.
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Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)
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