Punch Brothers
The Punch Brothers are an American band led by mandolinist Chris Thile. The current line-up consists of Noam Pikelny (banjo), Chris Eldridge (guitar), Gabe Witcher (fiddle, violin) and Paul Kowert (bass).
The formation has its roots in bluegrass. It is considered a progressive representative of the genre and a kind of "supergroup" of the American acoustic music scene. The typical bluegrass instrumentation processes influences from pop, rock and classical music beyond genre boundaries.
Members
The band sees itself as a collective that works out most of its material together. The band is based in Brooklyn.
- Chris Thile: The MacArthur Fellow is considered one of the best mandolinists around. With the Punch Brothers, he takes over the main part of the solo vocals, both on standards and on the melodically and harmonically more complex original compositions of the band.
- Gabe Witcher: a childhood friend of Thile's, hails from California like him; Witcher is considered a sought-after session musician
- Chris Eldridge: The Infamous Stringdusters, The Seldom Scene, Duo with Julien Lage
- Noam Pikelny: Leftover Salmon, John Cowan Band, solo, multi-award winning banjo player, most recently IBMA "Banjo Player of the Year" 2014.
- Paul Kowert: plays alongside the Punch Brothers in the trio Haas, Kowert & Tice, and in the summer of 2014 he toured as a duo with Aoife O'Donovan.
Discography
- How to Grow a Woman from the Ground (2006, Sugar Hill).
Released on Nonesuch Records:
- Punch (2008)
- Antifogmatic (2010)
- Who's Feeling Young Now? (2012)
- Ahoy! (EP, 2012)
- The Phosphorescent Blues (2015)
- The Wireless (EP, 2015)
- All Ashore (2018)
