Punch Brothers with Chris Thile
Thursday, March 4, 2010, 8pm
Wisconsin Union Theater
Ticket Prices: General: $28
UW-Madison Students: $10

A Washington Post critic said about Chris Thile, formerly of the Grammy Award-winning Nickel Creek: Thile “may well be the most virtuosic American ever to play the mandolin.” The composer-singer-mandolin player is back in action--with the Punch Brothers; a super-quintet featuring equally youthful, prodigiously-gifted bandmates who are among the most in-demand performers in the worlds of bluegrass, folk, and traditional music (including Madison native Paul Kowert on bass).

Named after the Mark Twain short story Punch, Brothers, Punch!, the band’s first project, The Blind Leaving the Blind, is a 40-minute, four-movement suite using the dismantling of Thile’s marriage as a jumping-off point for a rumination about the loss of innocence, the sobering transition into adulthood, and the sudden disruption of a young man’s spiritual journey.