My piece on the Punch Brothers is in this week's Charleston City Paper.
Remembering Scruggs and more
by Andrea Warner
Progressive bluegrass or alt-folk? Indie rock or barn-door classical? For years, people have been attempting to properly classify the Punch Brothers. In part, it's a composition issue: In addition to the usual guitar and bass, the Punch Brothers' instrumentation also features a mandolin, a banjo, and a fiddle. They also make foot-stomping, complex music informed by everything from mountain songs to avant-garde instrumentals.
The band's newest album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, could find a home wedged between Bon Iver and the Decemberists. Arguably, guitarist Chris Eldridge, bassist Paul Kowert, mandolinist Chris Thile, banjo player Noam Pikelny, and fiddler Gabe Witcher deliver straight up indie rock, and they've further expanded their audience, thanks to a starring spot on the Hunger Games soundtrack. Despite all that's going on for the band right now, Pikelny has other things on his mind — chiefly, the recent death of banjo legend Earl Scruggs and his Nashville funeral.
The Punch Brothers' Noam Pikelny discusses Earl Scruggs
by Andrea Warner
Progressive bluegrass or alt-folk? Indie rock or barn-door classical? For years, people have been attempting to properly classify the Punch Brothers. In part, it's a composition issue: In addition to the usual guitar and bass, the Punch Brothers' instrumentation also features a mandolin, a banjo, and a fiddle. They also make foot-stomping, complex music informed by everything from mountain songs to avant-garde instrumentals.
The band's newest album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, could find a home wedged between Bon Iver and the Decemberists. Arguably, guitarist Chris Eldridge, bassist Paul Kowert, mandolinist Chris Thile, banjo player Noam Pikelny, and fiddler Gabe Witcher deliver straight up indie rock, and they've further expanded their audience, thanks to a starring spot on the Hunger Games soundtrack. Despite all that's going on for the band right now, Pikelny has other things on his mind — chiefly, the recent death of banjo legend Earl Scruggs and his Nashville funeral.
