Another night at Celtic Connections and another festival favourite showcases some new material (and upsets a few fans along the way).
Last night Steve Earle managed, with the help of a DJ, to leave a portion of his crowd slightly miffed and a bit disgruntled. Tonight was the turn of Chris Thile, one-time mandolinist with Nickelcreek, as he left some of his audience literally seething with contempt – and he wasn’t getting away until he’d heard a few home truths. I was fully expecting yells of “Judas!” and wasn’t too far off the mark with my prediction as the cry went up “SELF-INDULGENT SHITE!”
And what was this particular offence by Mr Thile that left folks with looks on their faces like he’d just taken a dump in their favourite slippers?
Apparently he wasn’t bluegrass enough.
Lord above! I’m surprised they let him leave with his kneecaps intact.
Instead Thile introduced his new band and his new album and a new step forward in his transition away from his bluegrass roots; a transition that started around 2000 (how anyone could still be expecting a gig full of pure bluegrass some eight years later is beyond me). At times Stefan Grappelli, at times Bach, these new tunes are structured around a piece called The Blind Leading the Blind, a forty-minute, four-movement suite which is at once classical, jazz and bluegrass without actually being any of these. It is a sort of acoustic odyssey, cathartically written during his divorce, and told from the perspective of a heart-broken man sitting at a bar. And it’s not too bad at all.
Although largely composed by Thile he was quick to stress the point that this wasn’t a solo show or solo album; it is the Punch Brothers from now on in and, surprisingly, it did actually feel like this. Whilst in the past Thile would steal the show no matter how good the musicians he was playing with he has now found a group of formidable players who each hold their own and appear every bit a part of this show as he is.
Noam Pikelny on banjo, Greg Garrison upright bass, fiddler Gabe Witcher and guitarist Chris Eldridge, along with Thile on mandolin, make up the most unlikely looking string quartet I’ve ever seen; and probably the most interesting. In true Grand Ole Opry style the band huddled around two mics placed in the centre of the stage (large diaphragm condensers to you techies) and leaned closer or further away as leads were taken and harmonies sang.
While the new tunes may not be instantly assessable to most (there were too many layers and ideas playing at once for me to fully grasp in my first listen) it was extremely impressive and the quality of musicianship unsurpassable, and it’s grounding in folk music allowed for enjoyment – if even just on a surface level.
As a reward to those fans who hadn’t donned their coats and stormed off in a huff we were also treated to some older songs as well as some covers as diverse as the White Stripes’ Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, Gillian Welch’s Wayside, and the Beatles’ Baby’s in Black. This more up-tempo stuff went down a storm and was the perfect finish to a challenging but hugely enjoyable night.