MUSIC REVIEW : Band packs punch with audience at arts center
Posted on Monday, November 24, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — From the start, many in the crowd loved lead singer and mandolin player Chris Thile’s tousled hair. By the end, they loved the music.
That lovefest happened Saturday night when the Punch Brothers played the Walton Arts Center.
This band, whose name comes from the title of a Mark Twain short story, is very clever with lyrics and quips between songs. The music is smart, too.
The progressive bluegrass quintet melds modern and traditional elements. It’s sometimes bluegrass, sometimes folk, sometimes classical and sometimes even alternative.
Thile, former member of the Grammy Award-winning group Nickel Creek, joined Noam Pikelny on banjo, Chris Eldridge on guitar, Gabe Witcher on fiddle and newcomer Paul Kowert on bass.
Though the group is relatively new, the music sounds like they’ve been playing together for years. Their rapport showed in their music, which was tight and perfectly timed.
Th ey took meandering side trips, sometimes pushing the music to the edge, but the audience had full confidence that they knew where they were headed. The guys were serious about the music but were fun, funny and charming along the way.
The first set included a faster version of David Rawlings and Gillian Welch’s “Wayside (Back in Time ),” with impressive banjo playing by Pikelny. “Punch Bowl” was an interesting tune with enticingly discordant notes throughout.
They began The Strokes ’ “Heart in a Cage” with an a cappella intro. Then, Thile played a strong mandolin throughout, highlighted by a cascade of notes from the band at the middle and end. Thile’s expression was funny during some of the lyrics, and they ended it nicely with soft harmonic vocals that gently shifted higher.
Witcher sang vocals on The Band’s “Ophelia,” with a great voice that nicely hit the high parts.
Two songs from their 2008 album Punch were edgy. “Nothing, Then” seemed it was always building, and “It’ll Happen” had a nice mandolin and guitar part.
The most impressive piece of the night came after the break, when the group launched into “The Blind Leaving the Blind,” composed by Thile. It took about 45 minutes to play the fourmovement piece.
The entire piece was a rollercoaster ride of soothing, slow moments and breathtakingly fast ones.
The first movement had a series of dramatic chord changes. The second was mellow and featured a nice trio of vocals with Thile, Eldridge and Witcher. In the third, they went from a slow pace, churning the beat forward like a train taking off until reaching a powerful moment of playing that just as quickly turned delicate again.
It was frustratingly difficult to hear Thile’s lyrics through most of this, but his voice was wonderful. He got louder during the fourth movement, which was the best one. At one point, the mandolin and fiddle played dizzyingly fast. It was spirited and energetic with a hopeful feel.
They ended with a cover of “Brakeman’s Blues,” a Jimmie Rodgers song also recorded by Bill Monroe. It was an oldfashioned bluegrass tune, with lively playing and high vocals and yodeling from Thile. They were relaxed and had a blast with it.
With a standing ovation, the crowd begged for more.
For the encore, they played “Faust Arp,” a song from Radiohead’s new album. The short piece was edgy, with driving lyrics. Then, they made The White Stripes’ “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” sound like a traditional bluegrass song.
No matter what music they touched, the Punch Brothers were quite amazing.
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