Punch Brothers\u00a0are mandolinist Chris Thile, guitarist Chris Eldridge, bassist Paul\u00a0Kowert, banjoist Noam Pikelny, and violinist Gabe Witcher. Their accolades include a Grammy\u00ae\u00a0for\u00a0Best\u00a0Folk\u00a0Album for their 2018 release\u00a0<\/span>All Ashore<\/span><\/i>, and praise from the media, including\u00a0<\/span>The Washington Post<\/span><\/i>, which said, “With enthusiasm and experimentation,\u00a0Punch Brothers\u00a0take bluegrass to its next evolutionary stage, drawing equal inspiration from the brain and the heart.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In November of 2020, when the world felt so full of uncertainty,\u00a0Punch Brothers\u00a0did one thing that they could rely on: they stood in a circle, facing one another, and made music together. A weeklong recording session, after quarantining and little rehearsal outside of a few Zoom calls, had culminated in their new record,\u00a0<\/span>Hell on Church Street<\/span><\/i>\u2014a reimagining of Bluegrass great Tony Rice\u2019s landmark album,\u00a0<\/span>Church Street Blues<\/span><\/i>\u2014out on Nonesuch in January 2022.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hell on Church Street\u00a0<\/span><\/i>is a potent work by a band realizing their own powers and returning to the foundations of their music.\u00a0Kowert\u00a0considers this album to \u201charken back to our early days in the band when\u00a0we were playing regularly\u00a0on the Lower East Side, learning all this new material to expand our sonic arsenal.\u201d Pikelny adds, \u201cIt made me think of how many times\u00a0Punch Brothers\u00a0closed doors for\u00a0ourselves\u00a0as far as covering other people\u2019s material beyond one or two songs here and there. But I can\u2019t imagine making a more personal record, solely through the power of interpretation and delivery.\u00a0It felt right and proper.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This band of virtuosi had spent more than a decade changing the face of acoustic music, stretching the limitations of instruments, and influencing a generation of young musicians\u2014but life has a way of keeping a band from getting in the same room. Thile elaborates that \u201cthese sessions were a reminder for me of what\u2019s really important. I felt silly having this band take up so little of my creative year; it reminded me that us five together is critical to my happiness\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>Church Street Blues<\/span><\/i>\u00a0was Tony Rice\u2019s great statement. Rice had already made his name as a member of the legendary bluegrass band JD Crowe and The New South.\u00a0He\u00a0pushed the boundaries of string music as a founding member of the David Grisman Quartet, but this album was him on his own, stripped back to just his guitar, his voice, and an inspired collection of\u00a0songs. Performing songs by heavyweights like Gordon Lightfoot and bluegrass founder Bill Monroe, Rice\u2019s interpretations of these songs and tunes have since become the standard.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Punch Brothers\u00a0formed in 2006. Its first Nonesuch record,\u00a0<\/span>Punch<\/span><\/i>, was released in 2008 and combined elements of the band\u2019s many musical interests. In 2009, they began a residency at NYC\u2019s intimate Lower East Side\u00a0club\u00a0The Living Room, trying out new songs and ultimately spawning\u00a0<\/span>Antifogmatic\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(2010). In 2012, the band released\u00a0<\/span>Who\u2019s Feeling Young\u00a0Now?<\/span><\/i>,\u00a0which\u00a0Q\u00a0praised for its\u00a0\u201castonishing, envelope-pushing vision,\u201d\u00a0while<\/span>\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/span><\/i>\u00a0aid, \u201cThe acoustic framework dazzles\u2013wild virtuosity used for more than just virtuosity.\u201d\u00a0Their 2015 album, the T Bone Burnett-produced,\u00a0<\/span>The Phosphorescent Blues<\/span><\/i>, addresses with straight-up poignancy and subversive humor, the power and the pitfalls of our super-connected world.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n