CHRIS THILE
mandolinist
Grammy Award-winning mandolinist, singer, songwriter and composer Chris Thile is described by The Guardian as “that rare being: an all-round musician who can settle into any style, from bluegrass to classical.”
Thile is a founding member of the highly influential bluegrass string bands Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek, while his collaborators range from Jacob Collier and Brad Mehldau to Yo-Yo Ma. The delicate intricacy of his playing gives the listener “one joyous arc, with the linear melody and vertical harmony blurring into a single web of gossamer beauty.” (New York Times)
Chris Thile’s Laysongs is his first truly solo album: It’s just Thile, his voice, and his mandolin, on a set of nine new tracks, combining original songs with three wisely chosen covers that contextualize and banter with his ideas. While Thile’s critically lauded interpretations of Bach on mandolin (2013’s Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1) also showcased him on his own, that was a kind of duet, a dialogue between Thile and his beloved J.S. Bach. Laysongs, on the other hand, is more of a soliloquy, and it’s very much a soul-searching one. Thile confronts, cajoles, and cozies up to his personal—and our shared—angels and demons, an effort made more poignant, dramatic, and universal by the enforced isolation of the pandemic.
