Many of us who’ve suffered broken hearts have sought solace in therapy – retail…liquid…Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey….
| Chris Thile’s The Blind Leaving the Blind is based on his devastating marital break up – and ends on a note of hope. He does, after all, have a new gal! |
When his year-and-a-half-long marriage ended in 2004, he:
- formed the hot new Punch Brothers band,
- wrote an amazing piece of music, The Blind Leaving the Blind,
- cut a new album titled Punch, released yesterday,
- landed a sweet spot on leading record label Nonesuch
- and kicked off an exciting world tour.
On Sunday, March 9, that tour stops at West Kentucky Community & Technical College’s Clemens Fine Arts Center, 7:30 p.m., and tickets (534.3212) are going fast.In The Beginning: Nickel Creek
The fact that Thile (pronounced thee-lee) transformed his heartache into a brilliant piece of sweet, sweet music shouldn’t come as a surprise. He turned 27 a week ago today, having spent 22 of those years becoming, according to the Washington Post, “the most virtuosic American ever to play the mandolin.”
Thile was just 5 when he began performing in and around San Diego, where he lived before moving with his family to Murray, of all places, in his teens. His dad is a musician, too, and an instrument technician at Murray State University (see sidebar, right).
By 1989, at the ripe old age of 8, Thile formed Nickel Creek (right) with fellow 8-year-old Sara Watkins (on fiddle) and her 12-year-old brother Sean (on guitar).The trio grew up together, performing a mix of bluegrass, jazz, pop, rock and folk, selling 2 million albums, traveling all over the world and, within the past few years, racking up numerous Grammy nominations and awards. They energized the Carson Center last year as part of their Farewell (For Now) tour.
The Farewell bit came as the band members, now, obviously, fully grown adults, began pursuing different interests and as the young Thile was hit by the break up of his young marriage. As the heart-broken tend to do, he reached out to old pal Gabe Witcher (left) for a few beers.Witcher, too, was a southern California child prodigy, playing fiddle with his father as part of the Witcher Brothers. As kids, Witcher and Thile played in the same bluegrass festivals and competitions.
Now 29, Witcher is a much sought-after session player, and has performed for numerous film scores including Brokeback Mountain and Toy Story. Turns out that when Thile called, Witcher was mending a broken heart of his own.
“Our serious relationships exploded at the same time, and we got together to commiserate,” Thile says.
Editor’s Note: I interviewed them both by phone the other week – they are dar-ling!
“We’d always wanted to work together,” Thile says, “so we thought the timing was right to start a band. We found some other guys who turned out to be perfect kindred spirits.”
Punch Brothers: A New ChapterThose kindred spirits and equally gifted band mates – whom Thile befriended at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2005 – include guitarist Chris Eldridge, bassist Greg Garrison and banjo player Noam “Pickles” Pikelny. After experimenting with a few different band names, they chose Punch Brothers, after a Mark Twain short story, Punch, Brothers, Punch.
The band signed with Nonesuch and, on March 17, 2007, unveiled Thile’s ode to heartbreak, The Blind Leaving the Blind, at Carnegie Hall. They’ve been touring ever since.
The five have formed the same closeness and camaraderie of Nickel Creek, with humor and banter that showcases Thile’s natural stage charisma.
Clearly, Thile is just about as cute as they come. Watch him cover Britney Spears’ Toxic – in which he pulls off way better dance moves than her own – and you just wanna love him all up.
So how could anybody let that go? Just what caused the divorce?
“All kinds of things happened,” Thile says, without really saying. “But a great series of events came from the first bad thing that ever happened to me. You’ve got my story there. It’s my side of the story.”
It Feels Pretty Good Now
He’s referring to The Blind Leaving the Blind, a 40-minute, four-movement instrumental musical suite with stunning vocal passages based on his failed marriage. How closely based is a bit unclear.
“It’s certainly not word for word,” Thile says, noting that he changed and embellished the story a bit so that listeners can relate their own experiences to it. “(The song) is meant to start a dialogue – what is so strong that it can’t be shaken to its core? Is it true love? Is it religious faith? Is it anything? The piece calls that into question, and the character finds something solid to hold onto.
“It’s not an indictment on the institution of marriage or religion,” Thile adds. “It calls attention to the importance of family ties and relationships.”
Speaking of relationships, both Thile and Witcher have found new ones, and their voices lighten when they speak of their current girlfriends. Will their newfound happiness muck up the angst involved in performing The Blind Leaving the Blind?“I’ve thought a little about that,” Thile admits. “But I think now we have the proper amount of….”
“Perspective,” Witcher inserts.
“Yeah, to deliver the story and engage the listener,” Thile says. “As we get further away (from their heartbreaks), we can tell better stories. In the end, the piece does what music is supposed to do. It’s a piece of art that people can have a relationship with. It’s a two-way street. It feels pretty good now.”
