Punch Brothers

Bluegrass – a highly virtuosic style of music featuring the five-string banjo, mandolin, violin, resonator guitar, bass and dense, beguiling harmonies – originated less than 100 years ago in Kentucky and Tennessee. It is named after the shimmering blue rye grass of its homeland, and is perhaps the most original offshoot of the sprawling country music family. The Punch Brothers are opening a whole new chapter: for the past 20 years, they have been letting bluegrass flirt with indie folk and grunge, pairing it with echoes of minimal music, Debussy and Scriabin, sometimes even giving it a Britpop twist, and covering Radiohead or Jack White.

The »brothers«, now joined by »sister« Brittany Haas, are also releasing a brand-new album: »The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers«. It is their first purely instrumental album, about which band leader Chris Thile enthuses: »This music is the result of what feels to me like our deepest but also most joyful exploration of the American string band in the twenty years we’ve been making music together. Something about the dichotomy of all the water under the bridge plus a new, brilliant teammate in Brittany. We all felt like kids in a candy store … so many possibilities and so much energy.«