Chris Thile Essentials

A virtuoso mandolin player, singer, composer, bandleader and radio personality, Chris Thile is one of the leading lights of progressive bluegrass. A founding member of Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers, he’s been at the forefront of bluegrass, creative folk, and roots music since debuting in the late 1980s. He has also issued an array of acclaimed solo albums, including 2004’s Deceiver and 2006’s How to Grow a Woman from the Ground. Thile took home Grammy Awards for his work with Nickel Creek (2002’s This Side), his genre-bending collaboration with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bassist Edgar Meyer and violinist Stuart Duncan (2011’s The Goat Rodeo Sessions), his duo album with Meyer (2014’s Bass & Mandolin), and with Punch Brothers (2018's All Ashore). Thile’s interest in the music of J.S. Bach has resulted in a number of releases, including two volumes of the Baroque composer’s works for solo violin arranged for mandolin (2013 and 2025), and an album of trio sonatas, preludes and fugues, and chorales performed alongside Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer.