Music Monday: You Should Be Jealous of Chris Thile

So, I'm working on my book, and as I've mentioned, the whole story focuses on this bluegrass festival. With this in mind, I spend a lot of time trolling the internets and such for new music to listen to while I write, and compiling bluegrass playlists on my iPod and YouTube. One of my favorite current groups to listen to while I write is the Punch Brothers.

Last week, I woke up with one of their songs in my head and it stayed there to the point that it was making me obsessive. And if you don't know (and with the amount of whining I did, I'm willing to bet there are very few people left on earth who don't), I was without internet or cable for most of last week, so I spent Wednesday night, I believe it was, laying in bed with my iPhone looking for more Punch Brothers stuff, and this led to a whole new understanding of the awesomeness that is Chris Thile.

Thile was originally a member of Nickel Creek, and if I'm being honest, I was never a huge fan of theirs. Don't get me wrong; I liked a few particular songs, but I never ran out and bought an album or went to a concert or anything - not their fault, and I don't have a good excuse for that other than the fact that I've spent most of the 2000's ignoring new music in favor of the old stuff. But let me tell you, that boy (or man... according to Wikipedia he's a little older than me) is freakishly talented. The things he does with a mandolin... I just never knew they were possible. And he's so much fun to watch too.

At this point, I'm just gonna quit yapping and let him prove his own genius:

Here are Punch Brothers performing "Wayside/Back in Time"



And one of my faves, "Rye Whiskey"



I just discovered this last night - it left me with chills. The video title says "E Major Prelude - Michael Lawrence Films Bach Project," so we'll go with that.




Here is Thile with one of my faves, Jerry Douglas, and they are playing one of my favorite songs, "We Hide & Seek." I've always said if my favorite childhood memories could be summed up in music notes, this song would be the result.



Thile with Dolly Parton getting her June Carter on. I'd love to hear them do more together - not sure who I'm more jealous of!



Finally, the Punch Brothers cover a lot of Radiohead, and in my opinion, they sound better than the original. I couldn't decide which one to pick, so we'll go with "Kid A."




That's all I'm gonna post, but there is so much more out there. Even just checking out YouTube, Thile is worth watching as much as he is listening to. I think the Punch Brothers were in Athens a few weeks ago, and I am soooooo upset that I couldn't go. I am dying to see them live, but if I can gather up some friends and some extra cash (and time) at some point this summer, I might have to make a road trip to check them out somewhere else. If you are interested, Punch Brothers tour dates can be found here.

Update 3/22/11: I was bored in the bath tonight so I Googled Chris Thile to verify that I am indeed the last person on earth to recognize his genius, and I ran across this interview with Thile, which is all about music and a little bit about religion. Thought it was pretty good, and was tempted to just grab a "quote of the day" from it, but there were too many good ones.

Will the Circle Be Unbroken & Raney

Two quick book recommendations:

1. I've been looking for a concise, yet informative book about the history of country music to keep around while I'm finishing up my book. I have other sources, and I know you can get so much online, but I just wanted something in hand. Well, my lovely father knew I was on the lookout for such an item, and today, he brought me this book, Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America. So far, I've only read the section on bluegrass, because that's really the core of what I needed, but it's a pretty neat little book. And because I'm six, I will point out that it was published by DK, so it has a great layout with lots of pretty pictures.

2. Several years ago, someone suggested I read Clyde Edgerton, so I did. I read Walking Across Egypt and Lunch at the Piccadilly (which had just come out), and I honestly don't remember either book. Anyway, I picked up a $2 copy of Edgerton's first book, Raney, in a used bookstore in January, and I read it in two nights this week. Wow! I loved it. It makes me want to go back and read the others again, because I'm thinking my indifference towards them had a lot to do with my age at the time and my lack of desire to read anything that didn't have a shiny pink cover and tell the story of a girl living in Manhattan who was unhappy with all aspects of her life except her huge shoe collection. But I digress. Raney literally had me laughing out loud. And there are a few similarities to the story I'm working on (an eerily similar music theme), so that was interesting, as well.

So Maybe the World IS Coming to an End

Hmm. OK. So, yesterday, I was at my parents' house, and they were making fun of me because I may not have a TV for about a week coming up, starting this weekend. Totally my own stupid fault, but that's not relevant to this story.

I was complaining because I might miss tonight's episodes of Blue Bloods; it's supposed to be a really good one, and my mom says, "You can come watch it here."

Fine, I'll spend Friday night at my parents' house watching Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg save the citizens of New York. I've had worse Friday nights.

But then I got to thinking about what else I'd miss in that week's time. As I've mentioned, I don't watch a ton of TV, but when you get down to it, I really do. I DVR Shepard Smith's two shows on Fox News, Anderson Cooper's show, The Daily Show, Colbert, and other stuff that comes on every day, is timely, and really isn't DVR-worthy. For what it's worth, I pick and choose what I watch, depending on time, and if I don't watch it within a day or two, I delete it.

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a cable news junkie. My TV is on CNN or Fox 24/7, unless I'm watching a particular show on another channel. I've been known to stay up for days when there is "breaking news" - a major hurricane or a "situation" breaks out in the Middle East or whatever. If I can't do this, I'll break out in hives and have panic attacks or something. I believe this stems from 9/11, but I digress.

And my parents, who live about half a mile from me, do not have cable, so there will be no camping out at their house. And I'm not comfortable enough to go knock on anyone else I know's door and say, "Hey, this might seem a little awkward, but can I spend the next few days laid up in your living room watching Fox News?" Basically, I'm screwed.

I panicked at the thought.

Then my mom said and I quote, "Watch the world come to an end this weekend and you'll have to miss it." Ha ha ha.

So, last night, I went to bed around 1:00 AM, after putting in about two hours worth of work on my book. I've been trying to get in bed earlier lately. For whatever reason, I forgot to let the dogs out, so around 3:30 AM, I wake up to one of them scratching on the door and the other one dancing around with her legs crossed. I let them out and sat on the sofa, assuming they wouldn't be out long.

With iPhone in hand (iPhone is always in hand), I checked my email and Twitter and a few other things. Then I started catching up on the 15 games of Scrabble I have going (don't judge me), and then I decided I needed to look something up and that it'd be easier to do it on my laptop, which was right beside me, and what is the hold up, dogs? So, I open the laptop up, and I accidentally pull up a friend's Twitter page (this friend works for one of the aforementioned news channels and happens to work overnight) and I see them tweeting earthquake and tsunami stuff going on in Japan and the Pacific Ocean, and I check my entire stream and see everyone's in a panic, and I turn my TV to a news channel, and what do you know...

I think my mom jinxed the whole world.

Seriously, though, I hope my friends on the West Coast and in Hawaii and everyone in the Pacific stays safe. Prayers and good wishes for everyone in that general direction.