There’s a documentary film coming out that’s called How to grow a band. It’s about mandolinist Chris Thile’s band Punch Brothers. Check out the trailer on the site as well as a pretty cool live performance of Bach’s Brandenburg concerto arranged for a bluegrass band.

Punch Brothers’ only album so far, Punch, I think will always have a special meaning to me. It is not just a bluegrass album of extreme virtuosity, it has some beautiful song writing and an integral and moving story. I love that perfect balance in bluegrass between being a total show-off and creating gorgeous music. Not many albums, and indeed genres, pull that off as well as this.

I’m also happy to say that this story of Chris Thile’s breakup, so wonderfully translated into music on this album and on the song It’ll happen, was the wedding waltz of me and my wife almost two years ago. Most of the time, soundtracks to our lives sneak in by themselves, and sometimes you don’t even notice the meaning the songs took on until after the fact. So I’m happy this was one we managed to sneak in there on our own initiative.