The common winter forecast of gray skies overtook the outline of the Center for the Arts Friday night, obscuring it into the evening darkness. Inside however, the twang of bluegrass was about to warm up the evening.
UB welcomed Chris Thile, a mandolin strummer from the critically acclaimed folk band Nickel Creek, and recipient of the 2007 Folk Musician of the Year award from the British Broadcasting Corporation II.
The show kicked off with an opening performance by the string trio Sometimes Why. Composed of sirens Kristin Andreassen, Ruth Ungar and Aoife O'Donovan, their string and vocal textures sufficiently set the mood for a night of bluegrass.
After the opening set, Chris Thile and The How To Grow a Band emerged from backstage to raucous applause from the excited audience, which ranged from rowdy college kids to graying ex-hipsters.
The New Age Bluegrass Quintet is comprised of Chris Thile on mandolin, Noam "Pickles" Pikelny on banjo, Brian Sutton on acoustic guitar, Greg Garrison on upright bass and Gabe "The Judge" Witcher on fiddle. During the course of their set, each member of the band stepped up to the microphone and assisted Chris Thile with their harmonizing vocals.
Chris Thile performed with Brian Sutton, who garnered the honor of being Folk Musician of the year by the BBC II. Both Thile and Sutton are nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental. At one point, Chris and Brian competed in a thumb-wrestling match to determine who would win the Grammy. Brian Sutton ended up besting Thile, although Chris justified his defeat by claiming that Sutton had more time to train for the bout.
After the pageantry, the band launched into their Grammy nominated track "The Eleventh Reel" off Chris Thile's recent solo project "How to Grow a Woman from the Ground." Thile revealed that the original title for the track was "Cristal's Magic Bunny Ride," but he later decided to change the title for the sake of "making money."
Chris Thile and The How To Grow A Band put on a commanding performance that had the audience eating out of the palm of their hand. They're left wanting more, and they were answered when they returned to the stage for a final piece.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
