Of all the musical creatures that operate under the Americana flag, Punch Brothers are among the strangest birds. Mainly responsible for this is mandolin player , who quit the successful bluegrass trio in 2006 to do something more challenging. What he had in mind was a kind of country performance of classical chamber music. The official band debut (2008), for example, consists of a four-part suite
… of 40 minutes in total. Album number five is a no less ambitious concept album. Or 'a meditation on fixed relationships in the current political climate', as Thile describes it. All Ashore is definitely challenging. No raggle-taggle folk songs, but playing as virtuoso (and difficult) as many a jazz band and a textbook to browse through. 'Sure, I guess he got off to a hell of a start, with his grandpa's money and his daddy's heart, but you oughta know priviliged is a pretty hard thing to be' (Jumbo). Who would that be about ..? (RME)more
