Nickel Creek

Nickel Creek is the internationally renowned roots trio of mandolinist Chris Thile, violinist Sara Watkins and guitarist Sean Watkins. The Grammy-winning band has revolutionized folk and roots music since first performing together as children at a pizza parlor in San Diego in 1989, signing to acclaimed roots label Sugar Hill Records after wowing the bluegrass circuit for a decade. Nickel Creek quickly broke through in 2000 with their Grammy-nominated, Alison Krauss-produced self-titled LP, which showcased not just their instrumental virtuosity but their burgeoning songwriting prowess. The trio quickly followed that effort with the Krauss-produced This Side, a landmark release that earned Nickel Creek the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album and brought their progressive take on acoustic music to a broader audience, greatly influencing the sound and trajectory of roots music in the process. 2005's Grammy-nominated Why Should the Fire Die? found the trio pushing genre boundaries even further, incorporating elements of alt-rock and indie pop into their singular brand of acoustic music. In 2014, Nickel Creek released the critically acclaimed and joyously received A Dotted Line, ended a seven-year recording and touring hiatus for the band. After another hiatus during which members explored other musical and creative avenues, the Platinum-selling, Grammy Award-winning trio gathered for a creative retreat in Santa Barbara during the pandemic and emerged with a bounty of disparate but loosely connected songs that resulted in 2023's highly anticipated album, Celebrants. The record is perhaps their most audacious — with "18 interconnected tracks, Nickel Creek offers another world for listeners, not necessarily one to escape into — these songs are nuanced and honest, not fantasy — but one suited for introspection." (NPR) The entire enterprise is, naturally, shot through with the band's virtuosic picking and shiver-inducing harmonies. The lyrics — addressing love, friendship, time, and the universal travails of travel — combine the poetic and plain-spoken, hitting a sweet spot of ethereal and relatable as bridges are built, crossed, burned, and rebuilt.