Punch Brothers and Greenville’s Love of Americana Music
Greenville’s no stranger to good, honest, soulful Americana music. Blues, bluegrass, gospel, rock, and R&B musicians grew right out of our soil. We’re the birthplace of legendary bluesman Luther Mayer, “Captain Luke,” who founded the Music Maker Relief Foundation. Duke Ellington’s trumpet player Cat Anderson–known as the best high-note trumpeter of all time–was born right here. So was soul singer Ann Sexton, influential folk musician and activist Josh White, and songwriter Billy Roberts, who wrote “Hey Joe,” made famous by Jimi Hendrix.
Music in Greenville, SC
We’re steeped in the American roots tradition and perfectly situated geographically as a cultural crossroads for music. Anything coming up from the coast or down from the mountains travels through the Upstate, so we’ve developed a keen appreciation of music, particularly Americana styles like folk, blues, gospel, and soul.
And of course, bluegrass. We always get excited when we land extraordinary musical talents, especially in the Americana genres. That’s why we’re so amped for the return of mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile with his bluegrass band Punch Brothers.
Image Credit: Jay Strausser. Punch Brothers X Account.
Punch Brothers
Let’s address the first obvious question: Why are they called Punch Brothers? The name comes from a railroad rhyme in the Mark Twain short story “A Literary Nightmare”: “Punch, brothers! Punch with care!/Punch in the presence of the passenjare.” Now that’s settled, let’s discuss the band itself. They’ve been around since 2006, when Chris Thile, then a young mandolin player blowing everybody’s minds, decided to rally fellow mind-blowing 20-somethings into a new kind of bluegrass band. He wanted one that defied expectations and had an exceptional range, with highly technical musicians who remained down to earth. In a nutshell, that’s what you get with every Punch Brothers song.
For almost 20 years, Punch Brothers have been pushing acoustic music forward, evolving the bluegrass sound yet managing to keep the old-timey purity of its roots. They’re technicians and artists directly from the Tony Rice/David Grisman traditions, yet the Punch Brothers m.o. has always been to see where they could take the bluegrass sound.
They’re a particularly intriguing group of musicians for anyone who follows the history of roots music in America. The Punch Brothers sound is the Punch Brothers sound, but the legacy of Grisman, Rice, Bill Monroe, Sam Bush, and Mike Marshall come through in the undertones. If you listen carefully, you’ll also hear the violin in Brittany Haas’s fiddle, Bartok in the banjo, and sonata phrasing in the guitar and mandolin. Punch Brothers make an exquisite evening of Americana bluegrass music unlike any other string band playing today. See them live in the Peace Concert Hall on Monday, May 19 at 7:30.