Nickel Creek

Though rooted in bluegrass, Nickel Creek built a reputation as one of the most adventurous and eclectic groups in progressive acoustic music. Comprised of siblings Sean (guitar) and Sara Watkins (fiddle) and mandolinist Chris Thile, the trio first made a name for themselves as teenagers, blazing their way through the festival circuit before being picked up by the Sugar Hill label. Their Alison Krauss-produced 2000 debut revealed a youthful and forward-thinking group whose virtuosic playing and three-part harmonies touched on everything from jazz to alternative music. During their initial run, they continued to move away from bluegrass' core and were rewarded with crossover success, a Grammy Award, and plenty of critical praise. After going on hiatus in the late 2000s, each member continued to flourish with projects like Punch Brothers, Fiction Family, I'm with Her, and various solo albums. A 2014 reunion yielded a new Nickel Creek album, A Dotted Line, and although Thile and the Watkins siblings continued to pursue their own endeavors, the trio maintained a sporadic performing schedule together heading into the 2020s. In March 2023, following a nine-year gap, Nickel Creek released their fifth album, Celebrants. In 1989, Sean Watkins and Chris Thile were both students of the same music instructor. Along with Sean's younger sister Sara, the trio first began performing together as preteens in their native San Diego. They got their start while watching the band Bluegrass Etc., which put on weekly performances in a pizza parlor. A local bluegrass promoter liked the idea of such a young string band, and thus Nickel Creek were formed, with Thile's father Scott joining them on bass. Nickel Creek were regulars on the festival circuit through most of the '90s, and during that time, Thile recorded two solo albums, 1994's Leading Off... and 1997's Stealing Second. In 1998, with help from Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek landed a record deal with the roots music label Sugar Hill. Krauss produced their self-titled debut album, which was released in 2000; with the kids apparently all right, Scott subsequently retired from the band. Though it was decidedly a bluegrass record, Nickel Creek boasted elements of classical, jazz, and rock & roll, both classic and alternative; naturally, the influence of progressive bluegrass figures like Krauss, Edgar Meyer, and Béla Fleck was also apparent. Perhaps aided by the success of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which brought traditional roots music to a whole new collegiate audience, Nickel Creek became a slow-building hit; by early 2002, it had gone gold, climbed into the country Top 20, and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album. Meanwhile, Sean released his solo debut, Let It Fall, in 2001, and Thile followed suit with Not All Who Wander Are Lost. Nickel Creek released their sophomore set, This Side, in 2002; it debuted in the Top 20 of the pop charts and went all the way to number two on the country listings. Even more eclectic than its predecessor, the Krauss-produced album turned indie rock fans' heads with a cover of Pavement's "Spit on a Stranger." This Side won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album in early 2003, after which Sean issued his second solo album, 26 Miles. In 2005, the group worked with producers Tony Berg and Eric Valentine (the latter had worked with Smash Mouth and Queens of the Stone Age) to produce Why Should the Fire Die?, a dark and introspective collection of new material that found the trio steering even further away from their bluegrass beginnings. In mid-2006, Nickel Creek announced they would be taking an indefinite hiatus following a scheduled tour the next year so the bandmembers could concentrate on solo work. Thile eventually formed Punch Brothers, releasing a debut album, Punch, on Nonesuch in 2009. Sara Watkins also released an album on Nonesuch in 2009, the self-titled Sara Watkins, which was produced by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin fame. Sean Watkins, who had formed Fiction Family with Jon Foreman (of Switchfoot), also released an album in 2009, the duo's self-titled Fiction Family from the ATO label. Meanwhile, siblings Sara and Sean continued to host a monthly revue called The Watkins Family Hour at Hollywood's Largo club, playing free-form and impromptu sets with a wide array of musicians who might be in town for the evening, including names like Gabe Witcher, Benmont Tench, Greg Leisz, Jon Brion, Jackson Browne, Glen Phillips, Mark O'Connor, Ethan Johns, Matt Chamberlain, Tim O'Brien, and Tom Brosseau. Nickel Creek's hiatus extended into the first half of the 2010s, with the members continuing to record their own projects. Thile in particular was quite prolific; his work during this period included two further Punch Brothers albums, The Goat Rodeo Sessions -- a collaboration with classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma -- and even a classical album of his own, Bach Sonatas & Partitas transcribed for mandolin. For her part, Sara Watkins released a sophomore effort, 2012's Sun Midnight Sun, and Sean Watkins released a second Fiction Family album, Fiction Family Reunion, in 2013. Ending their hiatus, Nickel Creek reunited in early 2014 to celebrate their 25th anniversary as a band. Their first album in nine years, A Dotted Line, appeared on Nonesuch in April of that year and was supported by an extensive tour. After this the bandmembers again focused on their own endeavors, while still performing occasionally as Nickel Creek. Sara Watkins formed the trio I'm with Her with fellow songwriters Aoife O'Donovan and Sara Jarosz and also recorded an album with her brother as part of their Watkins Family Hour project. Sean Watkins released his fifth solo album, What to Fear, in 2016 and later that year Thile took over as host of the long-tenured radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion from its creator Garrison Keillor. Later rebranded as Live from Here, the show featured Nickel Creek a handful of times before its eventual cancellation during the 2020 global pandemic. During the quarantine period, the group dug into their archives and in 2021 released their first concert album, Live from the Fox Theater, recorded in Oakland, California on May 19, 2014. After playing a series of Nickel Creek livestreams earlier in the year, both Thile and Sara Watkins returned to their own work releasing the respective solo albums Laysongs and Under the Pepper Tree. By 2023, however, the group had readied a new studio album, their first since 2014. Featuring the core trio augmented by double bassist Mike Elizondo, the lengthy 18-track Celebrants was as complex and daring as anything in the group's catalog.
© Steve Huey & Steve Leggett /TiVo