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 <a href="spotify:artist:45K759axQK0aohwSjbkgpy">Sean</a> (guitar) and <a href="spotify:artist:1FDE7zZ6jmP8HHb9ej3mek">Sara Watkins</a> (fiddle) and mandolinist <a href="spotify:artist:1dyGPAYZZHHW6WIqwKN5QF">Chris Thile</a>, the trio first made a name for themselves as teenagers, blazing their way through the festival circuit before being picked up by the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Sugar+Hill%22">Sugar Hill</a> label. Their <a href="spotify:artist:5J6L7N6B4nI1M5cwa29mQG">Alison Krauss</a>-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 <a href="spotify:artist:4gFssfOmWNY3LfIZ3zyoy4">Punch Brothers</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4bokLXmltodf13GHlsiQD2">Fiction Family</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3oXddLOOjkoUuC2sX1RMdr">I'm with Her</a>, and various solo albums. A 2014 reunion yielded a new Nickel Creek album, A Dotted Line, and although <a href="spotify:artist:1dyGPAYZZHHW6WIqwKN5QF">Thile</a> 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, <a href="spotify:artist:45K759axQK0aohwSjbkgpy">Sean Watkins</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1dyGPAYZZHHW6WIqwKN5QF">Chris Thile</a> were both students of the same music instructor. Along with <a href="spotify:artist:45K759axQK0aohwSjbkgpy">Sean</a>'s younger sister <a href="spotify:artist:1FDE7zZ6jmP8HHb9ej3mek">Sara</a>, the trio first began performing together as preteens in their native San Diego. They got their start while watching the band <a href="spotify:artist:3B78XD1CwZRq5uKSz265UK">Bluegrass Etc.</a>, 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 <a href="spotify:artist:1dyGPAYZZHHW6WIqwKN5QF">Thile</a>'s father Scott joining them on bass.

Nickel Creek were regulars on the festival circuit through most of the '90s, and during that time, <a href="spotify:artist:1dyGPAYZZHHW6WIqwKN5QF">Thile</a> recorded two solo albums, 1994's Leading Off... and 1997's Stealing Second. In 1998, with help from <a href="spotify:artist:5J6L7N6B4nI1M5cwa29mQG">Alison Krauss</a>, Nickel Creek landed a record deal with the roots music label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Sugar+Hill%22">Sugar Hill</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:5J6L7N6B4nI1M5cwa29mQG">Krauss</a> 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 <a href="spotify:artist:5J6L7N6B4nI1M5cwa29mQG">Krauss</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7jkhwa4XMe9XSt1r0AWNqD">Edgar Meyer</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2ka8z2lwkcp13fG8Wyv3xU">Béla Fleck</a> 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, <a href="spotify:artist:45K759axQK0aohwSjbkgpy">Sean</a> released his solo debut, Let It Fall, in 2001, and <a href="spotify:artist:1dyGPAYZZHHW6WIqwKN5QF">Thile</a> 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 <a href="spotify:artist:5J6L7N6B4nI1M5cwa29mQG">Krauss</a>-produced album turned indie rock fans' heads with a cover of <a href="spotify:artist:3inCNiUr4R6XQ3W43s9Aqi">Pavement</a>'s "Spit on a Stranger." This Side won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album in early 2003, after which <a href="spotify:artist:45K759axQK0aohwSjbkgpy">Sean</a> issued his second solo album, 26 Miles. In 2005, the group worked with producers Tony Berg and Eric Valentine (the latter had worked with <a href="spotify:artist:2iEvnFsWxR0Syqu2JNopAd">Smash Mouth</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4pejUc4iciQfgdX6OKulQn">Queens of the Stone Age</a>) 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. <a href="spotify:artist:1dyGPAYZZHHW6WIqwKN5QF">Thile</a> eventually formed <a href="spotify:artist:4gFssfOmWNY3LfIZ3zyoy4">Punch Brothers</a>, releasing a debut album, Punch, on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Nonesuch%22">Nonesuch</a> in 2009. <a href="spotify:artist:1FDE7zZ6jmP8HHb9ej3mek">Sara Watkins</a> also released an album on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Nonesuch%22">Nonesuch</a> in 2009, the self-titled Sara Watkins, which was produced by <a href="spotify:artist:6RhcZuUOb20IZvR8BbdnJX">John Paul Jones</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:36QJpDe2go2KgaRleHCDTp">Led Zeppelin</a> fame. <a href="spotify:artist:45K759axQK0aohwSjbkgpy">Sean Watkins</a>, who had formed <a href="spotify:artist:4bokLXmltodf13GHlsiQD2">Fiction Family</a> with <a href="spotify:artist:5D3h9ZoobhetjXw3dKhcaq">Jon Foreman</a> (of <a href="spotify:artist:6S58b0fr8TkWrEHOH4tRVu">Switchfoot</a>), also released an album in 2009, the duo's self-titled Fiction Family from the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ATO%22">ATO</a> label. Meanwhile, siblings <a href="spotify:artist:1FDE7zZ6jmP8HHb9ej3mek">Sara</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:45K759axQK0aohwSjbkgpy">Sean</a> 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, <a href="spotify:artist:64BpBvN4VY7JdhV9GaEbiV">Benmont Tench</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5OslOE4iegsG2uqyOZJ2OU">Greg Leisz</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:57YJQe0ayvIaRZJ3PW5nFP">Jon Brion</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5lkiCO9UQ8B23dZ1o0UV4m">Jackson Browne</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7pbZAYKypiqCp97hiE8YmN">Glen Phillips</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5zfaMrd5q4szVTxVYWuoDV">Mark O'Connor</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6Ge6AZje6TXJXR0f6wwlrc">Ethan Johns</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2ACGbJEQ3zbG0fcPEmdOSP">Matt Chamberlain</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2nJQCVut36kUzDfy3eUZCM">Tim O'Brien</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2N8B0dQLfpwOtput9mRlko">Tom Brosseau</a>.

Nickel Creek's hiatus extended into the first half of the 2010s, with the members continuing to record their own projects. <a href="spotify:artist:1dyGPAYZZHHW6WIqwKN5QF">Thile</a> in particular was quite prolific; his work during this period included two further <a href="spotify:artist:4gFssfOmWNY3LfIZ3zyoy4">Punch Brothers</a> albums, The Goat Rodeo Sessions -- a collaboration with classical cellist <a href="spotify:artist:5Dl3HXZjG6ZOWT5cV375lk">Yo-Yo Ma</a> -- and even a classical album of his own, Bach Sonatas & Partitas transcribed for mandolin. For her part, <a href="spotify:artist:1FDE7zZ6jmP8HHb9ej3mek">Sara Watkins</a> released a sophomore effort, 2012's Sun Midnight Sun, and <a href="spotify:artist:45K759axQK0aohwSjbkgpy">Sean Watkins</a> released a second <a href="spotify:artist:4bokLXmltodf13GHlsiQD2">Fiction Family</a> 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 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Nonesuch%22">Nonesuch</a> 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. <a href="spotify:artist:1FDE7zZ6jmP8HHb9ej3mek">Sara Watkins</a> formed the trio <a href="spotify:artist:3oXddLOOjkoUuC2sX1RMdr">I'm with Her</a> with fellow songwriters <a href="spotify:artist:1f3ubTd6eyxuy30ddDJQQa">Aoife O'Donovan</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6nFBonVf7Lqaj05R0v5VGJ">Sara Jarosz</a> and also recorded an album with her brother as part of their <a href="spotify:artist:6zoDxs0nnHuD3dKmi7xIIj">Watkins Family Hour</a> project. <a href="spotify:artist:45K759axQK0aohwSjbkgpy">Sean Watkins</a> released his fifth solo album, What to Fear, in 2016 and later that year <a href="spotify:artist:1dyGPAYZZHHW6WIqwKN5QF">Thile</a> took over as host of the long-tenured radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion from its creator <a href="spotify:artist:6y394F42uSErDzD4QKAOdz">Garrison Keillor</a>. 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 <a href="spotify:artist:1dyGPAYZZHHW6WIqwKN5QF">Thile</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1FDE7zZ6jmP8HHb9ej3mek">Sara Watkins</a> 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 <a href="spotify:artist:23Q5yNjnlqThITasb5Y7y6">Mike Elizondo</a>, the lengthy 18-track Celebrants was as complex and daring as anything in the group's catalog. ~ Steve Huey & Steve Leggett, Rovi