Punch Brothers' setlist at the Southern to include 'thank you' to late bluegrass legend
If the title of the latest album by the Punch Brothers sounds familiar, it's because it's a tribute to one of the most famous bluegrass albums of all time.
“Hell on Church Street,” selections from which the Punch Brothers will perform during their concert on Feb. 14 in the Southern Theatre, is a reimagining of “Church Street Blues” by master bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice, who died in December 2020.
“He, sadly, passed away just about five weeks after we finished making this record,” said Noam Pikelny, 40, speaking by phone from St. Louis, where the Punch Brothers were performing.
Pikelny plays banjo in the contemporary bluegrass group, which also includes mandolinist Chris Thile, guitar player Chris Eldridge, bass play Paul Kowert and violinist Gabe Witcher.
“I think people may misconstrue our record as a memorial that we decided to make after Tony's passing, but this was a living tribute that we set out to do in a timely fashion,” Pikelny said. “We wanted to deliver this record to him as a thank you for changing our lives.
"We planned to keep it a secret and have our guitar player, Chris Eldridge, go pay a visit to Tony Rice and just hand him this as a sincere thank you. It's one of the real regrets of the timing of this record that we never had that chance. ”
Tony Rice's influence on the band
While all the members of the group were influenced by Rice, Eldridge — whom the members of the group affectionately call “Critter” — was influenced most directly.
Eldridge grew up in Virginia, close to Washington, D.C. His father played bluegrass, and Eldridge got to know Rice through him.
“Tony always called Chris 'Critter' when he was just this little rugrat. Then 18 years later, Chris was able to do an independent study through Oberlin College where he went and spent a couple weeks with Tony Rice. And 18 years later, he was still calling him Critter. And if Tony's going to call him Critter, everyone else is going to call him Critter,” Pikelny said.
The albums' songs
Rice's album, which was released in 1983, and “Hell on Church Street” both include the same intriguing mix of songs, part traditional bluegrass numbers and part more recent songs such as Bob Dylan's “One More Night” and Tom Paxton's “The Last Thing on My Mind.”
“Hell on Church Street” is not an imitative remake of the original, however.
“Tony Rice's version is just him and a guitar and the most spare, pure statement of the songs. It felt like a wonderful springboard for us to get closer to his music and make it our own. Rather than make this a rehash of Tony's record, but with five people playing bluegrass instruments, we wanted to create something new and incredibly personal. It's quite a different interpretation of this set of music,” Pikelny said.
How the Punch Brothers album began
They got together to make the record in the fall of 2020.
“After 10 months of being away from each other, we finally decided that by hook or by crook, we were going to convene in Nashville and quarantine and make this record together,” Pikelny said. “So there is this family reunion feeling to this record.”
Pikelny grew up playing bluegrass banjo in Chicago — and making regular pilgrimages to Ohio.
“The first time I got to go to a real bluegrass festival, where the headliners were the best of the best, was outside Columbus at a place called Frontier Ranch, in Kirkersville. We would go there every year. That's where I saw Tony Rice the first time. For a kid learning bluegrass, to be able to go to a festival like that, it was like being able to go see the Beatles. It was life-changing. I always wonder what would have happened if my parents weren't able to drive me to those festivals,” he said.
The members of the group are now looking forward to performing in Columbus..
“The Southern Theatre is in our top five venues we get to play. Probably even higher,” Pikelny said. “It's one of the most perfect-sounding rooms in the country. We're doing these concerts with one single microphone onstage, old-style, for the highest fidelity possible, and we're really excited to be able to do that at the Southern.
"If we could make a record there, that would be a dream. It's a special opportunity to be in that space.”
At a glance
The Punch Brothers will perform at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 in the Southern Theatre, 21 E. Main St. Tickets start at $39. Masks and proof of vaccination or negative COVID test required. (www.capa.com)
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Punch Brothers bringing bluegrass/folk to Columbus' Southern Theatre
