Chris Thile Interview “Having never been to Nashville, Indiana before, I anticipate getting to see my music by the light of those sparks that fly when an artist meets an audience for the first time.”
Brown County Music Center Show October 3
photo by Josh Goleman
~by Ryan Stacy
G
ood news for the music world—Chris Thile doesn’t have COVID. At least he didn’t when we spoke in August: Thile was at a testing site when I called him, waiting for his results. “It’s Thile,” I heard him tell the nurse who asked his name. “T-H-I-L-E.” Which apparently didn’t ring a bell, because nobody there replied with “Chris Thile, the multiple-Grammy-winning mandolin prodigy? Who released two albums before he finished high school? Who’s worked with Allison Krause, Bela Fleck, and Yo-Yo Ma? Who took over hosting duties on public radio’s hit show Prairie Home Companion? That Chris Thile?”
Yep, that would be Chris. And fortunately for all of us, he’ll be very recognized when he plays the first date of his new tour on October 3 at Brown County Music Center. Fans from all over the region are prepared to be captivated by Thile’s material from Laysongs, his latest album, which he created during the 2020 shutdown. After his opportunities to perform live evaporated thanks to the pandemic, Thile and his family headed upstate from their home in Brooklyn to regroup. In the small town where they rented a house, there happened to be a recording studio inside an old church building, which he felt Continued on 50
48 Our Brown County Sept./Oct. 2021
