Epic New Nickel Creek Project, Montecito-Born, Hits the Granada

Chris Thile Talks Bach, ‘Hamilton,’ and Montecito Music-Making

Epic New Nickel Creek
Project, Montecito-Born,
Hits the Granada

Chris Thile Talks Bach, ‘Hamilton,’ and
Montecito Music-Making

By Josef Woodard | September 14, 2023

Nickel Creek members (from left) Sara Watkins, Sean Watkins, and Chris Thile | Credit: Courtesy

Read more of the Fall Arts & Lectures preview here.

By now, the witty wizard of mandolin mastery Chris Thile has appeared often enough in Santa Barbara to be granted the keys to the city. But part of what makes his return visits so welcome are his innate eclecticism and artful blurring of musical identities. Which project/hat will he be wearing this time in our town? Let us count the ways.

Over the past two decades, Thile has appeared at the Lobero Theatre with his groundbreaking new-grass band Nickel Creek (with Sara and Sean Watkins), his acclaimed prog-grass band The Punch Brothers, and in solo Bach mode. Recent years also have found him on the 805-concertizing rebound via the hosting umbrella of UCSB Arts & Lectures, including a soothing House Calls streaming performance during the 2021 COVID lockdown.

Fast-forward to October 8 in the big house of The Granada Theatre, when Thile returns in a significant, epic form, with Nickel Creek performing music from their stunning and most venturesome album to date, Celebrants, which was literally conceived and home-cooked as the three Creekers and their families hunkered down in a Montecito house during lockdown.

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