Chasman
12-14-2005, 11:16 PM
Hopefully, they will follow up with a review of the 12-14 show as well.
Chas
Acoustic trio adds rock to bluegrass roots
Larry Rodgers
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 11, 2005 12:00 AM
As Nickel Creek distances itself from its bluegrass roots to explore rock and pop, violinist-singer Sara Watkins likens the move to a loss of innocence.
She acknowledges that some of the nearly 1 million people who bought the group's self-titled, bluegrass-heavy debut album in 2000 - recorded when she, her guitarist brother, Sean, and mandolin master Chris Thile were in their late teens - abandoned ship when Nickel Creek opted for a larger dose of alternative rock and pop on this year's Why Should the Fire Die?
Some people say this album is completely different, and some say it makes perfect sense. So it depends on which aspects of the earlier records you were clinging on to and which aspects really spoke to you, says Watkins, 24, part of the trio of acoustic virtuosos from San Diego. The group, which was nominated for two Grammys on Thursday, performs in Tempe on Wednesday.
If it's the complete innocence of the first record, then obviously it's not going to last a whole lot longer, because people grow up. But if it was the musicianship or arrangements that you were attracted to, then hopefully we didn't lose you.
And the musicianship, harmonies and arrangements are nothing short of stunning in many places.
Having been raised on bluegrass, Watkins and her bandmates hold dear work by such pioneers as Bill Monroe and modern practitioners like Alison Krauss (who produced Nickel Creek's first two CDs). A handful of instrumentals on the new album, including the razor-sharp Scotch & Chocolate and the toe-tapping Stumptown, celebrate those roots.
But Nickel Creek is incorporating more non-traditional sounds from rockers Radiohead and U2 and progressive folkie Bela Fleck into its musical mix.
And with left-of-center compositions like the latest single, When in Rome, and an artsy video for the song airing on VH1, there's no turning back.
Grab a blanket, sister, we'll make smoke signals / Bring in some new blood, it feels like we're alone, Thile, dressed starkly in black suit and loosened tie, sings plaintively.
Crossing over from bluegrass to rock was our biggest challenge, acknowledges Holly Lowman, marketing director for Nashville-based Sugar Hill Records. It was a challenge to convince retailers that this is now a pop-mainstream kind of band, even though there's a mandolin, fiddle and no drums.
Nickel Creek passed on having Krauss produce for the third time and instead hired Eric Valentine, known for his work with rock's Queens of the Stone Age and Smash Mouth.
Eric's a solid rock producer, and he saw roles for the instruments in a bigger way than we had previously perceived, Watkins says.
So a song like Somebody More Like You has layers of acoustic guitars, one picking a rootsy riff while the other bangs out a rhythm that might be found on a techno record.
Watkins says she sees this latest incarnation of Nickel Creek as a natural evolution that started with the group's second album, 2002's This Side.
Although it earned a Grammy Award for best contemporary folk album, that disc contained a cover of Spit on a Stranger, by '90s indie rockers Pavement.
The second record represents an awkward phase where we were trying to figure things out and trying to let everybody know that we weren't a country band, because we had kind of gotten lumped into that,' Watkins says. (The band's videos have done well on Country Music Television.)
Although she voices admiration for roots acts like Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and Arizona's Calexico, Watkins pulls no punches on her opinion of new country radio, which thrives on the likes of Gretchen Wilson, Brooks & Dunn and Montgomery Gentry:
We hate country music on the radio. We never listen to commercial country music.
With an attitude like that, but more important with music that crosses so many lines, it's easy to understand why Nickel Creek's newer songs have gotten little air time on mainstream country stations.
This time out, Sugar Hill is targeting AAA (adult album alternative), college and alternative-rock stations, as well as stations that play bluegrass.
Watkins sounds content to keep expanding Nickel Creek's horizons, regardless of the struggle to be heard on large radio stations.
The downside is we don't get much airplay, but the upside is we get to do stuff we're proud of, be really creative and not have a lot of people breathing down our necks, she says.
Chas
Acoustic trio adds rock to bluegrass roots
Larry Rodgers
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 11, 2005 12:00 AM
As Nickel Creek distances itself from its bluegrass roots to explore rock and pop, violinist-singer Sara Watkins likens the move to a loss of innocence.
She acknowledges that some of the nearly 1 million people who bought the group's self-titled, bluegrass-heavy debut album in 2000 - recorded when she, her guitarist brother, Sean, and mandolin master Chris Thile were in their late teens - abandoned ship when Nickel Creek opted for a larger dose of alternative rock and pop on this year's Why Should the Fire Die?
Some people say this album is completely different, and some say it makes perfect sense. So it depends on which aspects of the earlier records you were clinging on to and which aspects really spoke to you, says Watkins, 24, part of the trio of acoustic virtuosos from San Diego. The group, which was nominated for two Grammys on Thursday, performs in Tempe on Wednesday.
If it's the complete innocence of the first record, then obviously it's not going to last a whole lot longer, because people grow up. But if it was the musicianship or arrangements that you were attracted to, then hopefully we didn't lose you.
And the musicianship, harmonies and arrangements are nothing short of stunning in many places.
Having been raised on bluegrass, Watkins and her bandmates hold dear work by such pioneers as Bill Monroe and modern practitioners like Alison Krauss (who produced Nickel Creek's first two CDs). A handful of instrumentals on the new album, including the razor-sharp Scotch & Chocolate and the toe-tapping Stumptown, celebrate those roots.
But Nickel Creek is incorporating more non-traditional sounds from rockers Radiohead and U2 and progressive folkie Bela Fleck into its musical mix.
And with left-of-center compositions like the latest single, When in Rome, and an artsy video for the song airing on VH1, there's no turning back.
Grab a blanket, sister, we'll make smoke signals / Bring in some new blood, it feels like we're alone, Thile, dressed starkly in black suit and loosened tie, sings plaintively.
Crossing over from bluegrass to rock was our biggest challenge, acknowledges Holly Lowman, marketing director for Nashville-based Sugar Hill Records. It was a challenge to convince retailers that this is now a pop-mainstream kind of band, even though there's a mandolin, fiddle and no drums.
Nickel Creek passed on having Krauss produce for the third time and instead hired Eric Valentine, known for his work with rock's Queens of the Stone Age and Smash Mouth.
Eric's a solid rock producer, and he saw roles for the instruments in a bigger way than we had previously perceived, Watkins says.
So a song like Somebody More Like You has layers of acoustic guitars, one picking a rootsy riff while the other bangs out a rhythm that might be found on a techno record.
Watkins says she sees this latest incarnation of Nickel Creek as a natural evolution that started with the group's second album, 2002's This Side.
Although it earned a Grammy Award for best contemporary folk album, that disc contained a cover of Spit on a Stranger, by '90s indie rockers Pavement.
The second record represents an awkward phase where we were trying to figure things out and trying to let everybody know that we weren't a country band, because we had kind of gotten lumped into that,' Watkins says. (The band's videos have done well on Country Music Television.)
Although she voices admiration for roots acts like Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and Arizona's Calexico, Watkins pulls no punches on her opinion of new country radio, which thrives on the likes of Gretchen Wilson, Brooks & Dunn and Montgomery Gentry:
We hate country music on the radio. We never listen to commercial country music.
With an attitude like that, but more important with music that crosses so many lines, it's easy to understand why Nickel Creek's newer songs have gotten little air time on mainstream country stations.
This time out, Sugar Hill is targeting AAA (adult album alternative), college and alternative-rock stations, as well as stations that play bluegrass.
Watkins sounds content to keep expanding Nickel Creek's horizons, regardless of the struggle to be heard on large radio stations.
The downside is we don't get much airplay, but the upside is we get to do stuff we're proud of, be really creative and not have a lot of people breathing down our necks, she says.