Punch Brothers

Punch Brothers

At the conclusion of The Blind Leaving the Blind, the 40-minute, four-movement suite that is the heart of Punch Brothers’ Punch—the band’s Nonesuch debut—composer-singer-mandolin player Chris Thile conjures up the image of a heartbroken young man nursing his psychic wounds at a bar with his friends. In real life, the 26-year old Thile, who was recovering from his own tattered marriage as he developed the piece, took a more constructive approach, joining four of his own musical buddies to form a kind of super group/support group. The quintet did visit some bars along the way, but, more importantly, over the course of two years, these perfor...