In the 2009-10 season, the band visits a long list of venues including Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall (where they debuted in Zankel Hall in 2007), the Somerville Theater in Boston, Old Town School in Chicago, the Herbst Theater in San Francisco, UMS Ann Arbor, Duke University, the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and many others. They have performed recently in nearly every conceivable format and space, from small clubs (they have a regular series at the Living Room in New York and have played frequently at Largo in Los Angeles) to concert halls (Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Sheldon Hall in St. Louis, Mondavi Center in Davis, Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, the Allen Room in New York, in addition to Carnegie) to festivals of all kinds (Bonnaroo, Ravinia, Aspen, Telluride, Spoleto, Savannah, Chamber Music Northwest). Their shows include an unpredictable mix of original songs written by the band, the 4-movement chamber suite The Blind Leaving the Blind (composed by Thile), traditional bluegrass and folk tunes, arrangements of Bach and Mozart, and covers of Radiohead, The Beatles, The Band, The White Stripes, The Strokes, and multiple other sources. In the fall of 2011, the band embarked on a tour opening for music legend Paul Simon, occasionally accompanying him on "The Boxer."
Punch Brothers return with their second album, Antifogmatic, June 15 on Nonesuch. The record is the follow-up to the bandâs highly praised 2008 debut, Punch, which The New Yorker calls â...wide-ranging and restlessly imaginative...â A special deluxe edition of the album will also be available. Included in this package is a four song instrumental EP, All of This Is True, as well as a seven song DVD, Live from the Lower East Side: Itâs p-Bingo Night!, which was filmed during the bandâs residency at NYCâs The Living Room. Pre-orders of both the standard and deluxe editions are available now at www.nonesuch.com and www.punchbrothers.com. The first 500 orders of the deluxe edition will include an autographed official Punch Brothers cocktail recipe guide.
At home in a dizzying array of settings even outside of their expansive core activities, Punch Brothers are the subject of an upcoming feature-length documentary called How to Grow a Band, have appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and were among three finalists in ESPNâs cut-throat, fan-voted battle of the bands in interpretations of âTake Me Out to the Ballgameâ. The band membersâ diverse backgrounds and extraordinary talents make the group impossible to describe and thrilling to experience.
Chris Thile has changed the mandolin forever, elevating it from its origins as a relatively simple folk and bluegrass instrument to the sophistication and brilliance of the finest jazz improvisation and classical performance. In the 2009-10 season, he premieres his Mandolin Concerto with six orchestras in the US. For more than 15 years, Thile played in the wildly popular band Nickel Creek, with whom he released three albums and sold two million records, was awarded a GrammyÂź in 2002, and traveled the world on sold-out concert tours. As a soloist he has released four albums, as well as performing and recording extensively as a duo with double bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer and with fellow eminent mandolinist Mike Marshall. He has written a duo for Meyer and pianist Emanuel Ax; recorded with Yo-Yo Ma, Renee Fleming and Joshua Bell; and collaborated with a pantheon of bluegrass innovators including Bela Fleck, Dolly Parton, the Dixie Chicks, Jerry Douglas, and Sam Bush.
Although initially drawn to the electric guitar, by his mid-teens Chris Eldridge had developed a deep love for acoustic music, thanks in part to his father, a banjo player and founding member of the seminal bluegrass group The Seldom Scene. Eldridge later gained in-depth exposure to a variety of different musical styles while studying at Oberlin Conservatory, where he earned a degree in Music Performance in 2004. During his time at Oberlin, Eldridge studied with legendary guitarist Tony Rice. Before joining Punch Brothers, he was a founding member of the critically acclaimed bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters.
Paul Kowert is from Madison, WI and graduated from The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. As a classical musician Paul has performed with various orchestras as a soloist and as a section member, most recently playing in the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland in the summer of 2008. He was one of the performers at Edgar Meyerâs Carnegie Hall workshop in 2006, and since then has appeared in concert with Darol Angerâs Republic of Strings, Tristan and Tashina Clarridge, Alex and Tatiana Hargreaves, Futuremanâs Black Mozart Ensemble, Jordan Tice, Brittany Haas, and Jeremy Kittel. Paul can be heard as a member of the âBig Trioâ with mandolinist Mike Marshall and violinist Alex Hargreaves, a group that released its first album in spring 2009.
Noam Pikelny (born Noam Pikelny) hails from Chicago, IL where he picked up the banjo at the age of 8. He studied old-time and bluegrass banjo at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Throughout high school, he played all over Illinois and Indiana with several traditional bluegrass bands, who occasionally required him to wear a uniform. Noam studied music theory at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. In 2002, he became the principal banjoist with the award-winning Colorado ensemble Leftover Salmon. His debut solo record, In the Maze, was released on Compass Records, and though it did not have much success on the billboard charts, it made a splash in the world of postmodern progressive three-finger style five-string banjo. He relocated to Nashville, TN in 2006 to play with New Grass Revival bassist and vocalist John Cowan. He starting performing and recording with mandolinist, fellow Cubs fan, spiritual advisor, and life coach Chris Thile in the fall of 2005. Noam relocated to Brooklyn, NY in the spring of 2008.
Gabe Witcher began his musical training at age five, learning classical violin and bluegrass fiddle simultaneously. By age six he was performing professionally with his father in the bluegrass band The Witcher Brothers; over the next decade, he gained renown as both a member of that group and as a multiple winner on the California competition circuit. In 1994, Witcher was recruited by veteran musician Herb Pedersen to fill the shoes of three-time national fiddle champion Byron Berline in the group The Laurel Canyon Ramblers. By age 17, Witcher was recording for heavyweights such as Randy Newman, Bernie Taupin, and producer Don Was. He has since contributed to more than 300 records and countless movie and television scores, including 2006 OscarÂź winner Brokeback Mountain. Over the last five years, he has solidified his place at the forefront of the progressive acoustic music scene by playing with 12-time GrammyÂź winner Jerry Douglas.
Boll Weevil
Punch Brothers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
"You better treat me right
I'll eat up all of your cotton
Sleep in your grain rail tonight"
Boll weevil told the farmer
"You don't need no Ford machine
I'll eat up all of your cotton
Yon comes the spider
Crawled up and down the wall
He must've been going
To get his hash's haul
I don't see no water
But I'm about to drown
I don't see no fire
But I'm burning down
The first two stanzas of Punch Brothersâ song Boll Weevil describe a narrative of a boll weevil talking to a farmer, warning him that he will devour up all of his cotton if heâs not treated right. The boll weevil also convinces the farmer that he doesn't need any Ford machines, as he alone can take care of his crops. The boll weevil represents a destructive force that cannot be quenched, a theme present in most blues lyrics, in which an outside force threatens to destroy something that is essential to a person's livelihood. The song can also be interpreted to allude to the Great Depression in which many farmers lost their crops and homes, leading to poverty and destitution.
The rest of the lyrics introduce a spider who is trying to catch a bug. The lyrics suggest that the spider is selling drugs or smoking marijuana, and the âbugâ is a symbol for a customer. The lyrics continue with âI don't see no water, but I'm about to drownâ and âI don't see no fire, but I'm burning down,â suggesting that the character is consumed by his vices, which are overpowering him slowly. The lyrics give a distinct feeling of unease and disorder, describing a world of chaos, confusion, and distrust, presenting the listener with a gritty vision of America's rural past.
Line by Line Meaning
Boll weevil told the farmer
The boll weevil said to the farmer
"You better treat me right
"You better treat me well
I'll eat up all of your cotton
Or else it will destroy all your cotton
Sleep in your grain rail tonight"
And rest comfortably in your grain rail tonight"
Boll weevil told the farmer
Again, the boll weevil spoke to the farmer
"You don't need no Ford machine
"You don't need a Ford machine
Can't buy no gasoline"
And cannot buy gasoline to operate it"
Yon comes the spider
Here comes a spider
Crawled up and down the wall
Climbing up and down the wall
He must've been going
It is assumed that the spider is moving
To get his hash's haul
Perhaps to collect his food
I don't see no water
There is no water in sight
But I'm about to drown
But the singer feels they are about to drown
I don't see no fire
There is no fire in sight
But I'm burning down
But the singer feels as if they are burning down
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: CHRIS BALLEW, DAVID MICHAEL DEDERER, JASON S. FINN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
banjoblast
Great tune! That haunting melody could go on and on. The words conjure up endless dreams. Tommy J was onto something.
Shnalf
It is so ingenious how they shifted part of the melody! Listen how the bass sometimes seems like it is playing off the beat, but then straight again. But the bass isn't the one changing.
Shnalf
They are also repeating the melody a beat earlier and combined with the shifting, the first note really has this rushing "in your face" energy.
Shayne Green
so good!
Andrew Stenberg
Awesome Song!
Nour El Feki
Nice đ dancing đș đ
Alex
Thanks for this.
Front Row Boston
alex0589 thanks for watching!
StellardruĂd
Quality shiyyyt
Michael Barat
The singer needs to sing louder, he's to hear.