Knoxville520.com

In the days leading up to the performance I was surprised to find that a lot of my musical friends were unaware of Chris Thile. I got a lot of “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of Nickel Creek. Not really my thing.” These people had obviously never checked out any his six solo albums or ever really listened to a Nickel Creek album. I have an instrumental compilation album that gives short acclimations for all the players it contains stating things like this player is know for this recording and winning that award etc. etc.…but when you get to Chris Thile the liner notes read “Chris is known as being the best mandolin player in the world.” Now I don’t like to label anything as the absolute best there is but I fully admit there is no one I can think of that combines that kind of instrumental virtuosity with a perfectly intonated voice and still keeps his soul as a songwriter who can connect with people from any walk of life. But there would be no singing this night, just “serious” music. And it was clear from the moment the two took the stage in front of packed Cox Auditorium that the music would indeed be seriously challenging, seriously beautiful and often seriously hilarious. Oh and also seriously original. Two long sets and the only cover songs would be a couple J.S. Bach pieces and a very cool rendition of “The Smoothie Song” for the Nickel Creek fans. Yes all original tunes, some of which had not yet received a title, a source of much of the night’s improvised conversation between the two musicians. That banter was almost as fun to listen to as the music, starting a little awkwardly but loosening over the night into some pretty damn funny jokes on each other and the people in the audience. But enough already… what about the music? It’s hard to generalize the sound of the music created by Meyer and Thile. At times it was deeply rooted in what could be described as new wave classical; intensely rich compositions taking huge risks, resulting in something like looking down a tonal kaleidoscope while riding rhythmic rollercoaster. But a tune with that type of madness would be followed by something like "Just as Well" an original ballad that floated into soft swing feel. On "The Farmer and The Duck" the duo took a breakneck funk beat section and snapped it into a delightfully goofy half-time vaudeville-esque melody. The best part of all is watching each of them let go of their bodies during solos. Chris looks like a marionette be tossed around from side to side with his face contorting to the shape of his mandolin licks. And even Meyer who is normally cool and proper in his technique was sliding his feet like he had a bad case of disco fever. These guys were enjoying hearing themselves play together, probably more than any of us in the audience can imagine. The program with intermission came out to be about two and half hours. For us students that translates to around two dollars an hour for some truly amazing music. As they the saying goes, “It’s all been done before, but you can never do it the same twice.” The music played this last week exemplified where I feel the most exciting sounds are in this globally connected internet propelled modern day. It’s fusion. Musicians no longer have to stay in one mold to gain a fanbase. They create their own sound by way of everything they come into contact with. And when two musicians do it so expertly as Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer did you can’t help but give credit where it’s do. As I stated earlier, I don’t like to label anything as being the absolute best but I would definitely place that night performance in the “beyond category” category. Be on the lookout for upcoming UT Cultural Attractions Committee events including The Dirty Dozen Brass Band on February 12th and Ladysmith Black Mambazo on March 3rd.