NICKEL CREEK
Nickel Creek (Sugar Hill)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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The four musicians that make up Nickel Creek have been described as "ridiculously talented," and that pretty much sums it up. As impressive as they are as individuals, though, they're even more impressive as a unit. That figures when you consider that the three principle soloists have been playing together since they were kids. Of course, by some standards they still are kids. Sean Watkins (guitar, mandolin, vocals) has broken into his twenties, but his sister Sara (fiddle, vocals) and their friend Chris Thile (mandolin, bouzouki, banjo, vocals) are still officially teenagers. The grand old man of the group is Chris' dad, Scott Thile, who is an accomplished jazz and classical bassist in his own right when not providing a solid base for the trio to whirl around.

Sean, Sara and Chris are all award winning performers in their own rites, veterans of bluegrass competitions and festivals since their early teens, but there's something magical about the blending of their talents. Their music reflects bluegrass roots, but incorporates contemporary folk and pop elements as well. The material on this disc ranges from traditional fiddle tunes to originals to covers of Sinead Lohan, Tim O'Bren and Danny O'Keefe to Chris Thile's Appalachian arrangement of Robert Burns poetry. It's a pretty astonishing range, but they achieve an equally astonishing cohesiveness across all those styles and sources.

Some credit for that should go to their producer, another beautiful young fiddler with a voice like an angel who mastered traditional music before blazing her own progressive trail. That, of course, would be Alison Krauss, who is in a position to know more than probably anyone on the planet how to get the best out of a group of the best young players on the planet. The proof is encoded in aluminum and this is an album you've got to hear.

Track List:

Ode To A Butterfly * The Lighthouse's Tale * Out Of The Woods * House Of Tom Bobadil * Reasons Why * When You Come Back Down * Sweet Afton * Cuckoo's Nest * The Hand Song * Robin And Marian * The Fox * Pasture's New

© 2000 - Shaun Dale