Punch Brothers' Chris Thile Apologizes to Pavement, Aspires to Play Mandolin Like Greg Maddux Pitches

Punch Brothers frontman Chris Thile has the demeanor of a world-class pitcher. While upon the mound of his Brooklyn, N.Y., progressive bluegrass outfit, he clutches his mandolin, fingers across the frets like the stitching of a baseball, waiting to release the heat.

Thile's current position wasn't won overnight. The mandolin virtuoso has spent thousands of hours practicing perfection, much like his idol, pitcher Greg Maddux. And you can hear it, too. Thile's entire youth has been documented on tape, from a childhood nabbing trophies at bluegrass competitions to his days in the Grammy Award-winning Nickel Creek. Venture into any record store, and you can see the California native's game tapes filed amongst rows of alphabetized bluegrass recordings.

Punch Brothers' latest album, 'Who's Feeling Young Now?' is the band's most ambitious and explosive acoustic record yet. From the exactitude of opening track 'Movement and Location' to the haunting cover of Radiohead's 'Kid A,' the album throws 9 innings of power from start to finish.

Taking time out from Punch Brothers' current tour, Thile shares with Spinner his secret to balance and explains why being 30 makes little difference to life's biggest curveballs.

How has age affected your songwriting from the time you were in Nickel Creek to Punch Brothers?

For me, having come of age on record, it comes down to that classic cliché: The more you know, the more you don't know. And I definitely thought I knew everything when Nickel Creek's first record came out. I was 17 when we recorded it and 18 when it was released. That music ... especially from the first two Nickel Creek records -- it just sounds unbearably smug to me. The know-it-all kid in class ... it's hard for me to listen to it.

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Really? Even Pavement's 'Spit on a Stranger' you put on 'This Side?'

Oh, particularly that. I'd love to publicly apologize to Pavement for that cover. I mean, we didn't even get the words right. [Laughs] So embarrassing!

But you know, I'm 30 now. I was 19 when Nickel Creek recorded that second record, and we finally were starting to work with a bit more humility and awareness, in this huge and powerful and endlessly inspiring arena of music. At 30 years old, I'm newly convinced of my relative incompetence. I'd like to think I write music with a lot more humility and a lot more love. I deeply, deeply love music and am honored to just be a participant.

Bassist Paul Kowert is the youngest in the band. How does the age difference affect you?

Well, Paul, he keeps us fresh. That cynicism that creeps in is totally poisonous, even though it can also help. Again, you want to keep a balance between that wide-eyed wonder and reality. It's the difference between understanding what you're seeing and being amazed by it. And I love the amazement that Paul brings to the band. He reminds me to be excited. I mean, I'm excited by nature, but I can get dark about music. Occasionally, I might say, "Ah, what's the point when Bach already did it all?" Paul certainly helps to keep me fresh. He's bursting at the seams with ability and talent.

For bluegrass players, instrumental prowess is so important to the legacy you leave behind. What type of legacy are you building?

I look at mandolin as the one tool I have, that I have some idea how to use. But no more. To me, I'm not interested in pursuing the perfection of mandolin. It's just that I want to be as handy with that tool as I can. Being good at the mandolin isn't interesting in and of itself. Being good at music is very interesting to me. If I have a goal, it's to lead a life rich with music. I want to leave some nice music behind that I've been a part of.

More than ever, the boys and I are embracing our relationship to music as it pertains to the present and the future. Certainly, we have a tremendous amount of respect for our predecessors on this group of instruments, which is commonly associated with bluegrass, but we're not interested in being museum curators of their work. Rather, we want them to influence our work. They weren't debilitatingly beholden to their predecessors, and neither should we. So I think where Punch Brothers is now, and where I am now, there's this clash between the wide-eyed wonder of the world and music and cynicism. Both things are burgeoning inside this band and inside me certainly. 'Who's Feeling Young Now?' is coming from that place.

'Movement and Location' is just stunning. From the repetitive nature of the banjo to long notes you sing over the top. What do you see when you close your eyes?

That song is about Greg Maddux. And it's also obtusely about the impact that seemingly disparate elements have on each other. Like, for me, I've always garnered an intense amount of inspiration from sports. Greg Maddux, to me, is one of the great artists of our time. And Federer, even though he may be in his decline, I've probably had more hours practicing fueled by watching Roger Federer rather than even watching great mandolinists.

But to me, the lines are totally blurred. And then the lines are blurred between the pursuit of excellence in your field and the pursuit of a satisfying relationship. In the second verse, a relationship is referenced: "If she'd raised her voice, ever sparkling, shallow eyes to indict my movement and location, will the battle be lost?"

So it's like Maddux's obsessive focus on making a good pitch. If you listen to him in interviews, he sounds like an idiot savant, "I'm just trying to make good pitches!" He had an extreme amount of movement on his pitches, and he also could control that movement. I came home from my favorite bar, Milk and Honey, where one of the bartenders is a big fan of Maddux, and I just came home with those words, looping in my head, and I starting writing the lyrics that night. The lyrical content of that is just to express that connection a little bit.

What have you learned about yourself since beginning filming the documentary 'How to Grow a Band?'

[Laughs] I've learned that my life doesn't make very interesting movies. [Laughs] No -- I've learned that nothing is about me. Another theme in 'Who's Feeling Young Now?' is the importance of meaningful connections, whether it's romantic, platonic, your circle of friends -- how important it is to relate to people on their level, not to be relating to them, basically to the extent in which they reflect you.

I think we are all guilty of using people as a mirror. That song 'Clara' is kind of about that, and 'Patchwork Girlfriend.' Being fond of people because they shed a positive light on you. You look good in their light. I'm trying to keep that in mind and trying to be less selfish. If I could end up less selfish, I think I'd feel better! [Laughs]

Music is exactly the same process. Music made for selfish reasons never sounds good. Music made to communicate with your fellow man sounds good. [Music] that's to encourage communion with your fellow man: That sounds good. Music meant to engage and to enable transcendence: That sounds good.

We have to ask. How's the love life now?

It's real good. I'm dating a really wonderful girl by the name of Claire [Coffee]. She is a sweet, sweet girl. We have a good thing going. A lot of mutual respect. And she's very patient. I'm afraid I take anyone's patience that's around me for too long.