Grammy Award-winning trio, Nickel Creek—mandolinist Chris Thile, violinist Sara Watkins and guitarist Sean Watkins—will continue their extensive headline tour next year including newly confirmed shows in Rochester, Troy, and Buffalo.
After meeting as young children in California’s That Pizza Place, and subsequently earning the respect of the bluegrass circuit for a decade, the trio signed with venerable label, Sugar Hill Records, in 2000 and quickly broke through with their Grammy-nominated, Alison Krauss-produced self-titled LP. Since that effort, the trio has released three more studio albums to date: 2002’s This Side, which won Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 45th Grammy Awards, 2005’s Why Should the Fire Die? and 2014’s A Dotted Line.
Each member of Nickel Creek has also taken part in many outside projects over the years. Chris Thile is a 2012 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and served as the host of the American radio variety show “Live from Here” (formerly “A Prairie Home Companion”) from 2016 to 2020. He has also released collaborative albums with world-renowned musicians like Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Brad Mehldau and Stuart Duncan as well as six studio albums with his Grammy-winning band, Punch Brothers. Sean Watkins is a co-founder of Watkins Family Hour alongside Sara, who has released three albums and maintains a long-running collaborative show in Los Angeles. Sean has also released a string of solo albums, while Sara’s extracurricular projects include the aforementioned Watkins Family Hour, as well as the Grammy-winning roots trio, I’m With Her, which she co-founded alongside Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jarosz. Sara Jarosz has released four studio albums and has contributed fiddle to recordings for artists like Phoebe Bridgers, The Killers, and John Mayer.
Even stronger when together, Nickel Creek revolutionized bluegrass and folk in the early 2000s and ushered in a new era of what we now recognize as Americana music. In a 2020 retrospective entitled, “The Year Folk Broke: How Nickel Creek Made Americana The New Indie Rock,” NPR Music praised, “20 years ago this month, an album arrived that seemed to speak all these languages at once: unafraid to push the boundaries of its primary genre, and packing the musical chops to bring such an eclectic vision to life. Behind it were three musicians just barely old enough to vote” and continued, “That makes Nickel Creek and its unofficial debut a critical point along a storied timeline, one whose innovations offer countless connections between the genre’s origins and its future. Once dubbed ‘progressive newgrassers,’ the three musicians now fit firmly within the ranks of Americana music—however nebulous, layered and diverse that realm may be. They have only themselves to thank.”
The upcoming shows add to a landmark year for the group, who released Celebrants—their fifth studio album and first release in nine years—this past spring via Thirty Tigers. Additionally, Nickel Creek recently received the Lifetime Achievement Trailblazer Award at the 2023 Americana Music Association Honors & Awards and performed on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “CBS Saturday Morning” earlier this year.
Recorded at Nashville’s RCA Studio A, the album was produced by longtime collaborator Eric Valentine (Queens of the Stone Age, Grace Potter, Weezer) and features Mike Elizondo on bass. Reflecting on the project, the band shares, “This is a record about embracing the friction inherent in real human connection. We begin the record yearning for and pursuing harmonious connection. We end the record having realized that truly harmonious connection can only be achieved through the dissonance that we’ve spent our entire adult lives trying to avoid.”
NICKEL CREEK CONFIRMED TOUR DATES
February 6, 2024—Iowa City, IA—Hancher Auditorium
February 7, 2024—Madison, WI—Overture Hall
February 9, 2024—Des Moines, IA—Hoyt Sherman Place
February 10, 2024—Indianapolis, IN—Murat Theatre at Old National Centre
February 12, 2024—Peoria, IL—Peoria Civic Center Theater
February 13, 2024—Kalamazoo, MI—Kalamazoo State Theatre
February 15, 2024—Columbus, OH—Mershon Auditorium
February 16, 2024—Fort Wayne, IN—The Clyde Theatre
February 17, 2024—Louisville, KY—The Louisville Palace
February 19, 2024—Durham, NC—Durham Performing Arts Center
February 20, 2024—Augusta, GA—Miller Theater
February 21, 2024—Jacksonville, FL—Florida Theatre
February 23, 2024—Fort Lauderdale, FL—Broward Center for the Performing Arts
February 24, 2024—Clearwater, FL—Ruth Eckerd Hall
March 12, 2024—Canton, OH—Canton Palace Theatre
March 14, 2024—Bethesda, MD—Music Center at Strathmore
March 15, 2024—Newark, NJ—NJPAC
March 16, 2024—Rochester, NY—Kodak Center
March 17, 2024—Burlington, VT—Flynn Center for the Performing Arts
March 19, 2024—Groton, MA—Groton Hill Music Center Concert Hall
March 21, 2024—Storrs, CT—Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts
March 22, 2024— Troy, NY—Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
March 23, 2024—Buffalo, NY—University at Buffalo Center for the Arts
March 24, 2024— Lancaster, PA—American Music Theatre
April 26, 2024—Knoxville, TN—Tennessee Theatre
April 27, 2024—Savannah, GA—Johnny Mercer Theatre
April 30, 2024—Huntsville, AL—VBC Mark Smith Concert Hall
May 2, 2024—Little Rock, AR—The Hall
Tickets for the 2024 shows are available for pre-sale starting today, October 25, at 10:00am local time with general on-sale following this Friday, October 27 at 10:00am local time. Full details can be found at www.nickelcreek.com/tour.
For more information on the band or any upcoming shows, follow Nickel Creek on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or visit their website.
Stream their music via Apple Music or Spotify.
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