Punch Brothers

Punch Brothers bring their progressive bluegrass to Barbican Centre, London, on 17 January 2027. Formed in the US in 2006 around mandolinist and singer Chris Thile, the band folds chamber‑music thinking into acoustic folk and country, with touches drawn from rock and classical traditions. The project first coalesced around Thile’s 2006 set How to Grow a Woman from the Ground, before taking the Punch Brothers name in 2007. Between Nashville and Brooklyn, the group has shaped a live language where close vocal blend, agile picking and long‑form suites sit alongside lean, traditional forms.

On stage today: Chris Thile (mandolin), Noam Pikelny (banjo), Chris Eldridge (guitar), Paul Kowert (bass), and Brittany Haas (fiddle), who joined in 2023 following the departure of founding fiddler Gabe Witcher. Their discography maps that evolution: Punch (2008), Antifogmatic (2010), Who’s Feeling Young Now? (2012), The Phosphorescent Blues (2015), All Ashore (2018) and Hell on Church Street (2022). Along the way they have worked with producers Jon Brion and T Bone Burnett and contributed to the Inside Llewyn Davis soundtrack, a path that hints at the band’s taste for detailed arrangements, ensemble interplay and songs that open out in performance.