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| Nickel Creek, (Left to right) Sean Watkins, Sara Watkins, Chris Thile |
When In Rome - Nickel Creek
Prepare for a nice long rant.
A couple years ago I discovered this amazing bluegrass/acoustic (also have been called "Progressive Acoustic" and "Newgrass") group named Nickel Creek. Well, by discovered I mean " was introduced to". I had this music teacher that I just loved to death. At that point in my life I was in the almost constant phase this generation has; The "I don't like this style of music, therefore I do not like this song even though I've never heard it. And when you play it, I won't listen because I already KNOW I won't like it" phase. Luckily I'm out of this phase now. But at the time, our music teacher would always show these random songs to us and that day he decided to introduce Nickel Creek's absolutely heart-wrenching Lighthouse Tale. When I heard it it was like WHABAMSMACKINTHEFACE, and I fell in love with the music, especially after he also played another song (what I wouldn't give to be able to jump back in time to see it live!) called The Fox, where the lead singer shows off his incredible and beautiful mandolin skills (No seriously, I even managed to shock my dad with this dude's skills! Should've seen his face!) Both of these songs opened a lot of doors for me and if it hadn't been for this music teacher and his class... Well... I'd probably still be stuck in that ignorant phase. Now I don't like music by genre, I like it by the song itself. I won't tell anyone I don't like a style of music, cos I have not HEARD every song that fits into that "genre", so it wouldn't make sense to think so, you know? I'm more open-minded in my music taste than anything else.
Anyways... After hearing some of Nickel Creek's music just recently and borrowing someone's Nickel Creek CDs, I did a little research on the group and learned a lot of things I never knew about the members and the music itself. As it turns out, they all grew up together and they've been making music together since they were just children! They released only a few albums and singles while they were together as a band. What I find interesting is that they're a group made up of only 3 main people; A guy named Chris Thile (I think it's pronounced Thee-lee) who plays a mean mandolin (seriously, this dude's got talent!) and has lead vocals, Sara Watkins on fiddle and violin, and her brother Sean on guitar. After listening to a few songs from different albums they've released, I've decided that even though every album has a little different style (even with the same instruments), they always manage to keep that obvious Bluegrass flavor. I think it's like this because they grew up with this music during their childhood in Southern California, and it became something like second nature. They truly are incredible! Only a couple of their songs have actual music videos, and my favorite video and favorite song is When In Rome (video above), which I've probably listened to a couple hundred times already. -Cough- Honestly, listen to it! Just listen to the lyrics and you'll get where I'm coming from, pffftt.
Moving on... These guys have won many awards together, and just themselves it seems. I really do think they deserve it. Hell, they deserve to show up in a more modern music textbook. I'd friggen write the page up myself if that's what's needed to get it done! Often times I listen to acoustic groups and I find myself thinking in the back of my mind, "this is MISSING something. It's sure pretty, but there's holes in it". But with Nickel Creek, I rarely have that feeling, you know? None at all. Their music feels full of life and there is nothing missing. Their sound is so simple but so... Hell... NOT simple. I tried explaining this group and their style(s) to a friend of mine several times, but when I actually had her listen to some songs she told me, "Wow, this is NOT how I imagined this group". It was a big shock. Am I terrible at explaining things or is Nickel Creek just their own sound and unexplainable? I like to think it's the latter, but I don't really know for sure. I would love it if people like my friend would just LISTEN to them, then more people knew about them. In the 3-4 years I've listened to them, I've only met one person who actually listens to them and at least knows of them. I think it could be a pretty easy transition for country lovers, really. They're songs can be just as raw as normal country songs, and people can relate to the songs just as well. Especially the love songs they seem to have a lot of, including the sad love songs and more serious ones. People can really relate to songs like that. This group has even worked with the beloved Alison Krauss! If that doesn't prove their worth, I don't know what will. (If you're reading this and you've never heard of Alison Krauss, you are dead to me). I also want to mention that I find that Nickel Creek is lot better than a lot of bluegrass groups I've heard, because they would stray from their bluegrass roots with no problem and always manage to go back. What is terrible (for me at least), is that this group broke up quite awhile before I became interested in them, and now all the members are flying solo. I would love to see them all together live, oh what I wouldn't GIVE to see it! But that's ship's long sailed. Ah well, maybe I could go see Chris Thile live sometime? I believe he was in town a month or so ago, so chances are he'll come back sometime!
Well, that's about all I've got to say about Nickel Creek. Listen to them, 'kay? Only then can you begin to understand my instant attachment to them. Heck, listen to OTHER groups and songs you never would have listened to before, because only then can you stop and think about what kind of music you've been missing out on just because you're following what everyone else listens to and stubbornly hanging on to one type of music.
Till next time.
-RB
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