GRAMMY Award-winning trio, Nickel Creek—mandolinist Chris Thile, violinist Sara Watkins and guitarist Sean Watkins—performed their new song, “Where the Long Line Leads,” last night on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Watch/share HERE.
“Where the Long Line Leads” is from the trio’s highly anticipated new album, Celebrants, which will be released tomorrow via Thirty Tigers (pre-order). Their fifth studio album and first new release in nine years, the album marks a long-awaited return for the beloved trio and explores the inherent dynamics of human connection. Across these 18 tracks, the group addresses love, friendship and time with lyrics both poetic and plain-spoken, as they see bridges built, crossed, burned and rebuilt. 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.
Ahead of the release, Nickel Creek has unveiled three album tracks: “Where the Long Line Leads,” “Holding Pattern” and “Strangers,” of which Billboard praises, “highlights their unfettered harmonies and years-forged, tight-knit playing.” Additionally, Paste declares, “their instruments and voices alternately blend and shine…it’s a joy to have the gang back together” and Brooklyn Vegan proclaims, “a propulsive track that finds the band’s indie-friendly bluegrass in fine form.”
In celebration of the new music, the trio have extended their upcoming headline tour—their first tour together since 2014—through this fall. Newly confirmed shows include Los Angeles’ Theatre at Ace Hotel (two nights), Portland’s Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, St. Paul’s Palace Theatre, Denver’s Mission Ballroom, Santa Barbara’s Granada Theatre, Dallas’ Majestic Theatre and Austin’s Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park among many others. See below for complete itinerary. Tickets for the new dates go on-sale tomorrow, March 24 at 10:00am local time. Full details can be found at www.nickelcreek.com/tour.
Of the project, the band reflects, “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.”
Together a sum of more than their staggering parts, 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.”
After meeting as young children 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. 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 has released four studio albums and has contributed fiddle to recordings by artists like Phoebe Bridgers, the Killers and John Mayer.
CELEBRANTS TRACK LIST
1. Celebrants
2. Strangers
3. Water Under the Bridge, Part 1
4. The Meadow
5. Thinnest Wall
6. Going Out…
7. Holding Pattern
8. Where the Long Line Leads
9. Goddamned Saint
10. Stone’s Throw
11. Goddamned Saint, Reprise
12. From the Beach
13. To The Airport
14. …Despite the Weather
15. Hollywood Ending
16. New Blood
17. Water Under the Bridge, Part 2
18. Failure Isn’t Forever
NICKEL CREEK CONFIRMED TOUR DATES
April 15—Cincinnati, OH—Andrew J Brady Music Center*
April 17—Pittsburgh, PA—Byham Theater*
April 18—New Haven, CT—College Street Music Hall*
April 20—Concord, NH—Capitol Center for the Arts*
April 21—Portland, ME—State Theatre*
April 22—Boston, MA—MGM Music Hall at Fenway Park*
April 23—Philadelphia, PA—The Fillmore*
April 25—Birmingham, AL—Avondale Brewing Co*
April 27—Nashville, TN—Ryman Auditorium* (SOLD OUT)
April 28—Nashville, TN—Ryman Auditorium† (SOLD OUT)
April 29—Nashville, TN—Ryman Auditorium‡ (SOLD OUT)
April 30—Wilkesboro, NC—MerleFest
May 1—Charlottesville, VA—Ting Pavilion‡
May 3—York, PA—Appell Center for the Performing Arts‡ (SOLD OUT)
May 4—New York, NY—The Rooftop at Pier 17‡
May 31—Charleston, SC—Spoleto Festival
June 2—Atlanta, GA—The Eastern*
June 3—Greenville, SC—Peace Center*
June 4—Lexington, KY—Railbird Festival (SOLD OUT)
June 6—Akron, OH—E.J. Thomas Hall*
June 8—Grand Rapids, MI—Venue TBA* (on-sale May 5)
June 9—Chicago, IL—The Salt Shed*
June 10—Milwaukee, WI—Riverside Theater*
June 11—Chesterfield, MO—The Factory at The District*
June 13—Kansas City, MO—Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts*
June 15-17—Telluride, CO—Telluride Bluegrass Festival (SOLD OUT)
July 6—Seattle, WA—Woodland Park Zoo Amphitheatre+ (SOLD OUT)
July 7—Portland, OR—Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall+
July 8—Bend, OR—Hayden Homes Amphitheater+
July 9—Rohnert Park, CA—Weill Hall+ (on-sale March 23)
July 11—Reno, NV—Grand Sierra Resort+
July 12—Salt Lake City, UT—Venue TBA+
July 13—Steamboat Springs, CO—Strings Music Pavilion+ (on-sale May 11)
July 15—St. Paul, MN—Palace Theatre†
July 16—Bayfield, WI—Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua† (on-sale March 28)
July 18—Detroit, MI—Masonic Cathedral Theatre†
July 19—Toronto, ON—Danforth Music Hall†
July 21—Raleigh, NC—North Carolina Museum of Art†
July 22—Wilmington, NC—Greenfield Lake Amphitheater†
July 23—Vienna, VA—Wolf Trap† (on-sale March 31)
July 24—Union Hall, VA—The Coves Amphitheater†
July 27—LaFayette, NY—Break & Skiff Apple Orchards†
July 28—Newport, RI—Newport Folk Festival
September 1—London, UK—Barbican Centre
September 8-10—Bristol, TN—Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion
October 6—Oakland, CA—Fox Theater‡
October 8—Santa Barbara, CA—The Granada Theatre‡ (on-sale TBC)
October 10—Los Angeles, CA—The Theatre at Ace Hotel‡
October 11—Los Angeles, CA—The Theatre at Ace Hotel‡
October 13—San Diego, CA—The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park^
October 14—Mesa, AZ—Ikeda Theater at Mesa Arts Center+
October 15—Las Vegas, NV—Brooklyn Bowl+
October 17—Albuquerque, NM—Revel Entertainment Center+
October 18—Denver, CO—The Mission Ballroom+
October 19—Salina, KS—Stiefel Theater+
October 20—Dallas, TX—Majestic Theatre+
October 21—Austin, TX—Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park+
*with special guest Gaby Moreno
‡with special guest Hawktail
+with special guest Monica Martin
†with special guest Aoife O’Donovan
^with special guest TBA
