LYONS — 2026 marks twenty years since the formation of the Grammy-winning, progressive acoustic group now known as Punch Brothers.
Debuting with the 2006 album "How to Grow a Woman from the Ground," the lineup consisted of Chris Thile, Noam Pikelny, Chris Eldridge, Gabe Witcher, and Greg Garrison.
After a couple of name changes, the quintet fully cemented its lineup in 2008, when Garrison parted ways with the band. Soon after, the band’s current double bassist, already a fan of Thile’s work, joined the group.
“Since I was fifteen and I started playing mandolin, I was getting everything I could find that Thile had made,” recalls Paul Kowert, who remains the band’s double bassist. “As a bass player primarily, I was a huge fan, and continue to be, of Edgar Meyer.”
Meyer, who also taught Kowert at the Curtis Institute of Music, had already established a musical relationship with Thile, recording a duo album released in 2008.
“I was coming to the concerts and learning the tunes to jam with my friends,” continues Kowert, “so when Chris called because they needed a new bass player, it was an immense opportunity for me.”
The band’s musical collaborations continue to be extensive. Thile’s collaboration résumé includes performances and appearances with Bela Fleck, Stuart Duncan, Yo-Yo Ma, The Chicks, Kate Rusby, Jacob Collier, Shawn Mendes, and Dierks Bentley, among others.
Bryan Sutton, guitarist of Hot Rize, performed occasionally in the band’s early shows to fill in for Eldridge, a founding member of The Infamous Stringdusters. Garrison currently performs with Leftover Salmon, also having performed with Dave Johnston and Jeff Austin before the formation of Yonder Mountain String Band.
Finally, Kowert served as a founding member of the group Hawktail, collaborating with Brittany Haas, who has performed as Punch Brothers’ fiddle player since Witcher’s departure in 2023. He continues to find inspiration by the musical peers he gets to work with, as does the rest of the band.
“There’s always new influences coming in,” says Kowert, “and then personally, I feel, one of the joys is I get to be the beneficiary of some of that and see what new directions Thile wants to go in.”
Explaining his thoughts on the impact he hopes Punch Brothers makes in those directions, he continues, “I’m not generally trying to prescribe an experience for the audience or the listener. I’m just trying to make the best music that I wanna play at any given time, but I think it can have really wonderful effects for other people, as I’ve experienced myself.”
Punch Brothers will be performing at the 54th Annual RockyGrass Festival at Planet Bluegrass, 500 West Main in Lyons. The festival runs from Friday, July 24, to Sunday, July 26, and Punch Brothers closes out the festival on Sunday starting at 8:30 p.m.
Their first all-instrumental album, "The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers," comes out on July 24.
