Nickel Creek
Bands / Ensembles
Nickel Creek (1989–present) is a bluegrass trio originally from Carlsbad, California. Mandolinist Chris Thile and guitarist Sean Watkins took mandolin lessons from the same teacher, which brought the two families together. Sean's sister Sara Watkins played fiddle, and Thile's father, Scott Thile, played string bass in the original lineup. The group's first performance took place in 1989 at That Pizza Place in Carlsbad. The name came from a song by Byron Berline, Sara Watkins's fiddle teacher. Thile started out on guitar and Sean Watkins on mandolin before the two switched. They won the International Bluegrass Music Association's Emerging Artist of the Year award in 2000, and Instrumental Group of the Year in 2001. The album This Side won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2003. The band went on indefinite hiatus after its Farewell (For Now) Tour in 2007. Thile formed Punch Brothers soon after the hiatus began. Nickel Creek reunited in 2014.
In the newsletter
- No. 16 Fall 1998
- No. 20 Summer 1999
- No. 24 Fall 2000
- No. 25 Winter 2001
- No. 27 September 2001
- No. 28 January 2002