Nickel Creek Returns with “A Dotted Line”
Nickel Creek: Better together than apart. That’s for sure. They certainly can’t be blamed for wanting to take some time for themselves when they announced back in 2006 that they’d be going on an indefinite hiatus. What a wild ride they’d endured; starting off in a pizza joint when the oldest member of the trio was only twelve, to getting swept up in the whole bluegrass craze that ushered in the 2000’s on the heels of O’ Brother and Alison Krauss producing a Grammy-nominated album for them. Brother and sister Sean and Sara Watkins, and Chris Thile are lifers, but they needed to take some time to discover life beyond each other.
From a very young age, the trio found themselves in a scenario indicative of many bluegrass prodigies: home schooling, music camps, grueling practice routines, out-of-town performance trips in the parents’ conversion vans, and a perspective on the outside looking in to what normal life entailed. Then they rose to the very top of their craft as one of the most critically-acclaimed progressive bluegrass outfits of our time. After their Farewell (For Now) Tour in 2007, Chris Thile, Sara Watkins, and Sean Watkins no longer need the Nickel Creek name to make it through life—their names now carried enough weight on their own. But what made Nickel Creek so successful in a discipline so crowded with world-class talent is how well the individual parts of Nickel Creek compliment each other.
Chris Thile’s post Nickel Creek project called The Punch Brothers was the perfect forum for this mandolin genius to let his creativity flow unfettered, and it did so in a project that tested the very boundaries of what bluegrass could be. But Thile isn’t for everyone. At the helm of such brilliance, he can get wrapped up in the pursuit of challenging and impressing himself to the point where his music can come across as too heady and esoteric for the common, or even the advanced ear.
Sara Watkins on the other hand is the one who possesses the sensibility that helps balance Thile’s brilliance into music that can win wide appeal. Her ability to craft melodies that are both deft and catchy, and bringing the softness of a female voice to a composition is what made her self-titled solo album, and the followup Sun Midnight Sun so appealing to people beyond the bluegrass realm.
Sean Watkins is the rock; the solution that can resolve Thile and Sara’s natural musical conflict into something where the sum equals something greater than the parts. Sean also possesses one of the best ears in music—one that can hear the magnetism behind an indie rock song and how to translate it into the string band concept. His work with the supergroup Works Progress Administration showed his talents can be fluid and find a home in virtually any vessel.
But maybe it took Nickel Creek’s separation to truly realize the virtues each player possessed, both as a listener, and for the player’s themselves. With lessons learned and life beyond Nickel Creek explored, they can come together once again to create fellowship through music and share it with an audience hungry from the seven year hiatus.
A Dotted Line very much starts where Nickel Creek left off—bravely challenging the conventions and boundaries of bluegrass with not just a progressive approach, but an aggressive approach that delivers thought-provoking composition and instrumentation, dazzling just as much from its acrobatic adeptness as it does from its infectiousness. The first single from the album called “Destination” is Nickel Creek doing what they do best: starting off with a sumptuous melody from Sara Watkins, with harmonies blended effortlessly by the boys to draw you in, to then deliver the substance of a well-crafted song. It’s this combination of sugar and medicine that makes a Nickel Creek song not only enjoyable, but sustainable and uplifting.
The Sean Watkins’ led “21st of May” is another of A Dotted Line‘s featured tracks, and his superb flatpicking draws you in to get lost in the end-of-days story inspired by a preacher named Harold Camping who foretold that date in 2011 to be the end of the world. The album’s opening track “Rest Of My Life” and a later one” Love Of Mine” is where the awe-striking brilliance of Chris Thile is on display, punctuated by gripping dynamics, and his ability to rise into the falsetto register with such ease and presence.
The trio really shakes things up when they whip out the song “Hayloft”; a cover from a Canadian indie-rock band called Mother Mother that is just weird and cool enough to work—though it will no doubt inspire many traditionalists to reach for the volume knob and give it a forceful turn to the left.
Nickel Creek has always been mostly catnip for the higher brow, upper crust roots aficionado, and A Dotted Line is not going to be suited for just anyone. This is not an album to be heard, but listened to, and appreciated for its gilded, artistic merit more than it’s gritty authenticity. However by challenging the ear, Nickel Creek can also open the heart to new appreciations for music and composition in an era when commercial concerns often begrudge the brightest musicians of our time.
1 3/4 of 2 guns up.
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April 25, 2014 @ 4:44 pm
It is getting good reviews. And I was really excited back when I first heard about it, picked it up and …
so disappointing. It’s just indie pop.
I wish them all the success in the world, but wont ever play that cd again.
🙁
April 25, 2014 @ 8:23 pm
Absolutely one of my favorite albums (any genre) this year.
April 25, 2014 @ 10:01 pm
I hated this group from the first time I ever heard them. They are not Bluegrass. They are acoustic pop, or pop with bluegrass instruments. Come on Trigger. You’re never going to save Country Music by promoting this crap.
April 25, 2014 @ 10:20 pm
Nobody is calling Nickel Creek traditional or straightforward bluegrass. Not even themselves or their fans. Nor is anyone saying that Nickel Creek is saving country music. This is simply a review of an album. And if you think this is pop music, then you don’t know what pop music is. They’re not playing Nickel Creek on KISS-FM.
Nickel Creek is three of some of the most skilled musicians of our time. If you ask Del McCoury, or Alison Krauss, or Jerry Douglas, or some other bluegrass name to tell you their top 5 mandolin players alive, they’re all going to name Chris Thile.
Saying that Nickel Creek is too heady, that they’re pretentious, or that they lack grit—these are all very valid concerns, and not only would I understand them, I would agree with them. And hey, they put a couple of songs on this album that leave them open for criticism like “Hayloft”. But just because music is not your style, or because some songs have bright chords and melodies, doesn’t make it “pop.” And even if music is pop, that doesn’t immediately make it bad.
April 26, 2014 @ 12:33 am
I think that Nickel Creek , like so many other contemporary young acoustic acts , in particular ,are suffering from an omnipresent music malaise : talent ,and often virtuosity , looking for worthwhile meaningful compositions in which to express itself : gifted players and singers at the mercy of their collective lack of songwriting prowess . The ‘pure’ songwriter/craftsman has been marginalized by , in many cases, the egotistic efforts of songwriters who seem to write only for their own enjoyment . Admittedly , the business itself almost requires that artists write or at least co-write their own material due to the collapse of traditional revenue streams and the practical need to survive by being the chief cooks and bottle washers of your respective companies. Unfortunately , this brings unskilled ‘craftsmen’ into the workplace and consequently , the product suffers and the market looks elsewhere. .
Nickel Creek has always had a ‘handle’ on what constitutes a great piece of music. They can certainly play and sing a great piece of music . They just don’t seem to be able to consistently WRITE a great piece of music . There may be 3 or 4 pretty good ‘songs’ on this new record …..or ANYONE’S new record ….but just pretty good . I’d love to hear these terrific newer bands go to work on GREAT songs from outside the band . Songs written by Songwriters with a capital S .
April 26, 2014 @ 3:43 pm
I think this is a very good point.It has become a stigma in independent music to songwriters to work with others on songs, and this is unfortunate. Music, and country music, has always been a collaborative process. One of Waylon’s best albums was written by someone else. “Red Headed Stranger” was 2/3’rds covers. Yet somehow it is authentic or Outlaw to write your own songs.
When I think about Nickel Creek, I don’t think about them as songwriters, I think about them as composers. I feel a similar way about Phish and Frank Zappa. When Phish put out their songwriter album “Farmhouse”, Trey Anastasio worked with a songwriter to help with lyrics and melodies. Jerry Garcia worked with a songwriter most of his career. Some songwriters don’t need that help. Some do. And I do think that a band like Nickel Creek would be an excellent fit for an accompanying lyricist to match their instrumentation skills.
“Bluegrass” has become so adept, it’s hard to know where it goes. That’s why you have Bela Fleck working with Beatman and such. It really is an interesting dilemma.
April 27, 2014 @ 10:07 am
Re: GREAT songs . Recently a big time producer( whose name I can’t recall just now) summed it up , I think . He said . ” We’re writing LOTS of hits …but NO standards ” . It’s much easier to write and crank out average songs and market them than it’s ever been ( downloads , videos , live shows , websites for artists , the twitterverse , etc..) than it is to write a GREAT song that will be covered time and time again and have the same impact on each new generation . It used to be that songs would not use contemporary slang expressions or too many cultural references as they’d be quickly dated and wouldn’t stand a chance of being covered over and over . Today , that is no longer taboo to writers. The strategy seems , more than ever , to be a case of taking advantage of that moment ..that trending or hip expression or behaviour …and to heck with writing a great , timeless standard . Thus ,we’re getting a glut of forgettable ear candy sold with the aid of either sexual antics ( Miley , Luke Bryan ) or daddy’s deep pockets ( Taylor) and the remaining solvent labels. Standards are standards for a reason . They stand the test of time and the changing mores and fickle ears of listeners of each generation while inspiring artists and musicians through the years . AND because the sentiment/theme/universal message is , in fact , TIMELESS .
April 26, 2014 @ 6:53 pm
Is it not financially feasible at this point to record cover songs or songs written by other people?
April 26, 2014 @ 6:59 pm
Songwriting royalties have been one of the last bastions of revenue for artists and labels since sales began their sharp decline in the advent of digitalization. Co-writes for celebrity artists and such are greatly encouraged, so that the artist and their label can see some revenue from the song if it blows up, or especially if it’s put in a commercial, movie, TV show, etc, which can be very lucrative. I don’t know how that would effect a band like Nickel Creek, but it is definitely a big part of the music landscape these days. With independent artists, they may feel like they need to retain all their rights so that they can make a living. For some of these artists, songwriting is their only significant revenue.
April 26, 2014 @ 2:38 am
Dear Trigger,
I am aware that the literal meaning of Pop, is Popular. However, I was using it to describe their sound. I realize they are not Popular in the mainstream sense, but they’re not Rock, Rap, Soul, Jazz, Blues, Funk, or Disco; and they’re sure as Hell not Country or Bluegrass. So I said Pop. I guess I could have used Karl’s term, “Indie Pop”.
Since when does being skilled make your music good? The saddest thing about Trace Adkins’ career is that he wasted his fantastic bass twang on on mostly novelty Pop trash. I actually like Luke Bryan’s voice too. So what? His music sucks and he dances like he’s got a cock in his ass. Please don’t try to validate music by saying the performers are skilled.
While I agree not all Pop music is bad, all bastardized Pop music IS bad. I guess I don’t completely understand your mission, or your reason for having this site. You are SavingCountryMusic.com; if you give a positive review to something that’s being identified as “Country”, then to me it has the SavingCountryMusic.com stamp of approval. I’m not implying that you or anyone else has to hate something just because I do; what you like is your business. But this group is unquestionably more folk indie Pop than it is Country or Bluegrass.
Sincerely,
Clint
April 26, 2014 @ 3:35 pm
Clint,
There is nothing about Nickel Creek aside from a few minority elements of their sound that makes them anything remotely indie or pop. They play to bluegrass and folk fans at bluegrass and folk-oriented festivals. Their music is played on folk and bluegrass stations, and they’re on Nonesuch Records which is known to catering to high-brow music from the folk, bluegrass, jazz, classical, etc. realm. They didn’t play Coachella, they’re playing Pickathon. They’re a roots band. Are they country? Not remotely. Are they bluegrass? Not in my opinion, but they’re certainly akin to it. But I didn’t review this as either a country or bluegrass album, I reviewed it as a Nickel Creek album.
As I said in my review and clarified even more in the comments, Nickel Creek left themselves open to your criticism and the criticisms of others by including a couple of the songs they did on this album, principally “Hayloft” and to a smaller extent “Destination.” The inclusions of these songs, and the approach they took with them is the reason for the 1/4 gun I left off the grade, and I agree with you these songs have an indie rock or indie pop slant. But if you either exclude these songs, or replace these two songs with material more indicative of their general sound, there’s very little, if anything remotely indie or pop to what they’re doing. They’re just two songs, and shouldn’t damn the entire album, especially since despite being “indie,” are still executed with skill and taste, even if that taste doesn’t mirror yours, or my own.
As for why I would review this album is two-fold.
1) It is a priority of mine to always make sure music is the centerpiece of Saving Country Music. I get criticized all the time for being too negative, and not focusing on music enough. If I am going to keep music a priority, I am going to have to talk about music that may not necessarily be right down the middle of what “country” music is. I talk about blues, rock, folk, and other roots music that I feel falls within the spirit of heartfelt music made by musicians that is tied to the roots of American music.
2) This is the most important point, and the reason I decided to review this album: Every single day, on SCM, and through various social network channels, I get marauded by people saying that all I and other fans of authentic country music want to hear is “Hank Williams, over and over” and that “the music must evolve.” In my opinion, a band like Nickel Creek is an excellent example of how country music can evolve, is evolving, can be hip, appeal to people outside the genre, while still respecting the roots of the music. I completely understand if it may not be your taste, and make you wonder why a site like mine is covering. But highlighting bands like Nickel Creek prove the naysayers of the Saving Country Music pursuit wrong. Of couse Nickel Creek is left of center of what SCM normally champions, but I think that goes without saying. If pop music truly did sound like Nickel Creek, there’d bee no need for Saving Country Music. This is also why we have to be careful at putting rigid borders around the term “country” because it can create ammunition for these naysayers. I truly believe bands like Nickel Creek are part of the solution, even if they may not be appealing to many real country fans.
I hope this makes sense.
April 27, 2014 @ 4:05 am
I think you should’ve named the site: SavingAmericanMusic.com
April 29, 2014 @ 8:14 am
Is it possible that folk are getting too hung up on labels? A good tune is a good tune, and a crappy one is a crappy one. I love what you are trying to do on this here site, Trigger, and I hope it continues long in to the future (or that it doesn’t because the good fight has been fought, and the victory won) Quite why some people feel the need to stick within rigid parameters of what is, or isn’t, their cup of tea I do not know. Clint doesn’t feel this release fits the criteria laid down by his sensibilities. Fair enough. Probably not worth getting so wordy about though.