Nickel Creek
Though Nickel Creek started out as a bluegrass band, the group’s music expands on those influences by incorporating Beatles-flavored psychedelia, left-of-center alt-rock, pop, folk, and more.
The three young members of this innovative band are mandolin ace Chris Thile, fiddle player Sara Watkins, and guitarist Sean Watkins (Sara’s brother). Thile first met the Watkins siblings, fittingly enough, through music, when their respective parents took them to hear a weekly bluegrass show at That Pizza Place in Southern California.
Nickel Creek has been together for more than 13 years. Individually, the members have performed or recorded with the Dixie Chicks, Dolly Parton, Béla Fleck, Glen Phillips, and others. Both Chris and Sean have released solo albums, and all three won various instrumental contests in their teens. As Nickel Creek, they scored a Grammy—the first of what could be many—for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Rolling Stone included Nickel Creek in its “Best of 2002,” while Time magazine listed the band as one of “5 Music Innovators for the Millennium” in a special May 2000 feature.
Nickel Creek’s self-titled debut album, released in March 2000, sold more than 800,000 copies. The follow-up, This Side, premiered at #18 on the Top Album Chart in August 2002.
This artist appears in the following Jubilee programs:
- Nickel Creek (#101)
- An award-winning trio of “youthgrass” innovators.
- Mountain Heart/Nickel Creek (#320)
- Two young bands with impressive lineups belt out the bluegrass.