![]() But Thile also tells a broader tale-satirically, wistfully, frankly- about the divisions and disconnects plaguing America today, whether it's on social media or at the Thanksgiving table. ![]() We learn what delights him (like the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series,) and what alarms him (the polarized state of our nation post-election). It reflects the changes to his own peripatetic life as he assumes a new role as APHC host and, behind the scenes, as a new dad-while continuing to play with his band Punch Brothers and collaborate with such artists as Brad Mehldau, Edgar Meyer, and Yo-Yo Ma. ![]() Thanks for Listening represents perhaps the most direct and personal material Thile has ever recorded. Part of the story Thile found was autobiographical. As they listened through the APHC versions, Thile and Bartlett realized that, taken together, these songs could form an album-length narrative. In July 2017, Thile went into New York City's Reservoir Studios with producer and longtime friend Thomas Bartlett and that's when these songs gained an even deeper resonance. They served the needs of the show but were just as timely and engaging on their own. These were not throwaway radio bits, but smart, fully realized compositions. In addition to traveling, planning, rehearsing, and performing on the fifteen episodes of APHC's 2016–17 season, Thile managed each week to create a funny, topical, and at times quite poignant new song he would play with a rotating cast of APHC band-mates and guest stars. Thile had set himself a formidable musical challenge and, as befits this enthusiastically risk-embracing artist, he was more than up to the task. See for Listening began as a simple idea: To document, in a studio setting, the tunes that singer, songwriter, and mandolinist Chris Thile had composed for the new "Song of the Week" segment of public radio's A Prairie Home Companion during his inaugural season as host. Look for Thile to trot out many of these compositions when he arrives at Campbell Hall for his upcoming UCSB Arts & Lectures concert on Sunday, January 7, at 7 p.m. Thile laments the end of the Obama presidency in the bittersweet ballad “Stanley Ann,” mocks the echo chambers of social media on “Feedback Loop,” and twits Trump and fake news on the bouncy “Falsetto.” Produced in the studio with Thile playing most of the instruments, the arrangements are gorgeous, layered, and precise, while the playing and singing retain the playfulness and spontaneity of their original context. The album’s tracks are based in part on the news of the week, and the good news is that these are consistently great songs. He also released three albums: a wonderful set of jazz duets with pianist Brad Mehldau, a Bach trio album with Edgar Meyer and Yo-Yo Ma, and finally, in December, Thanks for Listening, which gathers 10 of the topical songs he wrote for the radio show into a single collection. He took over the venerable A Prairie Home Companion syndicated radio show, replacing Garrison Keillor’s familiar tales from Lake Wobegon with a fresh and distinctly musical sensibility. The past year was quite productive for Chris Thile.
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