Chris Thile

Chris Thile was five when he coaxed his first delicate notes from the mandolin; at eight, the band Nickle Creek was formed as an ambitious family project; at 13, he recorded his first solo album, and in the years that followed there were a wide variety of collaborations that ranged between bluegrass, roots music and folk, between Charlie Parker and Bach interpretations. In 2006, the then 25-year-old founded the band Punch Brothers, followed by further solo, duo and trio work, including with Brad Mehldau (with whom, by the way, he was at Enjoy Jazz in 2014, then with the Punch Brothers in 2018). Thile can't complain about a lack of awards either - there are several Grammys on his shelf, for example, and in 2012 he received the highly endowed MacArthur Fellowship, which is not called the "Genius Grant" for nothing. That resume would be a credit to an 80-year-old, but Thile is only half that age and should still have quite a ways to go. With his last solo album "Laysongs", produced last year during the decelerated Corona period, he has taken a new path. This time it leads more inward and into the past. On nine masterfully interwoven, unpredictable tracks, "Laysongs" deals with the religiosity of his childhood, its loss and a spirituality that nevertheless continues to have a latent effect in Thile's life. The pieces were recorded in upstate New York in a church converted into a studio, which has had no small influence on the mood of this record - as has his wife, actress Claire Coffee, who was instrumental in shaping the sonic character of the work as co-producer. The genre in which Thile moves on "Laysongs" is difficult to describe. Avant-garde folk and music of classical modernism, free-floating melodies and complex rhythms come together here; original compositions are playfully combined with foreign material. Thus Thile interprets Béla Bartók's "Solo Sonata for Violin," Buffy Sainte-Marie's adaptation of a Leonard Cohen poem, and he presents a cover version of "Won't You Come and Sing for Me" by Hazel Dickens as well as an instrumental that draws on motifs from Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita for Solo Violin in E Major. Mandolin and voice - that's all it takes to create a divine magic. That can come about even if you don't believe in God.

In the wake of the dynamically increasing number of Corona infections in recent weeks, Ludwigshafen introduces the mask obligation for visitors of administrative buildings. From Monday, October 24, 2022, all visitors to the dasHaus cultural center must wear an FFP2 mask up to the seat or until a seat is taken.
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