Oberlin Conservatory Magazine - 2014

WHAT STARTED WITH ED HELMS AND A BLUEGRASS DREAM CULMINATED WITH ED HELMS AND TATER TOTS. The acclaimed actor and comedian, in town to emcee the crowning event of the first American Roots Residency at Oberlin, took the Finney Chapel stage May 25 to thunderous applause from the Commencement and Reunion Weekend crowd—a floor-to-rafters packed house of imminent graduates, their families, and others who had just flipped the switch from study mode to revelry.

They grew louder when the 1996 graduate spoke of his enduring love of Oberlin. Louder still when he mentioned the town’s unlikely affair with processed potatoes. And they went through the roof when he introduced the Punch Brothers, the virtuosic bluegrass band whose yearlong residency Helms made possible.

In 90 whirlwind minutes, the quintet served up a lively tour of American roots music and teamed up with more than two dozen conservatory students, first for an exuberant mashup of the third movement from Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, and later for a bayou-bred free-for-all featuring musicians from Oberlin’s classical and jazz programs.

It was yet another resounding highlight from a residency in which the Punch Brothers celebrated music in virtually all its forms and in just about every way imaginable. They devoted three trips to visiting with students, performing for them and with them, and offering endless streams of insight about life as classically trained musicians making their mark across the musical map. They dropped The Punch Brothers performed March 9 in Finney Chapel.

THE PUNCH BROTHERS EXPERIENCE “They have so much music in their heads. It’s amazing to see that because it’s so different from what I do. They have so much energy and they’re so engaging, and they make it all so much fun.”

—JULIA HENDERSON ’14, CELLO

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“To experience the level at which they listen to each other, and how responsive and spontaneous they are when they’re making music…that was something that was just electrifying to me.”

—BENJAMIN ROIDL-WARD ’15, BASSOON

“What I really like about them is they don’t convey any sense of status. They just seem like regular musicians, just playing with you. They act like we’re equal partners in this.”

—MILES LABAT ’14, DRUMS

“It’s nice to think that Oberlin is influencing the Punch Brothers’ music: They hang out in the lounge, eat tots at the Feve, and amalgamate into Obie life. Plus, every girl seems to have a crush on the bass player.”

—HALLIE PARKINS ’13, CELLO

PREVIOUS PAGES: WALTER NOVAK; THESE PAGES: YEVGEN GULENKO, WALTER NOVAK, DALE PRESTON ’83, AND COURTESY OBERLIN ARCHIVES

in on classrooms, led master classes, hosted an “improv boot camp,” spun records and mp3s at a listening party, jammed in venues across campus, recorded music with students in Clonick Hall, and slipped easily into Oberlin life around town and on campus.

“Everybody stands to learn from everybody else and from all approaches to music,” Chris Eldridge ’04, the band’s guitarist and its link to Oberlin, said at the outset of the residency. “There’s really no reason they should be separate and no reason that they shouldn’t all be embraced. No matter what you’re doing musically, having a wider grasp and a love of different things will only help you to be a better musician.”

Formed in 2006, the Punch Brothers boast members with eclectic musical roots. The band is the brainchild of mandolin player and frontman Chris Thile, who was raised around music as a child member of the progressive folk trio Nickel Creek, with whom he won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2003.

When Nickel Creek went on hiatus three years later, Thile found a kindred spirit in fiddle player and violinist Gabe Witcher, an esteemed session player known for his work on countless records and scores for television and movies, including the 2006 Oscar winner Brokeback Mountain. Also onboard was banjo player Noam Pikelny, a Chicago native who had studied music at the University of Illinois before striking out professionally and redefining the role of the instrument; and guitarist Eldridge, who had studied with Professor Bobby Ferrazza at Oberlin.

By 2008, versatile bass player Paul Kowert—a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music who had performed as a soloist and section member with orchestras around the world—had joined the band, cementing its lineup and paving the way for acclaimed records including Antifogmatic (2010) and Who’s Feeling Young Now? (2012), both for Nonesuch.