Speaking of Scott Thile...

[Sam Gamgee]

I really dislike that. They started playing with some of the vibes of other hipster, neo-folk bands. Shame.

The only two albums that I liked were "Nickle Creek" and "This Side." Actually I'd stop short of saying that I liked "This Side" -- even there we find some of Chris's weirdness, as in "Spit on a Stranger" (super weird, really dislike it). There's nothing on "This Side" that I love -- they were already changing -- but I do like some of it.

But that first album ... oh man. How did "When You Come Back Down" not top all the charts? Or who will ever not be haunted by Chris's brilliant rendition of "Sweet Afton"?

Very similar experience here, though I did listen to quite a bit of This Side and enjoyed it. But that first record was not only a brilliant record, but it was part of a paradigm shift at a particular place in time for me. It was one of the things that really got me interested in acoustic music and showed me what the possibilities were. That time around the year 2000 also happened to be the happiest time of my life, so it's part of the mental and emotional landscape from a very beautiful era for me.

Anyway, Thile really is a musical genius and plays the mandolin like no one else. Since the thread is about Scott Thile originally, I'll say that I can't imagine how proud he must be of his son's accomplishments.