(Editor’s Note: Welcome to our Reissue series! For the next several weeks, Basic Folk is digging back into the archives and reposting some of our favorite episodes alongside new introductions commenting on what it’s like to listen back. Enjoy!

This episode featuring Cindy Howes interviewing Chris Thile was originally posted on September 9, 2021 after Chris released his solo album, 'Laysongs.')

Chris Thile (Nickel Creek, Punch Brothers) has been making music nonstop since he was 5 years old. His musical parents found him a mandolin and he started taking lessons and jamming at nearby Southern California pizza shops. He met Sara and Sean Watkins when he was 12 and they started Nickel Creek. In the meantime, Chris' parents moved the family from California to Murray, Kentucky and really started getting serious about evangelical Christianity. This would have a huge impact on Chris; his record, 'Laysongs,' asks a lot of questions surrounding his experience with religion as a young kid. He talks about the transition from being a family with no religion in their routine to being enveloped so intensely in faith.

Another important aspect that comes along on the album is Chris' striking love for classical music. His grandparents gave him some pieces by Bach and set him up for a lifetime of studying and playing classical. Elsewhere in our Basic Folk conversation he also gets into what it was like to grow up alongside Sara and Sean as bandmates, friends, and fellow Christians. One of the themes of the new album is about community, namely, engaging in a community that you love. Chris recognized that he dissented from Christian community in his young adult life where everyone was thinking the same way – Chris felt excluded, so he left. Now, in music, he's found a new community where everyone thinks the same, so still certain people are excluded. He talks about how the pandemic helped further shape those feelings about exclusionary community. We also get into a riveting conversation about Chris' thoughts on writing simple pop music and one of his deepest passions: wine.

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