Rating: 9/10

Track Amount: 14

Running Time: 50 minutes and 34 seconds

Genre: Bluegrass

Personnel: Chris Thile (mandolin and vocals), Noam Pikelny (banjo and vocals), Greg Garrison (bass and vocals), Chris Eldrige (acoustic guitar and vocals), Gabe Witcher (fiddle and vocals), Ronnie McCoury.

Producer: Chris Thile

Record Label: Sugar Hill Records

Recording Location: Sear Sound, New York City

Art Direction: Loren Witcher

Best Tracks: Watch ‘At Breakdown, Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground, Heart In A Cage

Quick Verdict: Insanely great Bluegrass Music

Mandolin players are often overlooked in the history of music. Chris Thile is one of the most legendary Mandolin players in postmodern times. Often seen as a quirky side instrument, the Mandolin does have a genuine place in music itself. In fact, it is often incorporated into Country Music and was played on the immortal song on the Led Zeppelin IV (1971) song The Battle Of Evermore. This album is a bit of a side project of Chris Thile’s intentions and was recorded with his Punch Brothers band, which he assembled with some of his musician friends. It was self-produced and recorded in a lo-fi setting and was released to universal critical acclaim. This album, therefore, should be an exciting one to listen to. Let’s jump into this album and hopefully, it will be as fresh and exciting as promised.

1. Watch ‘At Breakdown begins with some super fast banjo and mandolin. Essentially, this sounds fantastic from the get-go. This is accompanied by acoustic guitar and fiddle playing away very nicely. Instantly, we are hit with a really great listening experience. This is like the Bluegrass version of Django Reinhardt in a way: fast, speedy and exciting. The music present in this song is absolutely fantastic to hear. Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers do an outstanding job overall on this tune. A wonderful and interesting listen overall, which has some of the best and most intricate musicianship you will ever hear. There is a breakdown with double bass playing away nicely, followed by some extraordinary other musicianship throughout. A very wonderful and clever listen overall. This stops briefly in the second half, followed by the joyous bliss of music. Truly outstanding music to hear. Very sweet and excellent. The whole group shred away very nicely indeed. A great start to this album.

2. Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground begins with some more fantastic Mandolin playing, and launches right into a superb Bluegrass tune with some glorious singing throughout. Chris Thile and friends sound absolutely fantastic here. Two tracks in, and we already have an album so good that it will change the way that you listen to music. Period. A fresh, exciting and superb piece of music that sounds interesting. The solo sections and singing both duke it out for attention on this tune. A sweet song that introduces one to the amazing world of Bluegrass Music. A sensational and fantastic listen, this music is genuinely great. Top stuff to hear from start to finish. The playing is truly immaculate on this song.

3. Stay Away is a much slower piece but is full of fantastic emotion throughout. This is about a person that one does not want or need in their life. Again, this music is absolutely fantastic to listen to. Sure, there are no wild guitar solos or sound effects, but this genuinely pure music sounds top-notch. A really interesting and great song to listen to, this is a sensational listen throughout. The natural and pure singing on this album is also of extremely good quality, and Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers make some genuinely sweet music. This is a must-have in your collection, and you must hear this truly wonderful music. The fiddle solo is bittersweet, followed by a climactic conclusion that is truly awesome. A very great song to listen to, never dull or boring, either. Great music throughout. Excellent listening.

4. O Santo De Polvora is an upbeat and joyful-sounding instrumental piece that sounds really great to listen to. This is not that far away from The Band’s Music From Big Pink (1968) in that there are no electrified instruments or digitally enhanced sounds. Instead, this is simple, gorgeous and wonderful musicianship that you must hear today. Chris Thile plays a mean Mandolin, and the rest of the group match him note for note. An absolutely awesome track that again deserves your attention. The chord and melody changes are extremely fluid, and this whole tune sounds extremely amazing throughout. This pleasant music jam is less than three minutes long, but it is an absolute winner.

5. Wayside (Back In Time) is another fantastic song that sounds bright and joyous. It is short, sweet and pleasant listening throughout. This music is a fantastic listen about women, drinking and roaming and missing a lover from the past. The musicianship throughout is truly superb and represents a solidly great joint effort by the group to make music that counts. A very cool and catchy tune that proves that this album needs a place in your listening. Frenetic playing continues on nicely, and this tune is very much perfect, in its own way. The bridge section towards the end has pleasant harmonies and playing, before launching into an epic conclusion. Neat.

6. You’re An Angel, And I’m Gonna Cry begins with some sweet acoustic guitar strumming and launches into a romantic and genuinely awesome song to listen to. This features some genuinely beautiful singing throughout, and these musicians bring a fantastic piece of music to life. This is a piece of music about doing one’s best to hold it all together when a great woman leaves one’s life. The singing, musicianship and lyrics are all absolutely fantastic to listen to. Seriously sweet and emotionally supercharged, this tune is a gentle yet lovable winner to hear. Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers all do an absolutely superb job at creating and evoking emotional music that few could ever dream of matching. Totally awesome.

7. How To Grow A Woman From The Ground is the title track, and it sounds gorgeously impressive from the start. It is a great listen with some awesome string-based playing, alongside acoustic guitars, mandolin and singing. Another absolute winner of a song that totally needs to be heard. During the chorus, the fiddle becomes very prominent, and this is a sort of Southern USA tune that is very decent and refreshing. A serious winner of a listen that further cements this album as an outstanding classic album in its own way. A cool and interesting song that has flavour, quality and a quality performance to it all, this is a phenomenal listen. The hummed harmonies in the second half lead back into the tune at hand. Glorious music to hear, this is absolutely fantastic from start to end. This is one of the best ways to spend five golden minutes of your life listening to music. A sweet and romantic tune that sounds direct and intent on looking after one’s love. Awesome music to enjoy. The end is absolutely lovely with the hummed harmonies and subtle instrumentation.

8. The Beekeeper begins with some interesting double bass playing by itself, which is really cool. This is instantly followed by Mandolin and Banjo, which sounds seriously great to listen to. Acoustic guitar follows, and we have an awesome instrumental on our hands. This music is seriously sweet and lovely listening. No doubt that Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers have delivered one of the greatest Bluegrass music albums of all time. A serious winner overall that sounds fresh and amazing to listen to. The dynamics and intricate playing all sound great, as well as the fiddle thrown in for good measure. An absolutely golden tune to listen to. This music is seriously cool, and it makes for a wonderful impression on the listener overall. A great, great instrumental that stops briefly in the second half, followed by a wonderful music passage at hand. This sounds like the sort of music one can close their eyes to and enjoy. It ends with the double bass playing fading out.

9. Brakeman’s Blues begins with some neat instrumental playing, and launches into a classy and excellent Southern USA style song with yodelling, mandolin, banjo, acoustic guitar and fiddle, backed up by double bass playing. This is a fantastic Blues Music-based tune that sounds completely original and perfect for the time that you need to hear a wacky music combination. This sounds sweet, punchy and energetic musically throughout with one of the longest sustained harmony notes that you will hear. Perfect for those of you who like driving pickup trucks, wearing gallon hats and drinking whiskey. Nonetheless, this is absolutely top-notch and superb music that sounds genuinely great, authentic and great throughout. An awesome listen throughout. This sounds super sweet to listen to. The lyrics are fantastic as well, and it is a very good but wacky listen overall.

10. If The Sea Was Whiskey is a pleasant listen, with the whole group singing together pleasantly without any backing instruments at all. Yes, it is just singing on this song. Having said that, it all sounds absolutely fantastic and simply enjoyable throughout. This is Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers doing the simplest and most wonderful music that one can do. This all sounds surreal, divine and fantastic throughout. A simple song with just singing about if alcohol were more readily available in nature. Right at the end is some neat instrumentation thrown into it all, which sounds dang good. A quirky addition to this album.

11. Cazadero is an instrumental that sounds really fantastic from the start. Fiddle, mandolin and banjo are prominent here, and this sounds like another really great tune that you must hear. This album never fails in its consistency and approach throughout. This music is a great and upbeat listen, with an acoustic guitar solo that sounds absolutely amazing. No mistakes or off-sounding playing is here, and this music is solid gold. The musicianship is tremendously precise and superb on this song. It just sounds perfect for this style and type of genre. Mandolin soloing is particularly prominent in the second half as well. A really great piece of music overall that counts. Great to hear from start to finish. An awesome tune to listen to that sounds genuinely great. Absolutely fresh.

12. Heart In A Cage is a pleasant listen from the get-go. It has some pretty singing, quickly followed by awesome acoustic guitar and the rest of the band joining in. A pleasant and awesome tune that sounds fresh, fun and amazing throughout. A really awesome and great listen with more of a song basis rather than an instrumental one, this is the best known piece from this album, and you can hear why. A fine, fresh and fantastically moving tune that is 100% fantastically Bluegrass. It has a neat solo section in the middle of it all as well. A great song to listen to. This is about mixed emotions in a relationship as well, but delivered in a Poppy and upbeat way. All in all, this music is sensationally great, and it delivers exactly what it should. A dramatic, dynamic and fantastic tune to listen to from beginning to end. Just magical. The end of this tune has some great instrumentation and singing to conclude with.

13. I’m Yours If You Want Me begins with some sweet Mandolin and launches into a tune with some sweet singing as well. This is fairly minimal to listen to, and sounds a little discordant, but not unpleasantly so. Very different, but one can hear how truly great the singing is on this one. A very different piece of music overall that is uber minimalism set to Bluegrass Music. This is a bit out of place on this album, but it is perfectly fine in any way. Eventually, in the second half, the rest of the group joins in, and this tune sounds more interesting. A bit of a sidestep, but nonetheless, an essential listen from this album anyway. Chris Thile articulates emotions that you didn’t even know existed. This tune is a bit of an awkward-sounding one, but nonetheless, it is okay to hear.

14. The Eleventh Reel is the final track of this album. It launches straight into action, and sounds upbeat, anthemic and really great to listen to. This instrumental tops off a very fine classic album that many more need to hear. A really strong and great listening experience is present, with some fresh, fine and articulate playing from the group. Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers certainly know how to make great music throughout. A very awesome instrumental music listening experience that proves that Bluegrass Music isn’t really Country Music per se, although some may be confused about that. More to the point, this is absolutely fantastic. The second half has a brief break before the band returns for one last jam. Sensationally great and very sweet to listen to. A top tune to hear.

This is a classic album that more must hear today. It is a pleasant mix of pure singing, strong musicianship, storytelling lyricism and a great mix of instrumentation. Needless to say, this nearly one a Grammy Award considering how good it was regarded. In actual fact, this deserves far better than that. How To Grow A Woman From The Ground is a classic album that, yes, you should listen to today. It is an unforgettable album from start to finish.