The mandolin is a beautiful instrument that is, in my opinion, severely underplayed in the music industry, but Christ Thile’s incredibly use of the instrument to support his solo performances absolutely blew me away at the recent concert. He made his was to centre stage and stood in front of the microphone before tuning the mandolin before introducing himself and then launching into his set.
He opened with an instrumental piece that was written in an experimental folk style. I hadn’t heard it on any of his recordings, and it didn’t look like anyone in the audience had either, but the crowd erupted into applause when he finished. With so many records under his belt, I wasn’t sure how he was going to select a set list, but he did so magnificently. When he played the title track from his Grammy Award winning album, True Live Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe, he got everyone singing along, and invited us to stand up to dance along.
As well as his instrumental skills, his distinctive voice contrasts beautifully with his mandolin, and the sound that they create together is exciting and original.
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