Punch Brothers and I'm With Her (Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, and Aoife O'Donovan) join forces this summer for the American Acoustic US tour, starting at the State Theatre in Portland, Maine, on Saturday, with dates at the Newport Folk Festival, Wolf Trap, New York's Beacon Theatre, and more (full schedule below). Guitarist Julian Lage joins the bands, which will play a mix of featured sets and collaborations, as a special guest. The tour takes its name from a June 2016 residency at Washington, DC's Kennedy Center, curated by singer/mandolinist and A Prairie Home Companion host Chris Thile, that culminated in a show including Punch Brothers and I'm With Her, with half the show devoted to extensive collaboration between all the musicians.

Thile says: "We started discussing how to make this tour happen as we were walking offstage at the end of that show in DC. On one hand, there was that delightful sense of discovery and almost childish wonder that you hope for when working with musicians you admire in a new context, but on the other, the kind of artistic compatibility and ease of communication you usually only experience in longstanding collaborations." He continues, "These shows will be designed to give us (and you!) the opportunity to explore more thoroughly the myriad possibilities we caught a glimpse of that night."

Thile explains further:

The I'm With Her members add: "We are thrilled to have been writing new songs together over the past year and are continually delighted to get to be in a band with one other. This tour will allow us the opportunity to hone in on precisely crafted musical moments as well and the chance for discovery every night as the nine of us find new ways to collaborate and celebrate each other."

Punch Brothers was formed in 2006 by Chris Thile. The band's other four members are Chris Eldridge (guitar), Paul Kowert (bass), Noam Pikelny (banjo), and Gabe Witcher (fiddle). Punch Brothers' first Nonesuch record, Punch, was released in 2008 and was followed by the Grammy–nominated Antifogmatic in 2010 and Who's Feeling Young Now? in 2012. The Chicago Tribune called their most recent release, 2015's Grammy–nominated The Phosphorescent Blues, "a typical genre-busting melange of avant-roots music that fuses jazz instrumental chops and acoustic earthiness, Beach Boys harmonies and Debussy string dances, slinky acoustic rock songs and blues laments."

I'm With Her's Watkins, Jarosz, and O'Donovan had crossed paths many times in their careers, yet it was an impromptu performance at the 2014 Telluride Bluegrass Festival that sparked the formation of I'm With Her. The trio spent the following spring and summer touring the world, garnering acclaim for their unique blend of instrumental interplay combined with their indelible harmonies. The New York Times said of a 2015 concert, "Each song in the trio's generous set was meticulously arranged to make the most of the many ways the musicians could blend. Serene understatement was the concert's hallmark; at times, the music was so quiet I could hear the club's floorboards creaking."

The New York Times calls Julian Lage “one of jazz’s breezier virtuosos, possessed of an unflappable technical facility and a seemingly boundless curiosity.” At age twenty-nine, he already boasts a resume that an artist twice his age would be proud to claim. A former child prodigy, the California–born, now New York–based guitarist has collaborated with such giants as Gary Burton, Jim Hall, David Grisman, Béla Fleck, and Charles Lloyd. He has released three albums as a leader, most recently 2016’s trio outing Arclight featuring Scott Colley and Kenny Wollesen. Jazzwise describes Arclight as “a bright light shone on very specific, finely wrought musical miniatures that unfold untold pleasures.” Lage just released a duo record, Mount Royal, with Punch Brother guitarist Chris Eldridge.

AMERICAN ACOUSTIC TOUR