Nonesuch Records releases Brad Mehldau’s Jacob’s Ladder on March 18 on CD; a vinyl LP version is due later in the year (date TBD). The album features new music that reflects on scripture and the search for God through music inspired by the prog rock he loved as a young adolescent—his gateway to the fusion that eventually led to his discovery of jazz. Featured musicians on the album include label mates Chris Thile and Cécile McLorin Salvant, as well as Mark Guiliana, Becca Stevens, Joel Frahm, and others. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include an exclusive signed, limited-edition print while they last. You can watch a video for ‘maybe as his skies are wide’—a song that builds off an interpolation of one portion of Rush’s classic "Tom Sawyer"—here.

Chris Thile hosted a centenary celebration for the esteemed Town Hall in New York City from just around the corner, outdoors in Bryant Park, for the culmination of the park's Picnic Performances season last night. He was joined on stage by Cécile McLorin Salvant and Sullivan Fortner, Timo Andres, Zakir Hussain and Ganesh Rajagopalan, Emily King, Damon Daunno, and others for the evening of performances honoring the hall's storied past. You can watch it here.

Chris Thile is on American Songwriter's Basic Folk podcast to talk with host Cindy Howes about his new solo album, Laysongs. "How beautiful and intoxicating finding a little bit of truth can be," he says. "We start to consider it a threat to that truth that we've discovered for ourselves, a threat to the good that we perceive it doing for ourselves when someone else doesn't accept that as true. And I think that's giving all of us a whole lot of trouble right now, on the internet and everywhere else." You can hear their conversation here.

Chris Thile performs "God Is Alive Magic Is Afoot," based on Buffy Sainte-Marie’s adaptation of a Leonard Cohen poem, from his new album, Laysongs, in a new video. It was shot by Josh Goleman during the recording of the album at Future-Past Studio, a converted church in upstate New York. You can watch it here. Thile performs live at Wolf Trap outside Washington, DC, this weekend.

Chris Thile has released a new video of him performing "Dionysus," a song from his new solo album, Laysongs, filmed live in Brooklyn. You can watch the video, made by Benjamin Miller, here. Thile has two solo concerts in upstate New York this weekend, with more shows ahead this summer and a fall tour to come.

Chris Thile was on NPR's Here & Now, from WBUR in Boston, to talk with host Robin Young about his new solo album, Laysongs—six original songs and three covers that contextualize and banter with his ideas about spirituality. "If I have a religion now, it's trying to keep my ears wide open to the human beings that I encounter," Thile tells Young. "I worry that we as human beings have a tendency to find people who think and act and look like we do and we pod up ... I don't think that we're ever going to change someone's mind if we're not willing to be changed." You can hear their conversation here.

Chris Thile celebrates last week's Nonesuch release of Laysongs, his first truly solo album, with a US tour that includes a handful dates this summer—at Telluride Bluegrass Festival this week and along the East Coast in the coming months—and many more in the fall, starting in the Midwest, heading next to New England and New York, then down to the Southeast. 

Chris Thile was on WNYC's All of It with Alison Stewart on Friday, the release day for his new solo album, Laysongs, to share some songs from the album and the stories behind them for an All of It Listening Party. You can hear their conversation here. Laysongs is Thile's first truly solo album: just Thile, his voice, and his mandolin, on new recordings of six original songs and three covers, all of which contextualize and banter with his ideas about spirituality.

Chris Thile’s Laysongs, out now, is his first truly solo album: just Thile, his voice, and his mandolin, on new recordings of six original songs and three covers, all of which contextualize and banter with his ideas about spirituality. Recorded in a converted upstate New York church during the pandemic, Laysongs features the three-part Salt (in the Wounds) of the Earth, which was inspired by C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters (you can watch a performance of the first part here); a song Thile wrote about Dionysus; a selection from Béla Bartók’s Sonata for Solo Violin; “God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot” based on Buffy Sainte-Marie’s adaptation of a Leonard Cohen poem; and a Hazel Dickens cover. 

Chris Thile is a "virtuoso mandolinist ... a truly consummate musician," says Evan Shinners, host of The WTF Bach Podcast, about his guest. "He also plays Bach extremely well." After ruminating on something Thile had told him during the interview, Shinners concludes: "I think that that is the sign of a great musician, really, to be able to say something even off the cuff and have it stick with another musician and influence them and allow them to chew on that little tidbit. Maybe that's just the sign of a great mind altogether." You can hear their conversation here.

Chris Thile was on WNPR's Audacious with Chion Wolf. "I’ve been following his work for over 10 years," says Wolf, "simultaneously singin’ my heart out to his recordings, while being totally mind-boggled at his mandolin playing." You can hear their conversation about his music, what makes Bach a musical "truth north," and more here.

Chris Thile has released a new song, "Dionysus," from his forthcoming album, Laysongs, due June 4 on Nonesuch; you can hear it here. Laysongs is his first truly solo album: just Thile, his voice, and his mandolin, on new recordings of six original songs and three covers, all of which contextualize and banter with his ideas about spirituality. The album was recorded in a converted upstate New York church during the pandemic.