Looking forward to tonight's Punch Brothers performance at The Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Detroit Free Press calls the band's Nonesuch debut, Punch, "one of the best records so far this year, an elegantly sculpted work that doesn't let its high-end chops overshadow its heart."

The schedule for the 2008 Ravinia Festival has been announced, and among the 150 events to be held during its run this summer will be performances by Punch Brothers (July 21), The Gipsy Kings (August 2), and Kronos Quartet featuring Glenn Kotche (September 3). Kronos Quartet perform John Adams's Fellow Traveler, which they recently premiered at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, and will give the Ravinia premiere of Glenn Kotche's Anomaly, with Glenn joining the Quartet for the event. 

When the band that would become Punch Brothers premiered Chris Thile's long-form piece The Blind Leaving the Blind in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall for last year's In Your Ear festival curated by John Adams, it brought a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd. As Time Out New York's Steve Smith writes in his five-star review of the band's Nonesuch debut, Punch, that event was further proof that Thile is a composer unlike most others. The "exuberance and effortless virtuosity" found in Chris's earlier work with Nickel Creek, writes Smith, are on full display in his Punch Brothers band mates, who all share Thile's "fluent chops and wide-ranging interests." 

This past Sunday, much of the music world converged on the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. Nonesuch was well represented there and at the after-party thrown by the Warner Music Group. Here are some shots of the guys from Wilco, The Black Keys, and Punch Brothers, joined by their dates, from the two events.

Among the nearly 10,000 foreign visitors who'll head to Glasgow this frigid January for the Celtic Connections festival will be two Nonesuch artists: k.d. lang and Punch Brothers—whom Scotland's Sunday Herald has dubbed "hot young Americana dudes"—each performing a set at what the paper says is "the best party in the world."