At their recent performance at Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival, Punch Brothers won over a few skeptics in the audience: In the crowd were some die-hard traditionalists who'd come expecting to hear straight-up bluegrass but left having found something more in the new four-movement piece by Chris Thile, The Blind Leaving the Blind.

It's the centerpiece of Punch Brothers upcoming Nonesuch debut, Punch, and in a revealing feature in the Times (UK), writer Pete Paphides examines what happens in music when tradition and innovation come together. "Few musicians," he writes, "well, none—have intertwined bluegrass instrumentation and spontaneity in the strictures of modern classical ... [A]s a portrait of an artist defining his musical territory ... it is remarkable."

Expanding his musical repertoire, and recognizing longtime fans' reactions to it, is something Thile is familiar with. He grew up on the bluegrass and folk circuit performing with his band Nickel Creek, then found himself in a new world when the band released a multi-platinum-selling album. With that phenomenal success, he faced outside pressure to repeat it, but found he wasn't interested in either the trappings or the demands. Instead, he's sought to challenge himself as a songwriter and musician.

His music has also provided comfort during some difficult times, as has the support of his fellow musicians. The new band ultimately got together when, as Thile tells the Times, he and fiddler Gabe Witcher "got together one night just to drop a ton of money, drink too much wine, eat steaks and commiserate about our failed relationships."

To read the profile, visit entertainment.timesonline.co.uk.