Punch Brothers’ interpretation of the Norman Blake tune “Orphan Annie,” from the band’s forthcoming album Hell on Church Street, is out today on Nonesuch Records and can be heard here. Hell on Church Street, due January 14, 2022, is the band’s reimagining of, and homage to, the late bluegrass great Tony Rice’s landmark solo album Church Street Blues. The record features a collection of songs by Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Bill Monroe, and others. Preorders from the Nonesuch and Punch Brothers stores include a limited-edition print signed by the band while supplies last. Punch Brothers tour North America in support of the album beginning in January, with stops in Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Boston, among others; see below for details and ticket links, or visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.

Recorded at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio in November 2020, during a time of great uncertainty, Hell on Church Street was intended as both its own work of art and a gift to Rice, who died that Christmas. Punch Brothers said of Tony Rice and Church Street Blues: “No record (or musician) has had a greater impact on us, and we felt compelled to cover it in its entirety, with the objective of interacting with it in the same spirit of respect-fueled adventure that Tony brought to each of its pre-existing songs.”

Hell on Church Street follows Punch Brothers’ critically acclaimed and Grammy Award-winning 2018 album All Ashore, which featured nine original songs written by the band. The Boston Globe said of All Ashore, “Punch Brothers have crafted a deeply meaningful and downright gorgeous record that takes the world for what it is, but doesn’t use that as an excuse to give up.”

Punch Brothers—guitarist Chris Eldridge, bassist Paul Kowert, banjoist Noam Pikelny, mandolinist/singer Chris Thile, and fiddler Gabe Witcher—formed in 2006 and released its first Nonesuch record, Punch, in 2008. In 2009, the band began a residency at NYC’s intimate Lower East Side club The Living Room, trying out new songs and ultimately spawning  Antifogmatic (2010). Those albums were followed by the critically praised Who’s Feeling Young Now? (also recorded at Blackbird Studio) in 2012 and 2015’s T Bone Burnett-produced The Phosphorescent Blues.

PUNCH BROTHERS ON TOUR

Due to the ongoing situation surrounding Covid-19, and in partnership with the venues and promoters, Punch Brothers will be requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test result to enter all shows on this tour (with the exception of Columbus, where masks are mandatory for admittance). Certain shows will require proof of full vaccination only to attend. Please refer to the venue policy for each individual show for more information on the latest policy as they may change.