Nickel Creek

Nickel Creek are the acclaimed acoustic band specialising in bluegrass-rich sounds that often stray between country and indie rock while always sticking to the heavily bluegrass side of the music; a sound the band itself has referred to as "progressive acoustic" and "newgrass". The band formed in 1989 with Chris Thile (mandolin, vocals) and siblings Sara (violin, fiddle, vocals) and Sean Watkins (guitar, vocals) and originally with Chris Thile's father Scott playing string bass. The found fame with the release of their official debut album Nickel Creek (2000) -- although they had two unofficial releases much earlier Little Cowpoke (1993) and Here to There (1997). Produced by the country/bluegrass star Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek had moderate success, reaching No.2 in the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart.

The band's second release This Side (2002), again produced by Alison Krauss, saw greater attention due in part to a cover version of Pavement's "Spit On A Stranger". This Side saw Nickel Creek make it into the Billboard 200 chart's top 20 and win the Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Their next album, 2005's Why Should The Fire Die, saw their sound evolve even more to the indie rock side, while still keeping the strong bluegrass feel. It proved to be their last studio album however as they announced in 2006 that Nickel Creek would be going on hiatus for an indefinite period of time.