With the Lockn’ Festival happening this weekend, I decided to post a session I did with The Punch Brothers’ guitarist, Chris Eldridge from back in April.
Jay’s “Pun Picks” – Chris Eldridge – “The Mean Mother Blues” (Ep. 8) from Pun Picks on Vimeo.
I first heard about Chris (aka Critter) when I first moved back to Charlottesville in 2004. His name had been floating around the acoustic scene a lot as a wonderful, lightning fast guitarist. He came through town a few times and played at The Prism Coffeehouse, but I never got a chance to actually catch him live. Through the years I kept hearing about him and realized that we had many similar friends and acquaintances. Chris primarily plays as the guitarist for the progressive bluegrass group, The Punch Brothers, but he is also involved in many other projects as well, including a collaboration with one of my favorite modern jazz guitarists, Julian Lage. The two recently released an E.P. called “Close to Picture,” a collection of original duets and a fiddle tune.
Click above to hear & purchase “Close To Picture.”
Chris was one of the first people that I reached out to when I first started my “Pun Picks” idea. He kindly responded not too long after saying that he would love to be a part of the project the next time we crossed paths. That “next time” happened serendipitously one rainy afternoon at the Mountain Cove Music Festival in Lovingston, VA. Headlining this year was Tony Trischka and Territory, one of the world’s top banjo players along with a rotating cast of stellar musicians. I had no idea who Tony was bringing with him, but I knew it would be a great band. The supporting members turned out to be Mike Barnett on Fiddle, Jared Engel on Upright and Chris Eldridge on Guitar. After their set, I caught up with Chris in the tasting room of Mountain Cove Vineyards to film this session below.
Catch Chris performing with The Punch Brothers on Saturday, September 7th at Oak Ridge Estate as one of the many acts involved with the 2013 Lockn’ Festival.
If you like what you see and hear, please visit the official Pun Picks website: www.punpicks.com
