Punch It Out, Punch It Up, Punch The Clock Even, Brothers

I can now die a slightly happier man having caught Elvis Costello and the Impostors give one of the best live shows I've ever seen (this review from the night before is more in line with what I witnessed). The evening consisted of the Lovell Sisters joining Costello onstage for a wickedly sublime alt folk/country mid-section which he brilliantly bookended with more than a dozen of his old classics:



Genius.

But the road trip also blessed me with the discovery of a new to me and now all-time fav band...The Punch Brothers featuring mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile (formerly of Nickel Creek):



Thile just sparkles fun and charisma, and doing some kind of pop/blues alt-country chamber new grass thingee, this boy...sorry, these boys, like, played their asses off. Took bluegrass to a whole new level...you should hear them do Radiohead. Seriously.

And I'm saying it...masterpiece.



Thank you Winnipeg Folk Festival...Costello smacked me around the ring but Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers knocked me out.