Nickel Creek

Nickel Creek was formed in 1989 in Carlsbad, California, by mandolinist Chris Thile, acoustic guitarist Sean Watkins, and fiddle player Sarah Watkins. Although all three musicians were still in grade school at the time, they displayed a talent for playing progressive bluegrass music that belied their youth. After releasing albums like 1993's Little Cowpoke and 1997's Here to There, Nickel Creek first enjoyed crossover success with 2000's self-titled Nickel Creek, which was produced by bluegrass icon Alison Krauss and reached Number 13 on the Top Country Albums chart. The songs "When You Come Back Down" and "The Lighthouse's Tale" were both Top 50 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart, and Nickel Creek went platinum as a result. After winning the International Bluegrass Music Award for "Instrumental Group of the Year" in 2001, the band returned to the charts in 2002 with the gold-certified This Side, which reached Number 2 on Top Country Albums, Number 18 on the Billboard 200, and Number 1 on Top Bluegrass Albums. This Side won a Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary Folk Album" and was followed by 2005's Why Should the Fire Die?, which also topped the bluegrass charts. By 2007, though, the band had embarked upon an indefinite hiatus as its members devoted time to their own projects. Reconvening seven years later, Nickel Creek released A Dotted Line in 2017, reaching Number 1 on the both the Folk Albums and Top Bluegrass Albums charts. The album received two Grammy nominations, and Nickel Creek toured periodically during the second half of the 2010s before reuniting once again for 2023's Celebrants, which reached Number 196 on the Billboard 200.