Chris Thile

Sean Watkins

Sara Watkins

Chico Performances

“My God it’s good to see you…”

That first line from Nickel Creek’s seventh album Celebrants likely prophesies the warm response awaiting the Americana-bluegrass group’s first all-new release in nine years.

While the Grammy-winning trio of singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalists Sara Watkins (fiddle), Sean Watkins (guitar), and Chris Thile (mandolin) had sporadically collaborated since 2014’s A Dotted Line, a 2020 interview pegged to the twentieth anniversary of Nickel Creek’s debut album ignited a spark. “It was fun to have a reason to wax nostalgic about some stuff that we'd done,” says Thile. “And then when we got together, it was just so clear, ‘Oh, yeah, we've got some new music to make.’"

Nickel Creek with special guest Hawktail