Chris Thile and The How to Grow a Band to Perform Feb. 9

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present Chris Thile and The How to Grow a Band at 8 p.m. on Feb. 9 in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. Tickets for the performance will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Nov. 17.

At 25, Chris Thile (pronounced THEE-Lee) has accomplished more than most -- 2 million albums sold with Grammy-winning Nickel Creek, six solo albums (the first at the age of 12), a side career as an in-demand studio musician and collaborations with Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck and Jon Brion. His mandolin playing has been described as "brilliant," "bold," "utterly fantastic" and "staggering," and earned him the title of Mandolin Player of the Year from the Instrumental Bluegrass Music Association in 2001.

But ultimately, moving to New York was the catalyst that reminded Thile how and why he started playing the mandolin in the first place. And it's where he brought together a new-generation bluegrass band to record "How to Grow a Woman from the Ground," released on the Sugar Hill label in September.

To hear Thile tell it, when he wound up putting together a bluegrass band and making a bluegrass record, no one was more surprised than he. For although his first two solo albums were filled with bluegrass, the evolution of his own career and that of Nickel Creek had taken him into so far into the larger world of music that it sometimes seemed as if the terrain that gave him his start was little more than a youthful launching pad. Acclaimed as one of the most inventive musicians of his (or any other) generation, it was easy to see how his talent could -- and did -- take him in any direction.

That's not to say that Thile had given up on bluegrass altogether. His third solo album, "Not All Who Wander Are Lost," contained more than a hint of his musical roots, while guest appearances on recordings and in performance with artists like Dolly Parton, the Dixie Chicks and Edgar Meyer exhibited a brilliant and ongoing engagement with the style. Still, the growing inventiveness heard on Nickel Creek's breathtaking -- and best-selling -- albums and shows all suggested that a bluegrass album would be the last thing on his mind.

It's telling that when Thile moved to the city, on the heels of divorce and in the middle of working on the third Nickel Creek album, he sought the comfort of the familiar. The acclaimed musician began dropping in on a weekly bluegrass jam at The Baggot Inn in Greenwich Village and began a solo residency at The Living Room, where he worked out new material and invented new takes on older songs.

"Part of it was getting divorced, and realizing that I was singing bluegrass heartbreak songs. … And another part of it was living in New York, because for me, at least, New York demands that you find what it is about you that's unique. There are so many talented people -- exceptional people -- that to stand out, you either have to be completely average or really, really different."

Thile called upon a cadre of similarly accomplished, young and talented friends to build the band -- Gabe Witcher, Noam Pikelny, Chris Eldridge and Greg Garrison. They camped out in his one-bedroom apartment in weeklong rehearsal and writing sessions. With Thile as the producer, the five recorded the album in live takes around a pair of microphones at famed Sear Sound Recording Studios.

Whether written by Thile himself or drawn from such varied sources as Gillian Welch, the White Stripes, Jimmie Rodgers and the Strokes, each is at once a self-contained performance and a part of a subtle, overarching story of heartbreaking loss and the hope of renewal.

Tickets for Chris Thile and The How to Grow a Band are $21, students $15. Tickets are available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Center for the Arts Box Office and all Ticketmaster locations, including Kaufmann's. To charge tickets, call 852-5000; in Canada, call 1-416-870-8000. For group sales, call 645-6771. For more information, call 645-ARTS. The Center for the Arts is a Ticketfast location. Students (of any school) must present valid student ID at the Center Box Office to receive discount