There’s nothing like a crowd to drive ambitious souls in new directions. So while the Brooklyn quintet Punch Brothers is a string band with a long collective pedigree in roots music, they’re also notable for their skill

If the parallels weren't already evident, famed Irish folk band The Chieftains make it perfectly clear on Voice of Ages that Celtic music and U.S. folk, especially in its currently commercially palatable Americana guise, share more than a few chromosomes...

Whirlwind mandolinist Chris Thile spent more than 15 years playing with his roots-pop trio Nickel Creek, but in recent years he spent more and more time working on his many outside projects, and by the time the band called...

Whirlwind mandolinist Chris Thile spent more than 15 years playing with his roots-pop trio Nickel Creek, but in recent years he spent more and more time working on his many outside projects, and by the time the band called it quits last year, it was clear his star had outgrown Nickel Creek. He’s since dedicated . . .

Nas w/ Talib Kweli @ The Rave, 8 p.m. Given the inability of Nas’ last album to explain exactly why hip-hop was dead, the media understandably greeted Nas’ latest untitled album, originally titled Nigger, with great skepticism. Against the odds, though, the rapper created a piece of art that more than addressed...