About the Film
USA / 89minutes / Color / HD / English / 2011
In HOW TO GROW A BAND, 26-year-old Chris Thile is at a crossroads. His marriage has ended, and his platinum-selling band, Nickel Creek, has gone on “indefinite hiatus.” But Thile, a perfectionist prodigy who’s defied expectations since he learned the mandolin at age five, has a plan. Step 1: Write a 45-minute, four-movement elegy to your failed marriage to be played by a bluegrass quintet. Step 2: Recruit the only musicians around talented enough to play it and crazy enough to sign on. Step 3: Make a record, launch an international tour and brace yourself.
Filmed with uncommon access, HOW TO GROW A BAND provides a rare look at the start of one of America’s most promising young bands and explores the tensions that test young artists.
Directed & Photographed by
Mark Meatto
Produced by
Michael Bohlmann
& Mark Meatto
Edited by
Mark Meatto
& Purcell Carson
Executive Producers
Dan Algrant
Bert Keely
Associate Producers
Ruth Oxenberg
Tim Farrel
Production Sound
Mark Meatto
& David Sinko
Additional Camera, The Living Room
Hope Hall
Ben Niles
Additional Camera, Lincoln Center
Ben Wolf, DP
Ben Niles
Nara Garber
Ian Dudley
George Lyon
Sound Editing
Gordon Brislawn, Bad Habit Recordings
David Sinko
Sound Mix
Richard Bock
Color Correct
Tim Maffia, Modern Digital