Music Millennium

As Nickel Creek integrated more rock and pop elements into their music, they went in a new direction with their 2005 album, Why Should The Fire Die? � enlisting Eric Valentine (Taking Back Sunday, Good Charlotte, Queens of the Stone Age) and industry veteran Tony Berg to produce the album. While Valentine�s lengthy credits in punk, alt-rock, and pop might have made the producer seem like an unlikely match, Why Should the Fire Die? proved to be the group�s most ambitious effort yet. Featuring nearly all original material, save for a cover of Bob Dylan�s �Tomorrow Is a Long Time,� the 2005 album included such favorites as �When in Rome,� �Helena,� the instrumental �Scotch & Chocolate,� and �Jealous Moon,� which Thile co-wrote with The Jayhawk�s Gary Louris. Darker and more introspective than their previous material.

Why Should the Fire Die? garnered the band wide acclaim. The BBC praised the group�s �sheer musical brilliance,� while Entertainment Weekly proclaimed, �if O Brother, Where Art Thou? cracked open the door to bluegrass� past for a new generation, Nickel Creek are bent on giving it a future.� The album once again hit the Billboard 200�s Top 20 and earned the group two GRAMMY� nominations; the award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, and the award for Best Country Instrumental Performance ("Scotch & Chocolate").