How to Grow a Band

Released Apr 13, 2012

1h 28m

Documentary

Music

List

60%

10 Reviews

Tomatometer

72%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

With his wife gone and his band on indefinite hiatus, musician Chris Thile launches a risky new project and international tour.

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Nicolas Rapold

New York Times

Mr. Meatto's framing tends to catch the musicians' give-and-take, merging and dueling notes onstage, especially at a Manhattan concert that is the film's highlight.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 12, 2012

Full Review

Joe Leydon

Variety

How to Grow a Band is most fascinating as it tactfully charts the sort of artistic and philosophical differences that can eventually undermine any group endeavor, even among seemingly like-minded collaborators.

Apr 12, 2012

Full Review

Nathan Rabin

AV Club

How To Grow A Band maintains a respectable distance from its subject that ultimately doesn't work in its favor.

Rated: C+

Apr 12, 2012

Full Review

Alex Heeney

Seventh Row

There are are scenes in Mark Meatto's documentary, How to Grow a Band, about the progressive bluegrass band, Punch Brothers, that seem to be straight out of Almost Famous.

Aug 15, 2017

Full Review

Joan Radell

Paste Magazine

Mark Meatto's How To Grow A Band is masterful filmmaking that takes the audience where they need to go.

Rated: 9.1/10

Apr 23, 2013

Full Review

Nora Lee Mandel

Film-Forward.com

[H]as a promising story to follow [but] disappointing, either as an introduction to progressive bluegrass or for longtime Thile fans.

Rated: 4/10

Apr 23, 2012

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Audience Member

Let's make something clear. I really like The Punch Brothers and Chris Thile is more talented then I will ever be. Ever. The musical concepts and process displayed by the band here are kind of incredible, sounding dense yet pretty. That being said, I'm giving this a negative review because the direction and progression of this band's story was, for my taste, hard to follow and quite impenetrable. For music that is so personal, it's kind of a shock how much this documentary keeps it's distance. We get the sense that Thile is a tortured genius, but we never really explore why. We are explained why, but it never goes beyond the statement of "oh well, he got a divorce so he's sad now". It's also worth noting that the progression of how popular these guys becomes is non existent here. As a bluegrass outsider, I had no idea how popular Thile was to start and I had no idea how rapidly the Punch Brother's fan-base was growing. Great band, poor doc.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This movie is a great film for fans of Thile or the punch brothers. For everyone else, stay away or you will be overly bored. It has some great musical performances and really gives you a unique look into the inner workings of a great band.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

One of the most lyrical documentary films I've ever seen. Extraordinary musicianship is constantly on display; the short, pithy comments by various members of the Punch Brothers are deftly interwoven among shots of rehearsals and concert performances. Chris Thile's 45-minute "suite for sting quintet" is poignant, sophisticated, and intricate; the group's bravura performance of this piece, most of which is captured in this film, is extraordinary. This is not a standard documentary; in a way, it is a composition as finely and imaginatively executed as Thile's music.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

"How to Grow a Band" is a documentary about the sexily earnest blue grass man Chris Tille, but some of its snazziest moments are old videos of him as a boy. Small and blonde, he holds a guitar, cheerfully announcing how old he is and which songs he will be playing. He sounds incredibly confident, but that somehow makes you want to protect him. As the movie reveals, the adult Mr. Tille is someone who does need protecting and perhaps, someone other need protecting from. The movie begins with a vague recap of the disentegration of his boys-and-a-girl band Nickel Creek and a more in-depth chronicle of how his boys-and-boys band Punch Brothers (hmm....) begins. But Mr. Tille has more in mind than simply galloping off with a new gang--he wants to use his newfound friends to help him perform "a four movement, forty-minute bluegrass string quartet." He wants to use the mandolins, basses, and guitars that characterize bluegrass to create an elongated piece that's more like a Mahler symphony than a pop song. It's called, "The Blind Leaving the Blind" and its subjects include Mr. Tille's dating life and divorce. The construction of this ambitious piece is mostly left out of the film--what director Mark Meatto (who edited the film with Purcell Carson) is interested in is the band's struggle to help the public embrace this piece of music, which pushes the boundaries of format and audience attention span. The crux of the problem is revealed in a conversation in the band van--the Punch Brothers believe in their artistic vision, and yet they understand why some audiences can't appreciate its unusual nature. Ultimately, this dilemma is resolved. What remains troubling is the relationship between Mr. Tille and the rest of the Punch Brothers. The band seems happily resigned to singing in Mr. Tille's shadow--on the surface at least, they acknowledge him as "the musical genius." But aside from the obvious issue that being a second wheel can hardly be satisfying, the band members seem frustrated with Mr. Tille's controlling auteurism and his insecurity. It's suggested that he dominates the band, in a perhaps unhealthy manner. But herein lies what makes "How to Grow a Band" special--everyone is given their due. Mr. Meatto makes it easy to sympathize with the lesser-known Punch Brothers, but he has equal sympathy for Mr. Tille to. Why else would he include a tender moment wherein the musician talks about how his quintet chronicles the idea that there's no one true love? But more importantly, why else would he include those childhood videos, which make it impossible not to love the boy and the man he grows into? ****:)

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

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Mark Meatto

Director

Jerry Douglas

Actor

Chris Eldridge

Actor

Paul Kowert

Actor

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Actor

Edgar Meyer

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Synopsis

With his wife gone and his band on indefinite hiatus, musician Chris Thile launches a risky new project and international tour.

Director: Mark Meatto
Producer: Daniel Algrant, Bert Keely
Distributor: International Film Circuit [us]
Genre: Documentary, Music
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 13, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $16.4K
Runtime: 1h 28m

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