Chris Thile

Thanks for Listening began as a simple idea: To document, in a studio setting, the tunes that singer, songwriter, and mandolinist Chris Thile had composed for the new “Song of the Week” segment of public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion during his inaugural season as host. Thile had set himself a formidable musical challenge and, as befits this enthusiastically risk-embracing artist, he was more than up to the task. In addition to traveling, planning, rehearsing, and performing on the fifteen episodes of APHC’s 2016–17 season, Thile managed each week to create a funny, topical, and at times quite poignant new song he would play with a rotating cast of APHC band-mates and guest stars. These were not throwaway radio bits, but smart, fully realized compositions. They served the needs of the show but were just as timely and engaging on their own.