Chris Eldridge (born June 27, 1982) is a Grammy Award winning American guitarist and singer. He is a member of Punch Brothers and frequently performs in a duo with fellow guitarist Julian Lage. He was the guitarist in the house band on Prairie Home Companion/Live From Here from 2016-2020. He was also a founding member of the bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters. His father is noted banjoist Ben Eldridge of the Seldom Scene. His nephew, Bryce Eldridge, is a highly touted prospect in the San Francisco Giants system in MLB.
In 2005 mandolinist Chris Thile, recruited Eldridge, along with banjoist Noam Pikelny, violinist Gabe Witcher, and bassist Greg Garrison, to start working on an ambitious project fusing bluegrass instrumentation with the rigor of classical composition. Eventually the musicians decided to form a band, Punch Brothers. Their debut album in 2008, Punch, has been described as "bluegrass instrumentation and spontaneity in the strictures of modern classical" as well as "American country-classical chamber music". Punch Brothers has released 6 full length albums and 2 EPs.
Eldridge appeared in the 2013 Coen brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis as Mike Timlin, the deceased duet partner of Llewyn Davis. Eldridge can be seen alongside Oscar Isaac several times throughout the movie on the front and back covers of Timlin and Davis' album, "If We Had Wings." Eldridge and Punch Brothers appeared throughout the movie's soundtrack.
Eldridge was featured in the exhibit, "American Currents: The Music of 2018" at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, TN.
In 2019 Eldridge won the Instrumentalist of the Year award at the Americana Music Honors & Awards.
In 2020 he was named Visiting Associate Professor of Contemporary American Acoustic Music at Oberlin.
In 2023 he released an eponymous album with a new bluegrass supergroup called Mighty Poplar. Other members of the band include Noam Pikelny, Andrew Marlin, Alex Hargreaves and Greg Garrison.
Eldridge is a nine-time Grammy Award nominee, winning once in 2019 for Best Folk Album.
2008 | Punch | Nonesuch Records |
2010 | Antifogmatic | Nonesuch Records |
2012 | Who's Feeling Young Now? | Nonesuch Records |
2012 | Ahoy! (EP) | Nonesuch Records |
2015 | The Phosphorescent Blues | Nonesuch Records |
2015 | The Wireless (EP) | Nonesuch Records |
2018 | All Ashore | Nonesuch Records |
2022 | Hell on Church Street | Nonesuch Records |
2023 | Mighty Poplar | Free Dirt Records |
2013 | Close to Picture (EP) | Modern Lore |
2014 | Avalon | Modern Lore |
2017 | Mount Royal | Free Dirt Records |
2006 | The Infamous Stringdusters (EP) | Sugar Hill |
2007 | Fork in the Road | Sugar Hill |
2007 | Scenechronized | Sugar Hill |
2014 | Long Time... Seldom Scene | Smithsonian Folkways |
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