The mandolinist virtuoso and 2012 MacArthur Fellow, Chris Thile, has a rich history of performing in a variety of styles and collaborating with musicians as diverse as Bela Fleck, Yo-Yo Ma, and jazz pianist Brad Mehldau. Thile's band Punch Brothers particularly exemplifies his musical adventurousness and flexibility. Despite its standard bluegrass instrumentation of violin, mandolin, acoustic guitar, banjo, and string bass, the music Punch Brothers creates stretches far beyond the traditional bluegrass genre and into areas of pop, classical transcription, and jazz.

Thile's ability to meld different styles into his songwriting is accomplished in-part by his sophisticated use of harmony. This poster will focus on a single harmonic concept found in numerous Punch Brothers songs: modulations to distantly related keys, in particular, keys a chromatic mediant apart. While common in music beginning in the 19th-century, these types of modulations are rare in folk and popular genres. Through the use of charts and musical excerpts transcribed by the presenter, this poster will show how:

1. Thile uses different types of modulations such as common-chord and phrase modulation to move to foreign key areas.
2. Distantly related keys serve in projecting the larger tonal trajectory of Punch Brothers songs.
3. Modulation is used to support and illuminate a song's lyrical narrative.

This poster will be of interest to those in areas of popular music, music theory, and instructors looking for contemporary musical resources in teaching theory.