Chris Eldridge

{{Short description|American guitarist and singer (born 1982)|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| instrument = Guitar

| name = Chris Eldridge

| image = Chris Eldridge.jpg

| landscape = yes

| caption = Eldridge in 2008

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1982|6|27}}

| origin = Fredericksburg, Virginia, U.S.

| genre = Progressive bluegrass
Bluegrass

| associated_acts = Punch Brothers
The Infamous Stringdusters
Seldom Scene

| label = Nonesuch Records

| years_active = 2000-present

| website = http://www.chriseldridge.net/

}}

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.https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6163370/2025/02/27/sf-giants-bryce-eldridge-top-prospect/

Biography

Chris Eldridge was born on June 27,{{Cite web |date=June 27, 2012 |title=Happy birthday to guitarist Chris Eldridge: Ben's son, Punch Brother. |url=https://www.facebook.com/wncw887/posts/happy-birthday-to-guitarist-chris-eldridge-bens-son-punch-brother/314696868623973/ |access-date=April 16, 2024 |website=WNCW |via=Facebook}} 1982.{{Cite web |last=Tunis |first=Walter |date=April 17, 2012 |title=Punch Brothers bring superb musicianship, infectious spirit to Troubadour Series |url=https://kentucky.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/article44168325.html |access-date=April 16, 2024 |website=Lexington Herald-Leader |quote=I was born in 1982, so his Graceland album was kind of ubiquitous when I was a kid.}} Although initially drawn to electric guitar, Eldridge began developing an acoustic career by his mid-teens, largely due to his father, a founding member of the seminal bluegrass group The Seldom Scene. Eldridge later studied at Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied with guitarist Tony Rice. After graduating, he joined the Seldom Scene with whom he received a Grammy nomination in 2007.{{cite web | title=Chris Eldridge| website=grammy.com | url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/chris-eldridge/2225 | access-date=5 August 2023}} In 2005 he founded a critically acclaimed bluegrass group, The Infamous Stringdusters. At the 2007 International Bluegrass Music Association awards Eldridge and his Stringdusters bandmates won Emerging artist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year for their debut album, Fork in the Road.{{cite web | url=https://ibma.org/awards-by-year/ | title=Awards by Year | access-date=April 16, 2023 | archive-date=July 4, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704111400/https://ibma.org/awards-by-year/ | url-status=live }}

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"{{cite news | url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3245769.ece | work=The Times | location=London | title=Chris Thile and his mandolin | first=Pete | last=Paphides | date=January 25, 2008 | access-date=May 22, 2010 | archive-date=May 17, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517080318/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3245769.ece | url-status=dead }} as well as "American country-classical chamber music".{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/arts/music/22punc.html?_r=0 | work=The New York Times | first=Stephen | last=Holden | title=Covers and Classical Moves From a Bluegrass Virtuoso | date=February 22, 2008 | access-date=April 16, 2023 | archive-date=April 22, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422112010/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/arts/music/22punc.html?_r=0 | url-status=live }} 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.{{cite web| url = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2042568/trivia?item=tr2083787| title = Inside Llewyn Davis Trivia| website = IMDb| access-date = April 16, 2023| archive-date = April 28, 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230428065809/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2042568/trivia?item=tr2083787| url-status = live}}

Eldridge was featured in the exhibit, "American Currents: The Music of 2018" at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, TN.{{cite web | url = https://www.nashvillemusicguide.com/american-currents-the-music-of-2018-opens-march-8-2019-at-the-country-music-hall-of-fame-and-museum/ | title = American Currents: The Music of 2018, Opens March 8, 2019 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum | date = March 1, 2019 | access-date = April 16, 2023 | archive-date = April 16, 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230416010109/https://www.nashvillemusicguide.com/american-currents-the-music-of-2018-opens-march-8-2019-at-the-country-music-hall-of-fame-and-museum/ | url-status = live }}

In 2019 Eldridge won the Instrumentalist of the Year award at the Americana Music Honors & Awards.{{cite magazine | url = https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/americana-honors-and-awards-2019-winners-brandi-carlile-john-prine-883271/ | title = Americana Honors and Awards 2019: The Complete Winners List | magazine = Rolling Stone | date = September 11, 2019 | access-date = April 15, 2023 | archive-date = June 9, 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230609140524/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/americana-honors-and-awards-2019-winners-brandi-carlile-john-prine-883271/ | url-status = live }}

In 2020 he was named Visiting Associate Professor of Contemporary American Acoustic Music at Oberlin.{{cite web | url = https://www.oberlin.edu/news/bluegrass-guitarist-chris-eldridge-named-visiting-faculty-oberlin | title = Bluegrass Guitarist Chris Eldridge Named Visiting Faculty at Oberlin | date = November 9, 2020 | access-date = April 16, 2023 | archive-date = April 18, 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230418045520/https://www.oberlin.edu/news/bluegrass-guitarist-chris-eldridge-named-visiting-faculty-oberlin | url-status = live }}

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.{{cite web | url = https://www.nodepression.com/spotlight-mighty-poplar-rises-up-from-bluegrass-bedrock | title = Mighty Poplar Rises Up From Bluegrass Bedrock | date = March 3, 2023 | access-date = April 16, 2023 | archive-date = April 16, 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230416010108/https://www.nodepression.com/spotlight-mighty-poplar-rises-up-from-bluegrass-bedrock | url-status = live }}

Eldridge is a nine-time Grammy Award nominee, winning once in 2019 for Best Folk Album.