Punch Brothers announce first all-instrumental album, The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers
Punch Brothers will release their first all-instrumental album on July 24, pairing eight new compositions with three arranged traditionals and a new milestone for Brittany Haas.
Punch Brothers will release The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers on July 24, 2026, giving the Grammy-winning quintet its first all-instrumental album and its seventh full-length release. The project comes out on Nonesuch Records and shifts the spotlight onto the group’s precision, arrangement work, and instrumental chemistry.
Chris Thile formed Punch Brothers in 2006 to record How to Grow a Woman from the Ground, extending the restless acoustic approach he had already helped define with Nickel Creek. The current lineup includes Thile on mandolin, Brittany Haas on fiddle, Gabe Witcher on fiddle and vocals, Noam Pikelny on banjo, Chris Eldridge on guitar, and Paul Kowert on bass. Haas joined the quintet in 2023, making this the first Punch Brothers album to feature her throughout.
The new record contains eight original compositions by Punch Brothers and three traditional songs arranged by the band. That mix keeps the album rooted in bluegrass tradition while pushing the material into the chamber-folk territory the group has made its own, where written parts and spontaneous interplay carry equal weight. The all-instrumental format gives the band more room to build tension through melody, counterpoint, and tempo changes rather than relying on lyrics to carry the structure.
Punch Brothers also performed “Song of the Water Kelpie (unsung),” one of the tracks on the album. The tune sits alongside the newly written material as part of a release that treats instrumental music as a lead statement, not a sideline. In a crowded streaming market built around quick hooks and vocal-first playlists, the album gives Punch Brothers a cleaner display of the players’ individual voices and the ensemble’s collective discipline.
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