It began with a group of heartbroken musicians commiserating over an unreasonably expensive steakhouse dinner. This deep dive charts the 20-year biography of Punch Brothers, from mandolinist Chris Thile's post-divorce need for a bigger musical container in 2006 to a Grammy-winning institution that blurred the line between a back-porch string band and a classical chamber ensemble.

We unpack the Mark Twain story behind the name, the 40-minute suite they debuted at Carnegie Hall in 2007, and how five virtuosos learned restraint through counterpoint. We also cover their Hunger Games soundtrack contribution, the 2018 Grammy for the self-produced All Ashore, their track-by-track reimagining of Tony Rice's Church Street Blues, the 2023 departure of founding fiddler Gabe Witcher, and the arrival of Brittany Haas.

• Early names The How to G ...