Nickel Creek began in 1989 as a kids' bluegrass band playing a pizza joint in Carlsbad, California, backed by one of their dads on upright bass. Chris Thile and Sean Watkins studied with the same mandolin instructor, John Moore, while Sean's younger sister Sara took fiddle lessons from Moore's bandmate Dennis Caplinger, and the band name came from a song written by her teacher. An early instrument swap that put Chris on mandolin and Sean on guitar aligned each personality with the rhythmic physics of the instrument and locked in their signature sound as they were homeschooled to accommodate the 1990s festival circuit.

This episode explains how Alison Krauss, producing their self-titled 2000 album, taught them to use microphones as instruments and blend their harmonies, leading to a platinum record, Grammy nominations, Time magazine naming t ...