If only the shared dexterity that will be on stage when mandolin men MIKE MARSHALL of Psychograss and CHRIS THILE of Nickel Creek perform together was taken seriously by its owners, it would be too much to bear. But, as it stands, Thile and Marshall keep the festival spirit that spawned their two-album collaboration alive, beaming and bellowing as they turn in smartly twisted, heavily spirited arrangements of classics–including Charlie Parker’s “Scrapple from the Apple” and Bach’s “Solo Violin Partitia 2”–and piquant, non-dueling mandolin originals built on both players’ lyricism and flash. Tickets are $22 for the Thursday, Jan. 12 show at Progress Energy Center‘s Fletcher Theater in Raleigh. The grinning starts at 8 p.m.
