CHRIS THILE "How to Grow a Woman From the Ground" Sugar Hill

CHRIS THILE"How to Grow a Woman From the Ground"Sugar Hill

TO WATCH THE 25-year-old Chris Thile on stage at the recent International Bluegrass Music Association conference in Nashville was to realize three things: One, he may well be the most virtuosic American ever to play the mandolin; two, he has the flirtatious charisma of a major pop star; and, three, he has too often squandered those assets on unfocused, overly precious songwriting with his main group, Nickel Creek. His latest solo album, "How to Grow a Woman From the Ground," begins to address those weaknesses.

Thile cut the entire disc with four string-band musicians roughly his age, including former D.C. guitarist Chris Eldridge, son of the Seldom Scene's Ben Eldridge. The five young men grew up as alt-rock fans, a fact they acknowledge on their new-grass versions of the White Stripes' "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" and the Strokes' "Heart in a Cage." The beat-heavy aggression of these performances carries over into the Americana numbers by Gillian Welch and Tom Brosseau and an old-time tune by Jimmie Rodgers.

These are terrific songs, and their rhythmic and narrative thrust focuses the leader's talents as never before. The dazzling picking of Thile, banjoist Noam Pikelny and fiddler Gabe Witcher is especially obvious on the five instrumentals, but the vocal tracks put the virtuosity at the service of compelling storytelling. Only occasionally does Thile lapse into his old habit of making quaint music for the elves of Middle Earth; more often he's making urgent music for American kids hanging out in the parking lot of the local convenience store.

-- Geoffrey Himes

Appearing Thursday at the Birchmere.