Why Should the Fire Die?

Released on 9 August 2005 in the United States and a day earlier in the UK, it was the first Nickel Creek album with bassist Mark Schatz and the last before the break that began in 2007. It reached 17 on the Billboard 200, the band's best placing to that point, and also topped the bluegrass and independent charts. It had sold 258,784 copies by November 2006. It earned two Grammy nominations, for Best Contemporary Folk Album and, for Scotch & Chocolate, Best Country Instrumental Performance. That instrumental lost to Alison Krauss and Union Station's Unionhouse Branch.

Sean Watkins said about thirty songs went unused. Sara Watkins wrote in her online journal that the trio spent five days on arrangements and demos of the seventeen songs they were seriously considering, and fourteen made the record. Recording began in November 2004 and was finished, mixed and mastered by April 2005. With Krauss absent as producer, Tony Berg and Eric Valentine took over. Sara told Paste the change made a more congruent project overall. It was recorded with Telefunken microphones rather than digitally, and the fiddle effect on First and Last Waltz was reel tape delay.

The songs

When in Rome, written by Thile, was the only single. Thile said the idea behind it was that if something is better, it is worth leaning towards it a little. Somebody More Like You is a break-up song by Sean Watkins, who said it was not about anyone in particular and grew from a clever line. Jealous of the Moon was co-written by Thile and Gary Louris, and was a promotional single in the US. Eveline is a tribute to the James Joyce story, and Stumptown to Thile's favorite coffee house, Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Anthony is the only Nickel Creek song written solely by Sara Watkins, and Doubting Thomas, by Thile, is about questioning faith. Tomorrow Is a Long Time, by Bob Dylan, is the one track not written at least partly by a band member, with Sara singing lead. Valentine played drums on Helena, which Thile called the ultimate climax of the record.

The Houston Chronicle likened it to Wilco with country rock and Radiohead with guitar riffs, and some critics called the style emo-grass. The Village Voice judged it sleeker and more carefully assembled than the competition, and the BBC singled out its sheer musical brilliance.