As Nickel Creek integrated more rock and pop elements into their music, they went in a new direction with their 2005 album, Why Should The Fire Die? – enlisting Eric Valentine (Taking Back Sunday, Good Charlotte, Queens of the Stone Age) and industry veteran Tony Berg to produce the album. While Valentine’s lengthy credits in punk, alt-rock, and pop might have made the producer seem like an unlikely match, Why Should the Fire Die? proved to be the group’s most ambitious effort yet. Featuring nearly all original material, save for a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is a Long Time,” the 2005 album included such favorites as “When in Rome,” “Helena,” the instrumental “Scotch & Chocolate,” and “Jealous Moon,” which Thile co-wrote with The Jayhawk’s Gary Louris. Darker and more introspective than their previous material.

Why Should the Fire Die? garnered the band wide acclaim. The BBC praised the group’s “sheer musical brilliance,” while Entertainment Weekly proclaimed, “if O Brother, Where Art Thou? cracked open the door to bluegrass’ past for a new generation, Nickel Creek are bent on giving it a future.” The album once again hit the Billboard 200’s Top 20 and earned the group two GRAMMY® nominations; the award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, and the award for Best Country Instrumental Performance ("Scotch & Chocolate").