Last night, longtime collaborators Chris Thile and Michael Daves returned to New York’s Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 for a special benefit performance. The intimate gig is part of the Preserve Rockwood series; the initiative was recently established to support the classic Lower East Side venue, which is facing financial troubles. Daves has performed weekly at the club for years.

Thile and Daves began playing together in New York in 2005, around the time the mandolinist started putting together what would become Punch Brothers, and would often stage impromptu and semi-surprise shows at Rockwood Music Hall. They issued a proper full-length record, Sleep with One Eye Open, on Nonesuch in 2011, which was recorded at Jack White’s Third Man studio and toured nationally. Yesterday’s performance relied heavily on that LP’s roots-leaning material, including choice takes on “20/20 Vision” and “Rain and Snow.” During the latter tune, which was popularized in the bluegrass world by Bill Monroe and brought into rock and jam circles through the Del McCoury Band, both Thile and Daves discussed working with McCoury and a Monroe biography product that never came to fruition.

The pair also honored Jesse McReynolds, who died on June 23, with a cover of Jim & Jesse’s “Sweet Little Miss Blue Eyes,” a selection they recorded as a bonus track on Sleep with One Eye Open. Then, they paid tribute to another bluegrass architect, Bobby Osborne, who passed away on June 27 with “Ruby.” While Thile and Daves mentioned numerous times that they wrote a setlist for the ticketed performance, they did take requests from the audience for a fiddle segment that peaked with “Jerusuem Ridge.”

Daves will return to Rockwood on July 12 for a show with Tony Trischka. The Preserve Rockwood series will also bring club alums like Amy Helm and The Lone Bellow back to the venue in the coming weeks.