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The Avett Brothers: Of Music and Men

Seth and Scott Avett at Freed-Hardeman University, 2008

It seemed as though the Avetts had indeed done just that the instant they decided to join forces after playing in separate bands throughout their teenage years, and briefly together in the punk outfit Nemo. Much of their inspiration to go unplugged came from their father Jim, a welder who played folk and country music on the side. Scott and Seth began raiding his eight-track collection, working up enough covers to start playing acoustic gigs around their hometown of Concord, N.C. just outside of Charlotte. This led to the creation of the six original songs that comprised a self-titled EP in 2000, whereupon they recruited stand-up bassist Bob Crawford, who became an official member of the group.

“For many years, it was unspoken between us that we’d put a band together,” says Seth, whose casual demeanor seems to embody Southern hospitality even in a foreign country. “Scott’s four years older than me, so when I was starting high school, he was graduating. There were just enough years between us that when I was ready to start my own band, he already had one going in the town where he was going to college [at East Carolina University]. But we kept saying, eventually we’ll have a band together. We started writing songs and mailing each other cassette tapes and having long phone conversations about it. As the younger brother, I’ve always felt that Scott was there to protect me ever since we were children, so there was always a sense of comfort for me thinking that we were going at this as a team.”

Seth adds that they forged their sound largely out of naivety, since they didn’t have much experience as a touring act. It was only when Crawford, formerly of garage rockers Memphis Quick 50, offered to book a tour that the Avetts got their first taste of what being a full-time band was all about. They learned quickly.

These Toronto shows took place at the recently re-opened Danforth Music Hall, a 1,500-seat former movie theater that has long been a jewel of the city’s live music scene, and the way the Avetts were in full control from the opening notes brought to mind a lot of the venue’s glorious moments. It wasn’t a surprise then to hear that they had been briefed about the building’s history. “Someone mentioned to us that The Clash played here,” Seth says. “That’s really cool.”

Reflecting on their early live experiences, Scott explains, “We really had no motivation to do things like actually book a tour. We were real homebodies, and still are to some degree. It’s like we were talking about the other day—give me a reason to go to New York or Boston or Toronto and I’ll go, but back then, we didn’t have a plan at all. We were totally immature in thinking that we could keep playing around North Carolina and eventually people would come to us. Maybe it was just being overconfident in our live show, because even then we knew that no matter how much exposure you got in the media or on the Internet, it doesn’t mean anything if you’re not able to connect with a roomful of people. We know that we can always get a gig somewhere on this planet.”

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From Crawford’s arrival prior to the making of the Avetts’ 2002 full-length Country Was, the songs came at a staggering rate. The brothers released four more albums in as many years, in addition to two live discs and two EPs under the banner The Gleam. Joe Kwon—perhaps the world’s hardest rocking cellist—was added for 2007’s Emotionalism, completing the formal Avett Brothers lineup. That album marked the group’s entry into the national sphere, selling enough copies to earn a respectable placing on the Billboard Top 200 album chart, and cementing the brothers’ achingly confessional songwriting style with tracks like “Shame” and “The Ballad of Love and Hate.”

That directness remained at the core of I and Love and You, as songs like “Kick Drum Heart” and “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise” unabashedly proclaimed. The album’s title track is often a high point of an Avett Brothers concert—a chance for even the most cynical crowd member to feel a sense of communion that few other bands can offer. It’s hard to imagine the Avetts not playing that song at every show they do from here on out, and Scott suggests that the tone of their writing has broadened even further recently.

“Our songs are pretty straightforward,” he says. “We’re firm believers in the older you get, the more things need to be explained in a simpler way. It’s like walking into a kid’s playroom and seeing all of these big shapes and bright colors. We are aware now of when our songs are becoming too complex for our own good. So, when we’re feeling like we want to write a pop song, we just let it happen.

“In some ways, that’s just how life changes you,” Scott continues. “I’ve had two children since the last album [was recorded]. I just read a quote from Jay-Z where he said that he thought he would write a whole bunch of songs as soon as he saw his baby, but all he wanted to do was spend time with her. I could totally relate to that. Some of that feeling about becoming a father made it onto the new album, but there’s still that strong dichotomy between life and death. The shadows are very deep and the light is very bright. Whether that’s something engrained within the two of us, I can’t really say, but we definitely are able to switch roles quite easily.”