The Avett Brothers

In 2005 the band graced the cover of Charlotte magazine, played WXPN’s World Café, and was the talk of roots-music barometer MerleFest, filling the role Gillian Welch and David Rawlings played the previous year. But the Avetts—who focus more on songwriting and feeling than honing instrumental chops—still have their critics, especially among purists. “We’ve had some pretty serious beratings,” Seth confides. “Ridiculous heckling. Incidents in elitist bluegrass-type settings where, after we play, people let us know their disgust, like—‘y’all are pathetic.’”

But in the tradition of any musical pioneers—be it Dylan going electric or Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings trying to make Music Row wake up and realize Red Headed Stranger wasn’t just an unfinished set of demos—the Avetts are shaking off the criticism and, most importantly, not altering their approach one bit.

“First and foremost it’s about the songwriting” says Seth, “We put all this time into the lyrics and melodies. That’s what we really believe in. Aesthetically, the heart is what matters. It’s not a question of trying to be edgy or raw, we just happen to be pretty rough around the edges as far as musicianship. So instead of fighting that, instead of trying to become technically superior musicians, we’re just running with the cards we’ve been dealt and using them the best we can.”

ALL THE BEAUTY THAT I SEE OUT THIS WINDOW TO THE LEFT OF ME
The first hour in the van with the Avetts is always filled with laughter, anxious chatter and inside jokes. They’ve shaken themselves from sleep and are trying to overcome exhaustion through coffee and conversation. But this caffeinated energy is short-lived. Before long, a hush settles over the van, and everyone takes turns sleeping one- or two-hour shifts in the back seat, while the Southern landscape slowly unravels, as if thread on a spool tugged along by the van. At gas-station stops, it’s time to get the blood pumping for a few minutes—we toss around the pigskin or ride skateboards through the parking lot. But just as soon as anyone starts loosening up, it’s back on the American highway, back into the van’s transitory oblivion, in a holding pattern ’til the next stop spills us briefly into reality again.

After lunch, the same pattern from morning repeats—the conversation slowly fades, Bob digs into thick history novel George Washington’s War, Scott thumbs through his sketchbook, and Seth catches a nap while Dolph and Dane cook up wagers on the coming weekend’s NFL games. This is life on the road for The Avett Brothers. It ain’t glamorous. But it’s as honest a living as you can eke out in rock ’n’ roll.

Around 4 p.m., we cross the beautiful blue-green waters of the Chesapeake Bay and soon we’re rolling past the cornfields and rustic red barns of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Scott informs us we’ll be staying at the farmhouse of a friend after tonight’s show. “But it’s an old house,” he warns Dolph and I. “Some strange things have happened. Years ago, someone was murdered there.” Seth adds that people have heard noises and seen apparitions in the halls at night. But talk of the haunted farmhouse halts abruptly when we pull up to Chestertown’s Prince Theatre for load-in.

After soundcheck we catch dinner at Andy’s—the restaurant/bar/coffeehouse that was the first stop on the Avetts’ first real tour. When we sit down to eat, friends stop by to chat about old times and new fans meander over, shyly introducing themselves. It seems most of the tiny college town is anticipating the band’s performance. The cook even bumps up our order—without being asked—so we can make it back to the venue on time. It’s not free bling, or crystal dishes full of caviar, green M&Ms and tiny sandwiches, but that isn’t what the Avetts are after. Still, it’s undeniable—they aren’t the anonymous band they used to be.

I’M DONE FOREVER, IT’S YOU AND ME FOREVER
Scott and Seth Avett grew up in Concord, N.C., near Charlotte, and from an early age, their parents encouraged their passion for music. “Seth and I and our sister, we all played piano when we were younger,” says Scott. “Our father let us take piano lessons. If we wanted to learn how to play the guitar we needed to play the piano first to get a good foundation on theory and reading.”

But by middle and high school the brothers graduated to loud, heavy rock bands—though never the same one until Avett Brothers precursor, Nemo. The grunge-metal outfit wanted badly to succeed, but even the band’s name doomed it from the get-go. “‘Nemo’ is the Latin word for ‘nobody,’” Scott explains. “We knew the band would never make a name for itself on a national level—there was no way, even on a regional level.”

As Nemo proper floundered, Seth, Scott and bandmate John Twomey started side project Nemo Downstairs. In 2000, the trio cut a six-song EP using piano, banjo and acoustic and electric guitars—essentially the first Avett Brothers recording. A year later, when Nemo broke up, Scott and Seth decided to continue the acoustic project as a duo.

“We didn’t start with the idea ‘hey, we’re going to grab these instruments and write rock songs and scream,’” says Seth of the band’s original concept. “We just wanted something we could throw in the back of the truck, you know, play on street corners if we wanted to, play house parties, which we did. The energy was something that came without us having to think about it. It just built and built, and it came as we wrote more. But in the beginning we just wanted the mobility, wanted to strip everything down to the essentials of us playing a couple instruments and trying to sing our best.”

In 2002, the brothers were introduced to bassist Bob Crawford by a mutual friend. After graduating college in New Jersey, he’d relocated to Charlotte and became a film-production assistant, then moved on to grip, electric and sound, eventually working on Remember the Titans. But, after some soul-searching, he decided music was his true love. “I went back to school at Winthrop and started a bachelor in music with an emphasis on jazz guitar. A couple days before my first semester I got an upright bass, just to have it so when we played on the back deck my friends who played bass would have something to play. I figured, worst-case scenario, ‘I’ll hang my jacket on it. It’ll be a nice piece of furniture.’ And I started taking lessons in school and then I met Scott and Seth.”

After a brief trial period, Bob was in the band full-time. Now a trio, The Avett Brothers recorded their debut, the independently released (now-out-of-print) Country Was. They followed in 2003 with Carolina Jubilee, their first on Dolph’s indie, Ramseur Records. While the album’s songwriting represented a creative breakthrough, the band didn’t quite succeed in its goal of capturing its live energy in the studio. But the Avetts would fare better on their next record.