Sometime over the past couple of years, The Avett Brothers became my favorite band, and I mean “favorite” on a level I haven’t felt towards a band since my angsty years in high school with the Clash and REM. Their songs will bring you laughter, heartache, love, or rage, sometimes all in one song.The Avett Brothers (Seth and Scott Avett with childhood friend Bob Crawford) are a band from Concord, North Carolina and they play a combination of old-time Appalachian, bluegrass, punk, pop melodies, folk, rock and roll, hard country, and ragtime. No, really I’m serious – you can hear elements of all these genres on all of their albums…The Washington Post has described their sound as “post civil-war modern rock”- the Avetts themselves prefer to be unlabeled, feeling that “none would do the music the justice. It's simply left up to each person to extract his or her own
account from the Avetts music.” Mainly, their music is simple and honest. They offer up both confession and advice. They lament over love, but emerge defiant against apathy. They rejoice and celebrate the small things in life, but they’re not afraid to address the big questions.Resources
Over the years, the Avetts have developed several topics that they return to again and again in their songwriting – they like to sing about family…they explore the consequences that come with making choices…they stress the importance of personal responsibility…and often they combine some or all of these themes in a series of songs written to pretty girls. Click here to try out a few of my favorites - a compilation of the songs to pretty girls, and then go get Emotionalism or maybe Mignonette …aw, just go ahead and get them all!
Watch a live video for the song Pretty Girl from Chile…
Check out the Avetts on myspace…
Over the years, the Avetts have developed several topics that they return to again and again in their songwriting – they like to sing about family…they explore the consequences that come with making choices…they stress the importance of personal responsibility…and often they combine some or all of these themes in a series of songs written to pretty girls. Click here to try out a few of my favorites - a compilation of the songs to pretty girls, and then go get Emotionalism or maybe Mignonette …aw, just go ahead and get them all!
Watch a live video for the song Pretty Girl from Chile…
Check out the Avetts on myspace…
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This has been part two of a monumental three part Valentine’s special…I hope I can get the third one finished up!
For more information on the main image, visit the photographer’s website - Robert Doisneau
For more information on the main image, visit the photographer’s website - Robert Doisneau
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Epilogue
My original intent for this post was for it to be a brief overview of the Avetts that would, hopefully, peak someone’s interest in what has become my favorite band…but I’m gonna head off down a rabbit trail for a bit, so bear with me – it’s a fairly short one, as rabbit trails go…
Getting up in the morning can be tough sometimes, most especially when I've spent the latter part of the night tossing and tumbling from one strange dream to another – not really bad dreams, just unsettling ones. Tucked away amongst these fleeting dreams, sometimes, is the song of the morning, a melody that’s persistently strumming away in the back of your mind from the moment I first awaken. Maddeningly, I don't always realize what song it is. Sometimes I don't even hear it clearly – and then suddenly the chorus comes crashing in while I'm shaving or the final few chords will be whispered softly as I take a final turn around the house before I leave for work, wondering what I've forgotten to do this morning. Sometimes it's hours later before I figure out what the song is, when I hear it playing on my computer at work while I’m sunk chin deep in paperwork and reports. This is just what happened this morning with the Avett’s beautiful ballad "Murder in the City". As the first chords came out of the tiny speakers, it was like having cold water dashed in my face, and as I listened to the song that I’d been humming all day I was struck by the truth captured in this quiet pop song. Sometimes it's not enough to simply get up in the morning and go through the day taking care of the duties and responsibilities that have fallen to me for resolution. Some days it’s good to wake up and engage a more personal set of obligations, ones we tend to take for granted all too often. I don't want to ever take the people in my life for granted...not ever.
Now watch the video for Murder in the City – this is why I love the Avetts so much…
My original intent for this post was for it to be a brief overview of the Avetts that would, hopefully, peak someone’s interest in what has become my favorite band…but I’m gonna head off down a rabbit trail for a bit, so bear with me – it’s a fairly short one, as rabbit trails go…
Getting up in the morning can be tough sometimes, most especially when I've spent the latter part of the night tossing and tumbling from one strange dream to another – not really bad dreams, just unsettling ones. Tucked away amongst these fleeting dreams, sometimes, is the song of the morning, a melody that’s persistently strumming away in the back of your mind from the moment I first awaken. Maddeningly, I don't always realize what song it is. Sometimes I don't even hear it clearly – and then suddenly the chorus comes crashing in while I'm shaving or the final few chords will be whispered softly as I take a final turn around the house before I leave for work, wondering what I've forgotten to do this morning. Sometimes it's hours later before I figure out what the song is, when I hear it playing on my computer at work while I’m sunk chin deep in paperwork and reports. This is just what happened this morning with the Avett’s beautiful ballad "Murder in the City". As the first chords came out of the tiny speakers, it was like having cold water dashed in my face, and as I listened to the song that I’d been humming all day I was struck by the truth captured in this quiet pop song. Sometimes it's not enough to simply get up in the morning and go through the day taking care of the duties and responsibilities that have fallen to me for resolution. Some days it’s good to wake up and engage a more personal set of obligations, ones we tend to take for granted all too often. I don't want to ever take the people in my life for granted...not ever.
Now watch the video for Murder in the City – this is why I love the Avetts so much…
1 comment:
hey! i hope you had a fun valentine's day with your girls! i've been pretty busy and i hope in the next few days to take a closer look at the posts, but i wanted to drop by and say I really love "murder in the city"! i've got the bros' mix you made queued up on my itunes and i'm looking forward to checking it out :)
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