Avett Brothers Getting Bigger
We here at Charlotte mag put Concord band The Avett Brothers on the cover of our October 2005 Music Issue and proclaimed them "The Music Scene's Best Hope." A year earlier, Charlotte mag was one of the first local media outlets to extensively cover the band, with this story by Lori K. Tate. Since, the band, composed of brothers Scott and Seth Avett and Bob Crawford, has released two critically acclaimed CDs, including this month's Emotionalism, played the biggest music festivals in the country, and, last week, played the Conan O'Brien Show.
I just spoke with Crawford as he was driving the band to a gig in Alexandria, Va. He called the Conan show the highlight thus far in the band's brief career, but insisted that it's just another step in the band's evolution.
For the uninitiated, The Avetts are known for their raucous, celebratory live shows and unclassifiable bluegrass/punk sound. To celebrate the release of Emotionalism, the band played a free show at Manifest Records on South Boulevard, and over 700 fans showed up. The store sold 300 CDs before the band even played, breaking Manifest's previous single-day sales record (which was 120, of a Jay-Z CD). The band is playing in-stores now to promote the new CD. Bob didn't know when they might play Charlotte again. Last year, the Avetts headlined an afternoon festival in August or September (can't remember exactly) at Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre, but Bob said they were having a hard time getting that scheduled this year and might have to move it. If nothing else, they'll (hopefully) be back around for the traditional New Year's Eve show. In the meantime, here's the first track off the new CD. You're welcome. -Rick Thurmond
mp3 The Avett Brothers, "Die Die Die"
UPDATE: Did some more Googling. The Avett Brothers were Paste magazine's Band of the Week last week. Also, here's a good feature story on the Brothers from a paste issue of Paste. Paste, by the way, is a great music and culture magazine out of Atlanta, GA. Finally, the Avetts were also mentioned in Esquire magazine last month, among numerous other national media mentions, such as The New Yorker (scroll down).
