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Avett Brothers Want To Share The Love

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By CURTIS ROSS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 6, 2007

The Avett Brothers take a stand for love on their most recent album, this year's "Emotionalism."

Love may be the most common topic of songs, but guitarist Seth Avett is talking about a type of love very different from what he hears in most contemporary music.

"We just feel that there's a lot of libido-driven music and a lot of ego-driven images in the music world," Avett says by telephone from Atlanta, where he's visiting friends. "There's a kind of air of reserved coldness in a lot of popular music. We wanted to put a flag in the ground to separate ourselves from it."

Calling the album "Emotionalism" - the cover type reads "The Avett Brothers Introducing Emotionalism" - states their position up front.

"There's a few meanings there but part of what we wanted to show ... is vulnerability," Avett says. "If I'm afraid I'm gonna say I'm afraid, if I'm in love I'm gonna say I'm in love, and I'm not be afraid to do that."

The Avett Brothers say it with a stripped-down, primarily acoustic setup that moves easily between sounds old and new.

The North Carolina trio also includes Seth's brother Scott on banjo and Bob Crawford on upright bass. All three sing.

The group formed after the breakup of Nemo, a heavy rock quintet featuring both Avett brothers.

Nemo "kind of imploded in on itself, something that a lot of times happens with bands of men in their early 20s," Seth says with a laugh.

He and Scott were in no hurry to form another band.

"We all had very intense ties with each other," Seth says of Nemo. "We were very close friends and we'd known each other most of our lives. When we broke up it hurt real bad, like a relationship with a girl you love ending."

Seth says he and Scott "wanted something very simple where we could just count on each other, which we knew we could, for our shared artistic vision.

"Not to talk negative about anyone in Nemo - everyone had a lot going for that band - but Scott and I just wanted to connect, he and I, and get mobile. And if we want to go play on a sidewalk, that's what we do," Seth says.

Stripping down the lineup dovetailed with stripping down the sound, which was influenced by the brothers' listening habits around the turn of the century.

"We were opening our ears up more to American roots music," Seth says, citing influences such as Woody Guthrie Jimmie Rodgers, Doc Watson, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Robert Johnson.

"The power of the American roots sound was coming through loud and clear for us in the late '90s and early 2000s and we began to incorporate that into our sound," Avett says.

There's still room for punk rock in their sound - "Pretty Girl From Chile" closes with a raucous rant - as well as pop: "Will You Return" is a dead-ringer for early Beatles.

The brothers still play rock with another outfit, Our Worst Nightmare. Seth records solo under the name Darling, and Scott is a painter with works exhibiting in New York.

But The Avett Brothers is their main focus.

"We're not trying to save the world with our songs," Seth says, "but I think it's important to share warmth with people because there is plenty of coldness out there and in a lot of music, and we're not going to be a part of that."

ON TOUR

The Avett Brothers

WITH: Lost Bayou Ramblers

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Skipper's Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa

COST: $20

Curtis Ross can be reached at (813) 259-7568 or cross@tampatrib.com.

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