Love affair with the Avett Brothers explained

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Photo by Jason Sandford

An Avett Brothers fan explains his musical love affair for the Denver Post:

These bands are the soundtracks of our lives. They give us light and direction. They give us solace and strength. We don’t technically know these musicians. (I interviewed singer-banjoist Scott Avett via telephone in 2007, and I met him briefly backstage at a Seattle rock club in 2008.) But we know them through their music, and with some bands, that’s more revealing and important than shaking their hand.

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With each Avetts show comes a renewed sense of life — a reminder of purpose. In their music, Seth and Scott Avett talk about honesty, fidelity and vitality. They sing drinking songs and dancing songs. They praise family and pretty girls, and they tell tales about the road, about Kansas and Manhattan.

I’ve introduced friends to the band, and the records weren’t enough. They had to see them live to get it, and that’s understandable. The Avetts are the best live show on the road right now, with flying banjos, kick-drum dances, stand-up-bass twirls, mastered acoustic guitar, fluttering cello lines and lyrics that are as quotable as Oscar Wilde or Ralph Waldo Emerson.