Behka’s Pet Sounds Special: The Avett Brothers, ‘The Carpenter’

Kids, tonight I've decided to do something different.  We play the '80s, '90s, and whatever.  I've decided to play some more of the whatever stuff that I like.  

I've been a fan of the Avett Brothers for some time now.  I've seen them live twice, once in Columbia and once in Kansas City.  They do a great, energetic show that's always different but always guarantees excellence.  They've done seven albums, and on the evening show I tend to pull from the last couple for tunes to play. If you have heard the show before, you might have heard songs like I And Love And You, January Wedding, The Weight of Lies and Die Die Die, among others.

They've performed at the Grammy awards with Bob Dylan, which points to their place in modern music and also to their aspirations, not to mention their musical credibility.  Now, they finally have a new album, The Carpenter. So I was thinking, why don't we do one of those old school radio specials and just play the whole thing?  I know we play songs that are more unusual in the evening show, and so why not?

The band consists of three main members with an occasional cello player, drummer and other musicians as needed.  The main songwriting team is Seth and Scott Avett (pictured), two brothers from Concord, North Carolina.  They've been making alternative country and folk albums since about 2002.   They've since done four EPs and seven studio albums.

Their last two were finally on a major label, and both were produced by the legendary Rick Rubin, who has produced albums by The Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Aerosmith, Weezer and more.  Their style has always been evolving from more traditional bluegrass to the more emotional scope of rock and roll.

As someone who is an Avett Brothers fan, I've always found the two main songwriters, Seth and Scott Avett, have two different styles.  Seth is the lighter sounding, higher tenor voice, and Scott is the rougher, more mid-level tenor.  I have found that I like the songwriting style of Seth more, ("In the Curve," "January Wedding") but I prefer the sound and performance of songs that Scott leads ("Paranoia in B Flat Major", "Laundry Room", "Winter in My Heart").   They remind me a little of Lennon and McCartney, in that the younger is more upbeat and optimistic (Seth/McCartney), and the elder is more melancholy or serious (Scott/Lennon).  I find that the mixing of these two styles or viewpoints often evens out the songwriting so that nothing is too serious or dark, and yet none of the songs are too frivolous or throwaway.

Their lyrics have always been very interesting to me,  while not being too esoteric or abstract, while maintaining what seems like a classic feel.  I am really liking a few songs off the top of the bat, although I'm sure that will change.   The Avett Brothers make music that demands a secondary listen.  It's not the kind of music you can really buy on iTunes and only have a few singles.  Sure, you could do that, but most people who hear their albums end up going back.  There's a lot of things to draw you in and keep you guessing.   So tonight I thought we'd go through the album and get to know the new material.

My immediate favorites are "Winter in My Heart," "Paul Newman vs The Demons," and "I Never Knew You."  Let me know what you think, though.  Do you like the songs?  What do you like, if you do? What don't you like?  Do you want to hear more albums in full like this?  We might do one album a month or something, and I can see the the new Mumford and Sons album, Babel, might be one I might like to do.

We could go back and do a classic album, perhaps something like David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, The Beatles' Abbey Road, U2's The Joshua Tree,  Michael Jackon's Thriller, REM's Automatic for the People or Oasis' What's The Story Morning Glory.  Or we could never do this again.  It's really kind of up to you.  Let me know what you think.

Music Nerdily yours,

Behka