The Avett Brothers fuse traditional folk and bluegrass foundations with the energetic, boundary-free ethos of rock and roll, a natural fit since Scott Avett and Seth Avett first developed their musical skills in rock settings. Following the 2000 appearance of a self-titled debut, the acoustic endeavor that began as a side project soon became the central pursuit, prompting an expanded roster and a growing renown for high-energy performances. Their initial live recording among many, Live at the Double Door Inn, appeared in 2002. By the time Emotionalism arrived in 2007 as the fifth studio album and the first to register on the Billboard 200, electric guitar and more assertive drumming had entered the mix. The major-label debut I and Love and You in 2009 propelled the group into the Top 20. True Sadness, the ninth studio album released in 2016, attained a career-best number-three position while the band sustained momentum through relentless touring. The 2024 release The Avett Brothers, produced by Rick Rubin, confirmed that their command of roots-rock idioms remained fully assured.
Although Scott, handling vocals and banjo, and Seth, on vocals and guitar, had played music together since childhood, the group took shape while the siblings belonged to Nemo, a rock outfit that performed regularly in Greenville, North Carolina. Seeking an additional vehicle for their creative impulses, the Avetts convened weekly with sympathetic friends, notably Nemo guitarist John Twomey, for acoustic guitar pulls that combined drinks and shared songs. Over time the informal Tuesday sessions, known at first as the Back Door Project or Nemo Downstairs, evolved into a semi-public affair in which participants busked for passersby, leading Seth and Scott to recognize that their new acoustic work offered as much enjoyment and fulfillment as the rock band.
Twomey and the Avetts preserved the side project on record in 2000, at which point it was rechristened the Avett Brothers with the issuance of the self-titled album. Nemo disbanded before the year ended, prompting Seth and Scott to elevate the Avett Brothers to primary status. They parted amicably with Twomey and recruited upright bassist and vocalist Bob Crawford, forming a trio that soon captured its second album, Country Was, in 2002. After hitting the road that summer, the group tested new material destined for the 2003 studio set A Carolina Jubilee, with the live disc Live at the Double Door Inn appearing between those two releases.
In subsequent years the Avett Brothers sustained an intensive and productive pace, issuing the expansive studio album Mignonette in 2004, another live recording in 2005, and both the full-length Four Thieves Gone: The Robinsville Sessions and the EP The Gleam in 2006, all completed amid demanding tour commitments. Crawford also pursued his side project New Jersey Transient, Seth issued solo work under the name Darling, and the brothers occasionally performed with their electric outfit Oh What a Nightmare. The addition of cellist Joe Kwon helped Emotionalism reach broader audiences in 2007 as the first album to chart on Billboard. Midway through the following year Rick Rubin signed the band to his American Recordings imprint, a division of Sony BMG/Columbia.
Issued only months afterward, The Gleam II marked the Avett Brothers’ final release on the Ramseur label, while the 2009 major-label debut I and Love and You climbed to number 16; the ensuing international tour was partially captured on the 2010 concert album Live, Vol. 3. In 2011 the group joined Bob Dylan and Mumford & Sons for a Grammy Awards performance, and the following year they delivered The Carpenter, their second Rubin-produced studio album. The Carpenter earned favorable notices, entered the Billboard Top 200 at number four, and later received a Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album. Magpie and the Dandelion, drawn from material recorded during the same Rubin sessions as The Carpenter, appeared in 2013 and reached number five.
Extensive touring continued in 2014 while another album with Rubin took shape. Early in 2015 Seth partnered with folk-tinged indie artist Jessica Lea Mayfield on the Elliott Smith covers collection Seth Avett & Jessica Lea Mayfield Sing Elliott Smith, and in April the band joined Brandi Carlile for an appearance on the final season of the Late Show with David Letterman. Live, Vol. 4 surfaced late that year. True Sadness, the ninth studio album, arrived in June 2016 and attained a career-high number three on the Billboard 200. Although the brothers stated publicly that they had no intention of creating a political record, contemporary events informed 2019’s Closer Than Together, their fifth album for American Recordings/Universal. The following year the brothers and bassist Crawford released the intimate eight-song EP Third Gleam, which addressed mortality along with political and social inequities.
A stage adaptation titled Swept Away, built around Avett Brothers songs, had been slated to premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theater in California in June 2020; pandemic restrictions postponed the opening until January 2022. Also in 2022 Seth issued the solo album Seth Avett Sings Greg Brown, featuring interpretations of ten songs by the veteran songwriter. In April 2023 the Avett Brothers participated in a pair of star-studded concerts at the Hollywood Bowl marking Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday; recordings from those shows formed the album Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 (Live at the Hollywood Bowl), which included the band’s rendition of “Pick Up the Tempo” alongside Nelson. Returning to Ramseur Records, the group issued the 2024 LP The Avett Brothers, produced by Rick Rubin and introduced by the single “Love of a Girl,” before embarking on a wide-ranging North American tour that May.
