- Folk rock band originating in 2000 from Mount Pleasant North Carolina. The band members are brothers Scott and Seth Avett (Scott has lead vocals, banjo, guitar, piano, kick-drum, and Seth has lead vocals, guitar, piano, hi-hat), Bob Crawford (double bass, electric bass, violin, backing vocals) and Joe Kwon (cello, backing vocals). There are 3 other touring members of the band.
- Scott and Seth played music together as children, but they started their partnership when Seth’s high school rock band merged with Scott’s college band in the late 1990s. The merged band performed under the name Nemo, releasing 3 albums. The brothers started experimenting with acoustic sounds, and in 2000 they made an EP titled The Avett Bros. As Nemo broke up, the brothers continued to write acoustic music, and in 2001, Bob Crawford joined them, and they released their first album as The Avett Brothers – Country Was, in 2002.
- Between 2002 and 2007, they released 5 studio albums, 2 EPs, and 2 live albums. Their work evolved – polished harmonies, with an “Americana” sound that earned them great critical acclaim, though sales and their fan base were relatively small.
- In 2009, they switched to a new record label, and released the album I and Love and You. They increased their exposure, playing on late night TV shows like David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon. They also performed at the 2011 Grammy Awards show. It worked – the album peaked at #16 on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling over 500,000 copies – a significant number given their indie, bluegrass sound.
- Now that they were established, their 3 albums released this decade – The Carpenter (2012), Magpie and the Dandelion (2013) and True Sadness (2016) have managed to peak at #4, #5 and #3 on the Billboard 200 album charts. The single from 2016, Ain’t No Man, hit #1 on the Adult Alternative Songs chart.
- They’ve received 3 Grammy nominations in the Americana category, but they have not yet won a Grammy award.
- The Avett Brothers will never be known as pop stars. But they are making a difference in their genre. Americana music is cool and should be appreciated. Here’s the video to Ain’t No Man. Actually, this song is “poppy” compared to most other Avett Brothers music. I suggest you take a deeper dive into YouTube to find more of their good music.