Photo special: The Avett Brothers – Oyafestival 2011

From the official web site:

There is no harmony like brotherly harmony. Something indelible in the weave of voices and play of sensibilities is stamped into the fraternal DNA and also stems from a lifetime of shared experiences. You can hear it in classic brother acts across the musical spectrum, from the Louvin Brothers to the Everly Brothers and on down the decades through the Wilson brothers (Beach Boys), the Davies brothers (Kinks), the Allman Brothers and even the Brothers Gibb (a.k.a., the Bee Gees). You can clearly hear fraternal magic at work in the songs of Scott and Seth Avett, better known as the Avett Brothers, as well.

Over the years, the Avett Brothers built up a sizable following based on their rowdy, infectious stage shows. In concert, the high-flying ensemble tears through tunes with unbridled energy, popping banjo and guitar strings right and left while inciting stomping singalongs among audiences that appear to know every word. At times they would seemingly create their own subgenre onstage – “punkgrass,” for lack of a better word. This much is for certain: the Avett Brothers are a grassroots phenomenon, built from the ground up. I and Love and You marks the point at which they’re poised, with perfect timing, to break through to a broader audience.

The Avett Brothers have spent much of the past decade nurturing their skill as songwriters, along with their proficiency as vocalists and musicians. Although Seth and Scott are principally identified with acoustic guitar and banjo, respectively, from their live shows, both brothers also play piano, drums and most anything else with strings. (The brothers possess formidable artistic skills, too, and their sketches and paintings adorn their albums.) Clearly, however, songs are the center of the Avett Brothers’ universe. The brothers turn out songs in profusion. They write them individually, and they write them together. Each might write an entire song, or credit might be split down the middle or any conceivably fractional way. There is no set method to their songwriting. The point is, Seth and Scott generate songs constantly, because that’s what they feel that they were born to do.

 

The Avett Brothers formed in 2001 in Charlotte, North Carolina when banjoist Scott Avett and guitarist Seth Avett joined forces with standup bass player Bob Crawford. At the time, the brothers fronted a neo-punk band called Nemo. They enjoyed blowing it out on electric instruments but eventually began feeling the tug of the acoustic music they’d heard growing up. They were raised in the textile town of Concord, about a half-hour north of Charlotte. Their dad, Jim Avett, had a box of eight-track tapes that Scott and Seth picked through, listened to and digested. It included albums by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Jim’s own folksy duo, Common Decency. Other roots musicians from the folk and country realms filtered into their subconscious, too. Thus, in 2001, the brothers launched an acoustic side band, called Nemo Back Porch Project, for which they added upright bassist Crawford. He recalls the initial meeting with Scott and Seth:

“They were wanting to do some of the music they were raised on via their dad, which was old songs by Rambling Jack Elliott, Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams and Tom T. Hall. I met up with them on a Sunday night in an empty parking lot. I got out my bass, and these two guys showed up in a gold Ford Taurus station wagon wearing flannel shirts and cutoff pants. They were total grunge kids. We sat in the parking lot, just the three of us, and played ‘Going Down the Road Feelin’ Bad’ and ‘More Pretty Girls Than One.’ Then they showed me an original song called ‘Kind of in Love,’ and it was very interesting. It wasn’t like any of those traditional songs. Different chord structure, with all these minor substitution chords. I was like, ‘This is really unique.’”

Three words that became hard to say
I and love and you
I and love and you
I and love and you

All text from The Avett Brothers web site.

All photos: Hallgeir Olsen

Click on them to get High-Res versions, if you use them, it would be nice if you told where you got them.

– Hallgeir

Best albums of the year 2011

These are the 25 chosen albums from 2011. The list is a collaboration between Egil and Hallgeir, and has been decided through discussion and mathematics. The Math have had second place, our feelings comes first. We both presented our individual lists as a starting point, the result is the list we present here, the best list of the best albums from a good year!

Click on the album cover or the link to get our descriptions of the album and a list of our chosen tracks for each record.

 

 

 

1. Drive-by Truckers – Go Go Boots
2. Wilco – The Whole Love
3. Gillian Welch – The Harrow and The Harvest
4. The Deep Dark Woods – The Place I left behind

 

 

 

5. Tom Waits – Bad as me
6. Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire
7. Girls – Father, Son, Holy Ghost
8. The Damn Quails – Down the Hatch

 

 

 

9. Dave Alvin – Eleven Eleven
10. The Black Keys – El Camino
11. Feist – Metals
12. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake

 

 

 

13. Charles Bradley – No Time for Dreaming
14. The Decemberists – The King is Dead
15. Josh T. Pearson – Last of the Country Gentlemen
16. My Morning Jacket – Circuital

 

 

 

17. Hayes Carll – KMAG YOYO
18. Dawes – Nothing is wrong
19. Greg Allman – Low Country Blues
20. The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow

 

 

 

21. Jason Isbell – Here We Rest
22. Anna Ternheim – The Night Visitor
23. Deadman – Take Up Your Mat And Walk
24. Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi present Rome

 

 

 

25. Lucinda Williams – Blessed

Our original note system (with errors and all):

Focusing on Bob Dylan & related music