Bluegrass band stays true to themselves as popularity explodes

The Avett Brothers and their avid fans certainly agree on one thing: the bluegrass flavored rock band can't get albums out fast enough.

Bob Crawford (upright bass) is one third of the force behind the band that originated in Concord, N.C., which has become a national music phenomenon. Over the summer Crawford was all but giddy with anticipation for the Sept. 29 release of "I and Love and You," The Avett Brothers' eighth album (never mind four successful EPs).

"We've never been good at holding back songs from an album we're about to release," Crawford said. Many of the new album's 13 tracks have yet to be played in front of an audience, even though they have been in the works for nearly a year, to ensure that hard-core fans have some new material to look forward to. "With this album we've really tried to be disciplined so we could reveal them at the album release," Crawford said. "But with some songs on tour we've got brand new material that will never be recorded or will be released on a later album."

The Avett Brothers formed in 2001 when brothers Scott Avett

(banjo) and Seth Avett (guitar), who at the time were fronting a neo-punk band called Nemo, decided to get back to the acoustic roots they grew up with and soon recruited Crawford to fill out their sound.

Since their first 21-city tour in 2002 put a hold on graduate school aspirations, the trio has been peddling their unique and difficult-to-categorize "punkgrass" sound all over the nation, starting in the southeast.

Crawford explained that getting the band's name out was a real grassroots effort with the goal of visiting the same cities repeatedly, attempting to grow the crowd more and more with each show.

"Now it's all increasing and getting faster and faster and faster," Crawford said. "It's that snowball kind of thing, growing constantly, exponentially."

With hectic lives, on and off the road, Crawford admits that songwriting tends to come in "dribs and drabs."

However, on this tour the guys are making a conscious effort to rest and relax by sitting back and reading more books, watching more movies and garnering inspiration for their music. Crawford, who loves listening to jazz and is currently reading a book about Martin Van Buren and American politics in the romantic era, said that though it's not always obvious, the art, music and books the band enjoys always seem to come out in the music.

But even more helpful in the music writing process are the countless sound checks the band conducts on the road.

"That hour and a half on stage in the afternoon is the most valued time of day for fleshing out ideas and the practice and creation of coherent songs," Crawford said.

"I and Love and You" was produced with Columbia Records' famed Rick Ruben, which may have taken the country twinge of the songs back a notch, but certainly added a level of complexity that is still true to Avett Brothers form.

"There's a lot of preconceptions about what it would be like working with someone of that stature," Crawford said of Ruben. "It was very comfortable and he would always bring that extra push to bring out all of the potential of a song and we learned a lot about arranging and the organization and structure of a song."

Crawford said that the fans have been very accepting of what new material the band has shared with audiences. "People are taken aback by 'The Perfect Space,'" Crawford said.

"It's very heavy, thematically its very deep, pretty intense and can be kind of overwhelming. But people are accepting that we can get up there and say something like that. They get it and that's nice."

"Kick Drum Heart," "Laundry Room," and "Tin Man" are also new fan favorites that are likely to grace the set list at The Avett Brothers' show tonight at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center. Well, almost.

"In 8 years we've never had a set list," Crawford said. "If we don't take chances a couple nights in a row we can feel things getting stale."