The Avett Brothers might be the best band you’ve never heard of. Hailing from Concord, North Carolina, Seth, Scott and the other non-Avett named bandmates have been toiling since 2000 on the US folk circuit (Albino Skunk festival, anybody?), but progressively gaining steam and profile ever since, culminating in Rolling Stone’s declaration that they are “America’s biggest roots band.”
While there is no shortage of traditional folk, bluegrass, and rock combos around, the Avetts stand out for the close harmony of the brothers and remarkably crafted, often poignant, lyrics that penetrate both sides of the emotional spectrum, sometimes at the same time, such as “The Ballad of Love and Hate”:
‘Love arrives safely with suitcase in tow
Carrying with her the good things we know.
A reason to live and a reason to grow.
To trust. To hold. To care.
Hate sits alone on the hood of his car.
Without much regard to the moon or the stars.
Lazily killing the last of a jar
Of the strongest stuff you can drink.’
Over the past decade or so – starting with the remarkable song/album ‘I and Love and You,’ (“Three words that became hard to say: I and Love and You!”), the band have become late-night TV mainstays, appearing on Austin City Limits, Letterman (several times) and Jimmy Fallon, amongst others, and have been nominated for several Grammys.
My favourite song is the goosebump-inducing “Swept Away,” which for best effect, it must be said, deserves to be heard in its original format – as a male-female duet with sensational sibling Bonnie Avett-Rini. But this version, sans ‘sister Bonnie,’ is entirely worthy – a recent (note the mask) promo performance to introduce the new musical “Swept Away,” inspired by the Avetts’ music and set to debut at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, Ca., in 2022 (following a pandemic deferral).
Like me, hope it sends your life a-whirling!
Lyrics
Well, you send my life a whirling
Darling when you’re twirling
On the floor
Who cares about tomorrow?
What more is tomorrow?
Than another day.
When you swept me away
Yeah you swept me away
I see the end of the rainbow
But what more is a rainbow
Than colours out of reach
If you come down to my window
And I climb out my window
Then we’ll get out of reach
Then you swept me away
Yeah you swept me away
You said with such honest feeling
But what’d you really mean
When you said that I’m your man
Well how my darling can it be
When you have never seen me
And you never will again
That you swept me away
Yeah you swept me away
Life is ever-changing but I will always
find a constant and comfort in your love
With your heart my soul is bound
And as we dance I know that heaven can be found
Well, you send my life a whirling
Darling when you’re twirling
On the floor
Who cares about tomorrow?
What more is tomorrow?
Than another day.
When you swept me away
Yeah you swept me away
Yeah you swept me away