![\"THE-AVETT-BROTHERS-Issue-No31\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/THE-AVETT-BROTHERS-Issue-No31.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nMaterial for the folk favorites\u2019 latest album proved an easy find\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cWe really overdid it, recording all those songs,\u201d laughs Scott Avett. He\u2019s talking about the band\u2019s new album, Magpie and the Dandelion<\/i>, which is composed almost entirely of songs recorded during their 2011 sessions with producer Rick Rubin for their last album, The Carpenter<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter we put out The Carpenter<\/i>, we knew the songs we didn\u2019t use were great in their own right,\u201d says bassist Bob Crawford. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what to do with them, but then four months ago, Rick started sequencing them together. We listened and realized we had a solid album.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only addition was a live version of an older tune. Taped during a 2012 show in North Carolina, \u201cSouls Like the Wheels\u201d showcases Scott\u2019s brother Seth Avett on vocals. \u201cWe wanted to go back to what Gillian Welch or Simon and Garfunkel had done, placing live tracks on studio albums,\u201d says Scott. \u201c\u2018Souls Like the Wheels\u2019 was a no-brainer. It was the only time Seth performed that song live, and I thought it wasn\u2019t only beautiful, but conceptually relevant to the record.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearly a dozen years after forming, the Avett Brothers have come a long way from the scrappy trio that played local dives. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a full band now\u2014a drummer, a cellist and a keyboardist. We\u2019re realizing the musicianship we have at our fingertips,\u201d Crawford enthuses. \u201cI think this is a new chapter for us.\u201d Avett adds, \u201cThe best of what we\u2019ll do is ahead\u2014we\u2019re excited by that.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When did you realize you had another album\u2019s worth of material in the Carpenter<\/i> sessions?<\/b><\/p>\n
AVETT: At first we figured the material we didn\u2019t use would eventually come out as vinyl singles or online content. After we released The Carpenter<\/i>, we were reviewing the extra songs, and in the process we started seeing it as something that stood alone.<\/p>\n
CRAWFORD: We recorded about 32 songs for The Carpenter<\/i>. But when we were threading together the concept of that record it was like editing a story: Some things were great but didn\u2019t fit the storyline. That editing process led to the creation of Magpie and the Dandelion<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How is this record different?<\/b><\/p>\n
CRAWFORD: It came out heavier than we would have expected. The Carpenter <\/i>is a heavy album in attitude and subject matter, but in a lot of ways, Magpie<\/i> is even heavier. But it was like a hidden treat that we didn\u2019t know we had in a lot of ways.<\/p>\n
AVETT: The more cynical songs like \u201cSkin and Bones\u201d and \u201cMorning Song\u201d are both triggered by my take on things. I hate to say it, but we\u2019re not really eaten up with positivity. We face a lot of challenges, and in the past we aspired to bring something positive into what we do. But it\u2019s necessary to have a vehicle for the cynical nature that\u2019s always haunting us.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What were the original sessions like?<\/b><\/p>\n
CRAWFORD: It took us from January to October 2011 to record all the songs, but we did it piecemeal. We\u2019d be in the studio for 10 days, then we\u2019d be on the road, and then we\u2019d go home for a week. We\u2019re a touring band, so instead of taking time off and holing up in a studio, we\u2019d record, then take it with us. We\u2019d review what we did, Rick would listen and give his notes on it, then we\u2019d come back and work some more. It\u2019s good to have that luxury of time to work. When you come back to the songs, you often see things a little differently.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How has your creative process with Rick Rubin developed?<\/b><\/p>\n
AVETT: When we make records, we have the attitude that whatever we do next has got to be better than last time. That\u2019s a mindset Seth and I had before we met Rick, but to have him onboard with us just fuels our fire. We\u2019re all kind of hopeless dreamers, which allows creativity and discovery. Rick feeds off of that\u2014he loves discovering<\/p>\n
music and sounds.<\/p>\n
Crawford: It\u2019s become a great friendship. He has an amazing ear for music for a guy who doesn\u2019t play. If you\u2019re ever listening to music with him, you see him take it in and it just pours back out of him. He has been a powerful member of the team because of the way he can break down a song. In the case of Magpie<\/i>, we didn\u2019t know what we had. He put those songs together the way they are. And though Rick\u2019s not onstage with us, he\u2019s an essential member of the band. When the relationship began, we were a little nervous about walking into the studio with a legend. A few days into recording I and Love and You<\/i>, much of that faded away. We were just working with this guy Rick who\u2019s very knowledgeable and happy to share what he\u2019s learned. We feel very comfortable in the studio with him now.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How do you write and arrange?<\/b><\/p>\n
AVETT: It\u2019s different every time, but what\u2019s right for the song tends to find us. We\u2019ve grown in that, for example, I can spend five hours on a drum part and then our drummer, Mike Marsh, will come in and spend 30 minutes on a better drum part. Even if I spent five hours on it and exhausted myself, the most important thing is what\u2019s best for the song. It\u2019s about giving up one\u2019s ego and one\u2019s self in the studio. That said, the conceptual root of each song hinges on the person who initiated it. It was understood that for \u201cMorning Song,\u201d everything would pretty much have to be signed off on by me. In that song, the arrangement called for a group of people singing at the end. I didn\u2019t want it to be a choir, so we invited family and friends into the studio, a few at a time, to sing on the track.<\/p>\n
Seth and I write separately. Lately I\u2019ll give him a list of ideas that are halfway finished, or maybe just a melody or a line concept. Then he goes through and brainstorms, maybe spends several months with them, and brings songs that have progressed or finished. Sometimes there will be a song that I mostly wrote, and I don\u2019t even know it anymore. With a few lines and maybe a different melody, we have a new multilayered song.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How has the band evolved?<\/b><\/p>\n
AVETT: As the crowds have grown, we\u2019ve had to adjust to bring the audience a show that\u2019s exciting on a big level, but also stays personal. We have to accept that it\u2019s different from Doc and Merle Watson sitting onstage and playing, which is a true love of mine that I long to get back to. We put a lot of our chips into performing live. In a lot of ways, everything else can fall by the wayside. As long as we can play live, we\u2019ll continue to grow and change. It used to be just Seth and Bob and me going into a bar or coffee shop and just belting it out. We\u2019ve changed quite a bit since then. We go through waves\u2014as the band and sound get bigger, we simplify it a bit. Then it grows again. Crop and grow. As long as we\u2019re moving, it\u2019s good.<\/p>\n
CRAWFORD: When we started, we were<\/p>\n
three guys onstage\u2014raw with crazy energy, like a monkey in a tree. Now we want to be a band that\u2019s tight. It doesn\u2019t matter so much about being physical for the sake of being physical as much as being able.<\/p>\n
\u2013Juli Thanki<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE AVETT BROTHERS Material for the folk favorites\u2019 latest album proved an easy find\u00a0 \u201cWe really overdid it, recording all those songs,\u201d laughs Scott Avett. He\u2019s talking about the band\u2019s new album, Magpie and the Dandelion, which is composed almost entirely of songs recorded during their 2011 sessions with producer Rick Rubin for their last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[7328,4559],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11757,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11755\/revisions\/11757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}