One of my favorite bands, and a good group of guys to boot:
“What are your thoughts on the whole world of commercial Americana that’s emerged in the last few years?
Scott: At the end of the day, it’s terrific. The changing form of somewhere between rock and country and folk is really beautiful, and it’s been happening way longer than us or Mumford & Sons. It might be a perfect storm right now, with what’s happened with pop culture and the economy, even in the way people eat and live their lives – the back-to-the-earth sort of thing.
Seth: We’ve noticed that banjos aren’t laughed at as much as they were when we started. When we started, we’d go into a bar and play and people would laugh at us because we had banjos. They thought we were hillbillies. The idea of seeing people with banjos in Rolling Stone was laughable. It was unfathomable.
Scott: In the end, none of the textures of it will really matter that much. It will really just come down to what it always comes down to, which is quality of songwriting.
Your home state of North Carolina has been in the news a lot recently. Does that affect you guys at all as a band?
Scott: It’s interesting, because it’s not a North Carolina that we know. I’m a big believer in the New South, and the South that I know is an extremely giving, compassionate and beautiful place. The polarization doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me.
Seth: It’s a good bit more even-keeled than it seems like when presented in the media.
Bob: We have a lot of conservative fans, and a lot of Tea Party-leaning fans, and we have a lot of liberal fans, and this is a really special place for us to be in, because we’re a safe zone from all the partisan bickering. We’ve been asked to get involved in some of these things in North Carolina, but we can’t. We don’t want to. We’d rather bring everybody in.
Seth: We’re not in the business of alienation. That’s not our calling.”
Brothers Scott and Seth and bandmate Bob Crawford on their home state and the state of Americana
Read it all: Avett Brothers’ New Album: ‘There’s Some Sparkly-Eyed Wonderment’ | Music News | Rolling Stone
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