AVETT BROTHERS, Red Butte Garden Amphitheater, Aug. 25
A band that's been toiling away for years under the radar of the mainstream music business stopped by Salt Lake City's Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre Tuesday night to deliver a message — the Avett Brothers are here, and they're going to turn every idea you've ever had about roots music upside down and inside out.
North Carolina natives Scott and Seth Avett, along with bass player Bob Crawford and cellist Joe Kwon, launched their "punkgrass" rocket in the sultry twilight in front of a near-capacity crowd at Red Butte's slickly remodeled outdoor venue.
From the opening bars of "Laundry Room" from the upcoming "I And Love And You" album out Sept. 29, the brothers' took over the minds, bodies and spirits of the lucky souls who ventured out for the weeknight hoedown.
The Avetts have the sound and nuance of traditional bluegrass and country down pat (think Bill Monroe and Hank Williams Sr.) and can throw it down straight outta the High Lonesome, but their songcraft lets their punk energy out in great, unexpected places. But, just when you think you've got a handle on their mojo, they'll shift gears again, as they did Tuesday when Seth Avett took the stage by himself with his acoustic guitar for a rendition of the haunting "The Ballad of Love and Hate" from 2007's indie album "Emotionalism" that may have been the best moment at the garden venue this summer … or ever.
Both Seth (usually on guitar) and Scott (usually on banjo) are multi-instrumentalists … both took turns on the keyboard, and Scott jumped behind a drum kit for the power-pop stomper "Kick Drum Heart," another tune off the new record, which got an early release on a July EP.
Both of the brothers have big voices, and Scott's was showcased in his turn at a solo spot on stage with "Murder in the City" from another 2007 offering, "The Second Gleam" EP.
The Avetts accomplish something that eludes so many "good" but not "great" bands — they combine extraordinary musicianship, song writing and bonafide ties to tradition, but do it in a way that creates something genre-defying and personal. Their musical amalgam is an entirely new creature that sprang forth from ground cultivated by legends who came before them. Some mystical brotherly connection, so common in the world of music, may be at work here, or maybe it's something simpler … as hinted at in this lyric.
"There's nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name."
e-mail: araymond@desnews.com