New song from The Avett Brothers :: “Murder In The City”
North Carolina’s The Avett Brothers stretch their rustic tunes into unclassifiable yet beautiful territory on a regular basis. Their 2007 album Emotionalism reverberated with twang, but also rollicked and screamed with a healthy dose of smack-you-in-the-face rock and roll. And then they also go and wrench out these spare, honest, gorgeous ballads that hurt to listen to (please hear “If It’s The Beaches” from the Gleam EP, for my favorite excruciatingly lovely example).
On July 22, they will release the second installment in the raw Gleam series, and following in the initial footsteps of the first recording, “the Second Gleam EP sings to the uncommon senses of the common man.” Our first listen of this collection comes via new song “Murder In The City.” A friend of mine is a bit of an Avett Brothers megafan (to put it mildly), and recalls one particular time he saw them perform this song. He writes that it was “effing heartbreaking. Scott was crying on stage, my friend Kevin was crying in the audience, the rest of us were fighting back the tears.”
Murder In The City – The Avett Brothers
The Avett Brothers play Steamboat Springs on my birthday (warranting a road trip in what is sure to be one of the top birthdays in my recent memory), followed by a hotly anticipated appearance at the gorgeous Red Rocks on Sunday Sept 14th as part of the Monolith Festival.
Name: Heather Browne
Damn, you’ve got good taste for a youngin’…
Thanks for this blog, I’m 43, played guitar since I was 10, been a professional musician (briefly) and written music (for myself) for many years, and it’s gotten more and more difficult for me to find music to satisfy my increasingly descriminating and eclectic tastes.
You have a sense of good music that is beyond your age, congratulations and thanks for writing the blog…
Jim — July 18, 2008 @ 8:54 pm
did ya hear the news about the Avetts as well?
They signed to Columbia/American…and are working on their next album with none other then Rick Rubin. Hells ya!
shawnstring — July 20, 2008 @ 1:47 pm
Wow, that song’s sadder than the last half-hour of The Bucket List . . . but dangit, it’s good. Maybe I should start listening . . .
Larry Bird — July 20, 2008 @ 9:35 pm
it wasn’t long ago that i turned to string music in search of something honest and real. a lot of it – certain bluegrass and jam outfits – bored me instantly. but there was an instant connection with these guys, and it wasn’t long before i owned every album of theirs, save for a few records – including the ‘avetts live vol. 1′ – that are out of print.
i’ve heard them sing this song live a couple times, and it’s emotionally overwhelming – and lovely, too, because their shows cover so much emotional ground.
seeing them again in mid-august in steamboat, and then again at monolith. totally looking forward to it.
thanks for the mp3!
ricardo — July 20, 2008 @ 11:51 pm
It’ll be VERY interesting to see what comes out of the collaboration with Rubin, most likely very good I would think.
Read the New York Times article about Rubin’s arrangement with Columbia for the new record company, if I get a demo I’m thinking I might act like a schoolkid to try to get a demo in front of him…
Jim — July 21, 2008 @ 3:44 pm