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9 P.M., MARCH 30 , JOHNNY MERCER THEATRE
For 10 years, the North Carolina-based Avett Brothers adhered to a fairly relentless work schedule, issuing a warm, surprisingly animated blend of bluegrass and folk/punk to a small but lively fan base. But their last disc, 2009’s sprawling, Rick Rubin-produced I And Love And You put an end to all that: The band — Seth and Scott Avett on guitars and vocals, plus founding bassist Bob Crawford, cellist Joe Kwon and drummer Jacob Edwards — is now fixed squarely on the national stage, and is spending its year touring like crazy people and doing things like playing the Grammys with Bob Dylan. Monthly spoke to bassist Crawford from — where else — the road.
Q. This is your second time playing Savannah; had you been to town before last year’s show?
A. Nope, first time ever. I remember getting out of the bus and thinking it was one of the hottest, most humid days of my life.
Q. You’ve started recording the follow-up to I And Love And You. What’s the plan this time?
A. Every time has been different, because we’ve been at a different points. Now we’re back in North Carolina, working with Rick Rubin from a distance, and we’ve established a space. Our timeline is very murky, though; we don’t feel the heat telling us to wrap it up.
Q. That last album had a much bigger, richer sound. Was that Rick’s doing?
A. For us, the more experience we have in recording studio, the more we realize that making music live and making records are two different things. It’s the difference between fine art — something that was conceived, sketched and changed — versus catching a sunrise, or a lightning storm, something that’s very beautiful but here and gone. The studio is where we create a lasting work of art. We took more time on I And Love And You because we could, and the sound has more depth because we could give it that depth, and we were learning what the possibilities are in the studio. We realized you could record a song a few times and not be afraid to say, “This still isn’t right, let’s go do it again.”
