Blurt Band O’ The Week: Avett Brothers

Our latest pick in a new series: Concord, NC, band's new album is what's twirling our tassels as we head into the weekend. Photo credit, above: Michael Plumides.

By Fred Mills

The Avett Brothers are our Band O' The Week, the fourth selection in our increasingly popular and prestigious series. Previous artists we picked - the Clean, Os Mutantes and Panther - have all gained massive fame and reaped amazing riches in the BLURT afterglow, so we see no reason why the Avetts won't do likewise. For proof, check out our  review of their new Rick Rubin-produced album I and Love and You.

As BLURT's astute critic put it in a 9-stars-out-of-10 review, "While I and Love and You is suffused in an almost Zen-like restraint, there's still a fervor, a roaring passion lurking just beneath the surface that will be familiar to anyone who's followed the Avett Brothers thus far... Mossy and warm, full of breathing room and plenty of space for individual voices and instruments to flex, it locates itself at the Venn intersection of the Kinks' Muswell Hillbillies, Rod Stewart's Gasoline Alley and Tom Petty's Wildflowers."

Check back each Friday for the latest BLURT Band O' The Week. Meanwhile, the Avetts are on the cover of our new issue, hitting newsstands any day. Contributing Editor A.D. Amorosi interviewed the Avetts and producer Rubin for a revealing, intimate profile of a band most observers feel is about to make a huge critical and commercial break through.

They were also on the Letterman show this week doing the title track from the album: