In terms of the length between releases it seems like it was a little bit longer between True Sadness and your previous albums. When you look at the Avett Brothers arc of material do you feel that having more time to work on the songs has helped the band craft a more cohesive body of work?

Totally, I do think that it’s helped. I think we appreciate taking our time and allowing there to be a process more than we ever have. Now we are at a point where it’s less about quantity. There used to be a sense of pride in releasing everything that we wrote and I think we probably are served in different ways now that the sense of pride comes from different things. We feel much more content with ourselves. We don’t have to prove anything to ourselves. All we want to do is make the best music we can make and that will take whatever time it takes. It could take five or ten years, who is to say what’s really necessary? I don’t want it to be driven by, “Well guys, you better get a follow up out there so people stay with you.” We toured for two years with no release over the past couple of years and we’ve had each year been bigger than the next in many ways. We didn’t stop growing by not releasing music, which maybe says something to the way people listen to music now and how the live experience and the recording experience are so separate in so many ways.

You and your brother have grown as songwriting collaborators over the last sixteen years—what individual influences and perspective do you guys bring together to create the brotherly sound that’s always defined you guys?

You know how when two people are trying to get to the front of a line and they’re butting each other out and using their elbow to push the other person out of the way? We’ve become much more the guy who puts his hand out and says, “Please, go ahead, let’s see what you’re talking about.” We know that the strength is in having patience with each other and allowing each other to do our thing. Every couple weeks everybody wants to get online and Google their name and see what everybody is saying about them. You can spend a whole day just seeing what people are saying about you. I remember seeing that somebody said something to the effect that Scott Avett should just be thankful that he is brothers with the best man that’s ever lived. When you’re younger you think to yourself, “Oh you know what man, that’s messed up.” Then you go, “That’s terrific.” That’s what brothers who love each other would say. With our writing we’re just trying to be true and honest. We’ve learned a lot about how to get out of the way, which is the most important and best thing we can do for each other right now. That goes well beyond Seth and I.

A year and half ago Seth released that album of Elliot Smith covers. Have you noticed Elliot Smith’s music influence his songwriting since his went through that project?

More in his process, I think. I’ve seen it build his confidence as far as engineering music. Seth and I both really need each other for different reasons. I can’t speak on why he needs me, though, I like to believe he does. I know that for Seth I overlook music and melody quite a bit and go for lyrical expression. I try to find the true core of a lyric and have it be said in a plain, very effective way. That’s the most important thing, that’s just providence when I’m writing. What I’m getting at is Seth has grown quite a bit musically and I think the Elliot Smith project reinforced those building blocks for him as a creator of melody and a builder of songs.

You recently headlined Madison Square Garden for the first time. In retrospect, what were your thoughts on that show?

There’s a lot of hoopla around big shows like that. I just tried to keep all that at bay and keep in the moment of the songs and the expressions. We find the energy of the audience to naturally get to where it’s second nature. I did continue to look up at the ceiling and notice the shrine-like feel looking down on and encasing us. It felt pretty overwhelming.

Is there any artist that you’ve been listening to that has influenced your songwriting process in the last year?

I just devoured Loudon Wainwright III’s long library of music and am still being affected by it. I bought the record History and just listened and listened and listened. I think he, no matter what, speaks from the most sincere place that he possibly knows. It’s not always pretty, it’s not always quality necessarily, but it’s always staying true to something. I went back and saw Vic Chesnutt and The Band years ago at a show and when I saw Vic Chesnutt, he was so intense that I almost couldn’t take it in. I revisited him and ended up devouring that catalogue. Lately, I ended up revisiting Songs: Ohia and more of Jason Molina’s work that I haven’t listened to. Obviously there’s a theme, all of these guys lyrically matter so much to me. Same with Townes Van Zandt and Willie Nelson. It’s because who they are, they can’t help but to do it. The latest one, again I don’t know how I missed this, but I overlooked it and didn’t realize it was there. I feel like I have been in a conversation with that fellow, that songwriter for the past three months. I react when I listen and end up finding myself in the studio playing the piano and playing the guitar. Not necessarily to make anything, but just speaking and singing, it’s awesome.

Though not a band jamband, you have always moved in and out of the jamband circuit, which is something you have been surprised about over the years. What about the Avett Brothers’ sound appeals to Deadheads?

We haven’t gone through the same cycle that a lot of bands that get quick success go through. We’re very lucky for that. I remember one of the guys in one of the Dead documentaries was talking about how Jerry was just an honest freak. He was just this freak, and he loved it. I don’t think the Dead crowd necessarily has to have jamming, they just have to have music. The jamming thing is good, but I don’t think that was the only thing.

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