Whilst doing my half-assed research this week, it came to me that I've purchased every album of this week's artists since 2008 except for the release they put out last year. Quite easy, then, to remember my introduction to this week's tune--it was just the best song on the latest CD of a band I love. My guess is there are plenty of tunes here on Friday Night Jukebox that followed the same path to my ears and my heart....
This will mark the third time I've written about the Avett Brothers, with the first two being in Vol. XC and Vol. CCCXIII. Since I last wrote about the brothers in 2021, they released their aforementioned eleventh studio album in 2024 and also secured their fourth Grammy nomination this year. This year also marks their twenty-fifth year together, which is no small feat in this day and age for a folk band.
Fun Fact: Swept Away, a musical based on their music, debuted in 2022, and ended a short run on Broadway this past December.
"Fisher Road to Hollywood" was the ninth song on their 2016 release, the rather forlornly entitled True Sadness. The song was not released as a single, while the album debuted and peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200.
Sometimes as we travel through our lives, we get life lessons that may hurt, but in the end are necessary to where we wind up as human beings. And if we're lucky, we'll find a love and learn that not all of our dreams were the dreams we thought they were. In a nutshell, that's "Fisher Road to Hollywood," a testament to the brothers' songwriting abilities and their humanity--grasping the vagaries of the human condition. The brothers harmonize over an understated acoustic guitar from beginning to end and it reminds me every time I hear it of how much I love vocal harmonizing. They close with a soft violin solo that captures all the sadness and glory--yes, glory--of the path we follow on those life lessons. A beautiful song, and a gentle reminder of how beautiful folk music can be.
Lyric Sheet: "Of course I didn't find what I was looking for/Still I had to go/ From Fisher Road to Hollywood..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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