Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXXII--Avett Brothers: Fisher Road to Hollywood

Still less than a week late....

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

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXIII--Avett Brothers: Souls Like the Wheels

I haven't had the time or the money over the last twenty years to follow music as much as I would have liked, but one band I am so happy I did get lucky enough to discover is the Avett Brothers.  This will mark the second song of theirs I have featured, and I can honestly say that both of them have given me more joy than a music geek should be allowed to have....

As noted in the preceding paragraph, this isn't the first go round on Friday Night Jukebox for the Avett Brothers, as I wrote about them in Vol. XC.  Since that time they released a studio album in 2019, and an EP just last year.  They were also nominated for two more Grammy Awards, and a musical based on their song catalog is tentatively planned for this year depending on the pandemic.

"Souls Like the Wheels" was not released as a single.  It originally appeared on their EP The Second Gleam  (as did their previously featured tune, "Murder in the City").  The mini album reached #82 on the Billboard 200.  A live version of the song was also featured on their album Magpie and the Dandelion.

The Avett Brothers had me at the opening acoustic guitar solo of "Souls Like the Wheels" (the live version noted above features an even longer opening solo--be still my beating heart...).  Every time I hear the song it reminds me of how much I love the sound of an acoustic guitar--that the vocals are as heartfelt as a love sonnet and as smooth as chocolate cream takes it to another level.  As are so many of us, I am feeling very hopeful these days for the future of mankind, and I would be hard pressed to name too many songs more hopeful than "Souls Like the Wheels"--though Seth and Scott Avett have crafted lyrics that could literally define the world subtle.  If you're ever in a situation where you've survived one of life's too numerous traumas and you're quietly reflecting on how much better the world and your future are going to be after it...this is the song you want for that moment's soundtrack.  A wonderful piece of the best the folk genre has to offer.

Lyric Sheet:  "One little song/Give me strength to leave the sad and the wrong..."

Enjoy:

361,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Biden:  306 EV's, Trump:  232

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XC--Avett Brothers: Murder in the City

On January 21, 2010 (I looked it up--my memory isn't quite that precise anymore) I was channel surfing on a lazy Saturday night when I came across a band I'd never heard of before on Austin City Limits.  About halfway through the show the band played a little ditty called "Murder in the City"--and I became a fan of the Avett Brothers for life.  Seriously--there are exactly two performers whose new releases I'll buy without having heard a single tune:  Bruce Springsteen and the Avett Brothers.  And neither one of them has disappointed me these past few years.

Surprisingly enough, the Avett Brothers are led by the North Carolina bred brothers Scott and Seth Avett.  Though the brothers had played music together for much of their lives, it wasn't until the late nineties when Seth's high school band joined forces with Scott's college band and the siblings began performing publicly together.  Originally called Nemo, the band released three albums.  In 2000 the brothers began experimenting with acoustic music, changed their name to the Avett Brothers, released their eponymous debut. and the rest, as they say is history.  Over the last fifteen years the Avett Brothers have released nine studio LPs (the last three of which have reached the top five on The Billboard 200), four EPs, four live albums, developed a reputation for using a panoply of styles in their music, earned renown for their live shows, and been nominated for a Grammy Award.

Released on their The Second Gleam EP, "Murder in the City" may be the most poignant song ever written about what it means to be in a family.  The sheer humanity of the lyrics is stunning (and this is from one music fan who doesn't put a lot of stock in pop music lyrics, despite how much I may love them)--from the brother/son asking for restraint should he be murdered in the city, to the father expressing so perfectly what a parent's love is, to the brother/son reminding his family that his belongings don't mean much when compared to his love for his sister and mother.  Musically, the song is a pair of acoustic guitars and...that's it until a nice touch of piano at the song's close.  The two guitars are in perfect harmony with Scott Avett's vocals, as earnest and honest as is the song itself.  I'd really be hard pressed to name a song written this century that impresses me more than this one--and every time I hear it makes this old fart folkie smile in both joy and amazement.

Lyric sheet (truer than true words this week...):  "Always remember, there is nothing worth sharing/Like the love that let us share our name..."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee