Cutting deep into the human experience in Paso Robles.
WORDS Ninette Paloma
It's been over two decades since The Avett Brothers released their first full-length album Country Was, launching Scott and Seth Avett – along with current band members Bob Crawford and Joe Kwon – into a high-profile odyssey that shows no signs of waning. Despite a grueling tour schedule, the band still manages to pause in smaller towns like Paso Robles on their way to big city amphitheaters and stadiums, hinting at a resolve to honor their downhome roots. Raised in North Carolina, Scott and Seth are no strangers to performing among a sea of plaid shirts and dusty Stetsons, but the truth is, picturesque Vina Robles is no ordinary honky-tonk. Sitting pretty on a bucolic bluff overlooking a sprawling vineyard, the band posted up on Saturday, September 23, to lay bare an unforgettable show for a crowd of 3,000. Bring on the Casanova references, a reputation no doubt fueled by The Avett Brothers’ strapping appearance and vast catalog of songs with the words “Pretty Girl” in their title. But accuse them of relying on their good looks to ride a glittering career that includes over a dozen albums and a 2017 Grammy award for True Sadness, and you would only be partially right. These gentlemen also happen to be earnest songwriters and magnetic performers, witnessed the moment they hit the stage with a moving a cappella intro to their 2007 hit “Shame.” From there the audience was drawn into a foot-stomping, soul-searching body of work that included chart toppers like “I and Love and You” (2009) and the emotionally honest “Vanity” (2013) alongside scream rock sleepers like “Colorshow” (2006) and “Talk on Indolence” (2006). In between, Tania Elizabeth mesmerized with her mastery of the fiddle in her solo “Le Reel du Pendu / Les Bars de la Prison” as the brothers took turns fronting over two dozen songs with stream-of-consciousness ease. Political enough to feel relevant and candid enough to feel poignant, their songs cut deep into the human experience without apology or respite. When the band closed the evening with the perspective-inducing “No Hard Feelings” (2016) Scott Avett invited the audience to repeat the final verse with him in a mantra-like rhythm: “I have no enemies. I have no enemies. I have no enemies.” In that moment, I actually believed him.
