What to Expect on The Avett Brother’s new album ‘The Carpenter’

It’s been a long three years of interviews, tours, special performances and music making for the Avett Brothers since their last album, I and Love and You. In that time, the possibly perfect Appalachian-Alt band has gain an even larger following and an even better reputation (if possible). The announcement of their new album, The Carpenter at the end of June is a breath of musical fresh air for Avett fans. And while no tracklist has yet been released, two songs from the new album have made their way online. One “The Once and Future Carpenter’ is not a confirmed album track, but the Brothers have been playing it on the road pretty steadily for the last year or so and considering the name of the album I would be surprised not to see it on the album. It has an old school Avett feel about it, with almost a “Salvation Song” or “Weight of Lies” message/feel about it, with a little more gravity even. Here is an excellent quality performance of ‘The Once and Future Carpenter’ from the 2011 Americana Awards last September. It’s a beautiful song, every time I listen to it I get (especially the line “If I live the life I’ve been given/ I won’t be scared to die”)

While “Live & Die”, the track that has been officially released as their first single off of The Carpenter is even more exciting. It has the polished instrumentation of an I and Love and You, a great slide guitar/twang about it and the bouncing energy of “Die Die Die”. It is classic Avett Brothers. Re-listenable, profound and a lot of fun! I heard this on an alternative station a few days ago and almost lost my marbles.

Here is a quality live performance

And while much is still to be revealed about The Carpenter, at least we have a few tracks, a cover, and a release date (September 11th). It is available for pre-oder on their website. Don’t miss this!