I'm a fan (and you should be too) because...of everything the avett brothers are.

In December of last year my cousin let me listen to the avett brothers for the first time, and he showed me the song talk on indolence. And at first glance I enjoyed listening to the song but I didn’t find it to be my favorite type or style of music. but then a few months later I was sitting in school one day and out of nowhere it was stuck in my head, and I could only remember the very begging so I texted him and asked what the song was called when they said reading and writing and reading and thinking. He was quick to reply with that talk on indolence by the avett brothers. so when I got home I headed quickly to my computer to look them up, I not only fell in love with that song I also then heard paranoia in Bb major, which is sort of a whole other spectrum of the avett brothers, but I fell in love with it as well. So I began to find few songs here and there that I enjoyed more every time I listened to them. And not long after that I found myself buying the album I and Love and You and Emotionalism, little did I know that was just the beginning. I continued to listen to them and find more songs I loved and so not long after I also obtained the Robbinsville sessions and the first and second gleam. But for me it wasn’t enough just to listen to the songs on the cds I soon began watching everything that had to do with the avetts on cracker farm spending hours at a time on YouTube just watching not only the covers and different versions of the songs but the tour videos and any other vids that even motioned the avetts. But a major influence for me was the instruments, I had already known how to play guitar, but not in the soft yet prominent way that Seth is able to, so I picked up on many of his techniques through repetition of playing and listening. But I also had never seen the banjo ever been played as Scott does so what do I do...I order a banjo and learn how to play it. Then what else is left, well I had a keyboard I guess I’ll learn piano. And although I had tried this before I had never pushed myself hard enough to actually learn it, but because I saw Seth playing the "a change is gonna come" cover on YouTube it really prompted me that I should give it a shot. And it wasn’t until last night 10-1-2011 that I was actually able to experience the avett brothers for real, I had watched them play live shows at least a thousand times on YouTube, but that comes nowhere near comparing to what the atmosphere of an actual show is. The way they were able to play their songs so well in such a different manor was outstanding and I know it the show will never be the same as any other they ever play. But finally as I come to a close on this lengthy but brief summary as to how I got introduced to the avetts and how they have come to be my favorite group of artists I would also like to reflect on how well they are able to make good music in a time of “faded words and shaky rhymes.” They give me hope that music isn’t just something we download from the internet and the songs we like aren’t just the ones we hear on the radio on the top 20 of the week. They are the songs that truly have meaning and express real emotion which is why I consider the Avett brothers to be the best band I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. (p.s. I left out a lot, but for anyone who reads this I hope you gain something from it, and can share my opinions)