The Avett Brothers back to give fans more

The Avett Brothers, made up of from left Seth Avett, Scott Avett, Bob Crawford and Joe Kwon. The Avett Brothers, made up of from left Seth Avett, Scott Avett, Bob Crawford and Joe Kwon. Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close The Avett Brothers back to give fans more 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The Avett Brothers return to St. Louis before the release of their latest album “True Sadness” to rabid fans of the four-man band; last time the Avett Brothers were in town, for a two-show gig, they added a third night due to demand.

Double bassist Bob Crawford dispelled some recent myths, now legend, about how he joined the brothers, Scott and Seth Avett. Legend has it the Avetts asked Crawford to join them two weeks after Crawford began to play bass, it wasn’t quite like that.

“It was about six weeks,” Crawford said to the Telegraph during a recent telephone interview.

But, the fact that Crawford crossed paths at all with the dynamic duo, is another great tale in itself.

“I was in grad school, studying jazz guitar, I’d just begun at 30 years old,” recalled Crawford, originally from New Jersey, but living in Seth’s home state of North Carolina by this time (Scott was born in Wyoming). “I had decided to go back to school.”

For his graduate classes and himself, Crawford had purchased a vintage guitar.

“I took it back, ironically to the store in Concord where the guys shop, I didn’t know that,” he recalled. “The owner said I could only have store credit. I got it, walking out, and saw an upright bass. I thought, ‘This would be great to have around the house.’ At the time I shared a house with five guys. On the weekends we’d jam on the back deck and, God, the aesthetics of an upright bass sitting in the corner of the house. I thought that would be so cool.”

He started messing around on the four-stringed instrument, enjoyed it and played for friends when they’d ask him.

“And, again the aesthetics — there’s a point in your life when it’s more important to look cool, than to sound good,” Crawford playfully noted. “Scott was known by a guy in the house.”

Crawford, a modest man, also plays fiddle, viola and trumpet, which he said is much harder to play than bass.

“Anyone can play the bass,” he said, only half joking.

Crawford went along, studying and playing $30-a-night gigs with various bands, and initially playing with the pair of Avett brothers was “just another gig.”

“I had left a career to go back to school, was playing with everyone to make ends meet, to make as much as my income from music,” he recalled. “At one point, I was with four different groups, scraping together a couple hundred bucks a week, it just another job.”

Not for long.

“… but quickly, when the night I auditioned for them, we played original material, I knew there was more to it, not how much of a difference, but there was a difference,” Crawford said.

He officially became part of what now is The Avett Brothers, which also includes Joe Kwon on cello, around March or April of 2001, and started playing across the country before Scott and Seth went on a three-week bus tour that included the Grand Canyon. Crawford recalled a more ominous memory from 2001. Scott plays banjo and Seth guitar.

“We were together when September 11th happened; it was Saturday, after the Tuesday of the attack,” he said. “I had an early set with another gig and then a gig across town with Scott and Seth. What an eerie night… an eerie night. I was playing with the Memphis Quick 50 and The Lost Trailors had canceled.”

Even though Crawford experienced mixed emotions, like, whether it was OK to play music on such a somber night, he did and the early gig was well attended. Memphis Quick 50 were poised to play all night since the other musicians cancelled but Crawford had to fulfill his commitment with the Avett pair.

“Another thing with this, it was a big night and I left halfway through so I got kicked out (of Memphis Quick 50). For me, that was solidifying, I had made my choice, I was no longer dating around at that point and got serious,” he said of the moment he knew he was all in with The Avett Brothers. “You can’t predict what happens, right? But like everyone else, it was the songwriting. All who jumped on and went along, it’s been the ‘word,’ the writing and the quality of that.”

Fans can hear that quality in The Avett Brothers’ music Thursday night at Chaifetz Arena and new music from “True Sadness.” The show opens with Brandi Carlile. Tickets are available at www. ticketmaster.com; all Ticketmaster outlets; Suite 100 at The Pageant; and, the Chaifetz Arena Box Office. Charge by phone at 800-745-3000. The show is presented by The Pageant.

Reach Jill Moon at 618-208-6448 and Twitter @jill_moon.