The Avett Brothers and Drive-By Truckers

The groups beginnings can be traced back to the two brothers younger days, when they merged the separate bands they had formed at college and school to perform under the moniker “Nemo”. Whilst playing in the rock influenced Nemo and releasing three albums with them, the brothers started a side project focusing on acoustic music, eventually writing their first folk EP, the eponymous “Avett Bros.”, in 2000.

After the disbanding of Nemo, the Avetts, alongside new members Kwon and Crawford, decided to push on with their new band, and wrote and released their debut album “Country Was” in 2002, before embarking on their first tour together in the same year.

They were shortly picked up by local record label, Ramseur Records, and released their follow up album a year later, “A Carolina Jubilee”. This was the first glimpse of the Avett Brothers’ ability to blend their folk style with other genres, such as punk, pop and honky tonk.

The group released a further three studio albums with Ramseur between 2004 and 2007, before collaborating with legendary producer Rick Rubin, and subsequently signing with his American Recordings label.

It was with Rubin that the band really broke through into the mainstream, with their sixth effort, “I Love You and Love You” reaching number 16 in the US charts. The album was well received by critics, who appreciated their more polished sound, and after touring for a few years the band moved on to capitalise on their newfound fame, releasing the even more successful “The Carpenter” and “Magpie and the Dandelion” in 2012 and 2013.

As well as touring, the band has performed at the Grammy Awards and TV shows such as “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and their music has also been used as the soundtrack for many different movies such as “This is 40” and “Friday Night Lights”.

Founded by Patterson Hood and life-long friend and musical partner Mike Cooley, the duo had a good run in bands prior to forming Drive-By Truckers. The two had previously played in the punk band Adam’s House Cat, which despite initial success was brushed under the carpet, the two-piece Virgil Kane which was later followed by Horsepussy, which included future Drive-By Truckers bassist Adam Howell. After Horsepussy's demise Hood moved to Athens, Georgia, U.S., and started laying the groundworks for Drive-By Truckers and hoping Cooley would make the move.

Drive-By Truckers’ debut album “Ganstabilly” was released in 1998 and showed an early proclivity towards inspired songwriting for Hood. After their follow-up album “Pizza Deliverance” released in 1999 the band packed up their things and set off on a nationwide tour, which led to the live album entitled “Alabama Ass Whuppin’”. This nationwide tour would be the first of many and due to the dedicated proclivity towards live shows with a tight-knit group of talented musicians, including Earl Hicks, Brad Morgan and Rob Malone, the band picked up a loyal and committed fan base early on.

The band is proudly Southern, their decisively smart lyrics discuss its history, politics, music, contradictions and eclectic character, the country twang and three-pronged guitar produce a gutsy kind of song. Due to friend Jenn Bryant, Drive-By Truckers were able to have an online presence in the early years of internet, and along with Wes Freed, who produced the bands graphic designs, propelled the band into many people’s consciousnesses.

Drive-By Truckers’ third album released in 2001 was a concept album titled “Southern Rock Opera” which combines the history of Lynyrd Skynyrd with fictitious band Betamax Guillotine in the South during the 1970s. Released independently on their own Soul Dump Records, due to the popularity and acclaim towards the album, it was rereleased by Mercury and Lost Highway Records the year after.

The band’s subsequent two albums titled “Decoration Day” and another concept album “The Dirty South” both received positive reviews and were followed by extensive tour schedules. The band’s seventh LP “A Blessing and a Curse” released in 2006 highlighted the band’s ability to blur genre lines and saw the Drive-By Truckers find a more British rock sound.

After a series of line-up changes that would somewhat change the identity of the group, the band’s next release 2008’s “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark” returned to a more country sound and reached No. 37 on the Billboard 200. After being released from New West Records, who arguably key-holed the band, Drive-By Truckers experienced their greatest chart successes with the albums “The Big To Do” in 2010 and the R&B murder album titled “Go-Go Boots” and made appearances on David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon.