The Avett Brothers

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”.

Guster was formed in 1991 when the members met each other at a freshman orientation at Tufts University in Boston. A year after their formation they booked their first gig as Gus, later independently releasing their first album entitled “Parachute.” Shortly after, they renamed the band to Guster due to another artist who already took the name Gus.

In 1996 Guster again independently recorded and released their second album entitled “Goldfly,” which was later re-released when they signed with Sire Records in 1998. A year later they released a third studio album with the title “Lost And Gone Forever” followed by television appearances such as on the Late Show with David Letterman. After the release of their fourth studio album, they also released a live album/DVD from their performances in Portland, Maine.

Led off by the single, “Manifest” Guster released a fith studio album in June 2006. Later that same year the band won the Album of the Year award at the Boston Music Awards. Continuing their string of success they released “Easy Wonderful” in October 2010, and before setting out on tour, it was announced that Joe Pisapia would be touring with k.d Lang and would be replaced by Luke Reynolds. By 2014 they worked on and released an album entitled “Easy Wonderful” which was released on their independent label, Ocho Mule label.