Avett Brothers pair with giant; Lucky”s strike

Friday, Sept. 26

The bubble bursts for Lucky Pineapple Friday at the Glassworks rooftop (815 W. Market St.). Bloomington’s Push-Pull opens, and other features include fire-spinning by the Phoenix Collective, a celebratory glass pineapple by McKinley Moore (maybe you can drink out of it?) and an afterparty with OK Deejays, aka A. Bell and Narwhal.

Photo by FrankieSteele: Lucky Pineapple releases its Bubble Friday night.

Adding to the warm, pineapple fuzziness: Proceeds from beer sales benefit Ohio Valley Creative Energy, which promotes sustainability. The show is all ages, and doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is $3, free if you buy Bubble from ear X-tacy, where Lucky plays a free in-store at 8 p.m. the same day.

Friday, Sept. 26

The members of Second Story Man pause from recording their follow-up to 2006’s Red Glows Brighter and various other projects (Minnow, Brett Eugene Ralph’s Kentucky Chrome Revue, Eremy•Jirvin, etc.) to play The Pour Haus (1481 S. Shelby St., 637-9611, www.myspace.com/thepourhaus). Joining them are three of the deadliest voices in town, The Sandpaper Dolls, as well as Yardsale, which just released its latest, This Week. Doors at 9 p.m. Admission is $5.

Photo by Crackerfarm: Rick Rubin has been tapped to produce the major-label debut of The Avett Brothers.

Saturday, Sept. 27

The Avett Brothers play Coyote’s at City Block (133 W. Liberty St., 589-3866) in support of Second Gleam, their final album for Ramseur Records, before heading into the studio with Rick Rubin for their major-label follow-up. Tickets for the 18-and-over show are $18. The show starts at 9 p.m. Seth Avett speaks:

LEO: Second Gleam is your final album for Ramseur. Is there a bit of trepidation in leaving home base?

Seth Avett: Well, it doesn’t feel so much like a metaphor for changing of the guard, really. It feels more like the next step, and it doesn’t seem like it’s that different than what we planned on doing anyway. We always kept our minds moving forward into the future and how we would take things to the next level with each release. Our relations with Ramseur are going to continue. It’s not like we’re closing one door and opening another. We’re adding to the team. It’ll be different in some ways. It remains to be seen how different. There’s not much bitterness to it, we’re all pretty much on board. It’s a good thing for everybody. 

LEO: What is your generation of musicians adding to bluegrass and old time that maybe wasn’t there before?

SA: I would say certainly with us, and a few of our peers … Well, this could be an advantage or a disadvantage: We’re coming from a place that’s influenced by more types of music, there’s more to draw from. That could be a bad thing in certain circles. In the ’50s, our primary influences would’ve been only old-time music, maybe country music. In 2008 and with us, we love a lot of different kinds of music. The current set of influences is always just growing and changing, and there’s more to draw from. 

LEO: Rick Rubin’s been praised for his magical touch on records, resurrecting old artists and bringing a certain dimension to new ones. What are you doing differently with him that you can’t do yourself?

SA: With Rick, he’s certainly a motivator, and he’s not pushy in any way. The reason he’s motivating is the initial swell of respect we have for him and his work right out of the gate.

It’s obvious he loves music. I think his primary strength, as far as adding to what we’re doing, is to try to kind of get out of the way of the song, and not complicate it unnecessarily. He’s got a good ear for making the biggest moves by doing the least amount possible, and let the form of the song be simple and most effective in that simple realm.

We’ve been working on getting this deal right with Columbia for over a year. We’ve reviewed demos and talked and worked our way into working together. It’s been real good so far.

This article appears in September 24, 2008.