By Sarah Hall
shall@salisburypost.com
Are you old enough to remember life before cable TV and computers, or family car trips before handheld video games and iPods?
Siblings and their parents interacted. And families sang together ó on the porch, or around the piano, and while doing chores, and on long car trips.
Music was a constant for the Avett clan, at home, in church, on trips. And nowadays, brothers Scott and Seth Avett share their songs with huge audiences in concert halls and arenas as the The Avett Brothers.
They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and the brothers credit much of their success to their singing, guitar-playing dad, Jim Avett. He chose music as an avocation rather than a career, but he instilled an appreciation of music and a knack for performing into his sons, and their sister, Bonnie.
Jim is the son of a Methodist minister and concert pianist mother. He was steeped in hymns and gospel music, not only on Sundays, but at home where he heard his mother teach lessons. But he’s just as likely to sing country or rock and roll as he is to sing hymns, gliding easily between secular and sacred.
When Jim decided to make a CD, he went back to his roots, recording a collection of ten old-time hymns and sacred songs reminiscent of his youth. And since his children got their start performing in church, this album is a homecoming of sorts for them, too, singing and playing backup for their dad.
Jim didn’t set out to produce a commercially successful project or set the music world on fire. He was simply wanting to make a recording for his grandchildren, and their children, a legacy so they would remember who he was and what he sounded like.
Then his family talked him into making it available to the public. Thanks to them, you can add the “Jim Avett and Family” to your own music collection. Avett Brothers fans will be glad to know the Ramseur Records release also features band members Bob Crawford on bass and Joe Kwon on cello. So this CD is a must for those who want to complete their Avett Brothers collection.
But this album will be equally appealing to those who love the old hymns they grew up singing at their grandparent’s knee or in Sunday school. The track “Learning to Lean” even features a somewhat out-of-tune piano much like what you’d find in any church basement.
There are favorites like “Just a Little Talk with Jesus” and “The Old Rugged Cross.” You can’t help but smile when you hear “Lord Build Me a Cabin in the Corner of Glory Land.” And it’s hard not to sing along with “Keep on the Sunny Side” or “Down By the Riverside.”
In fact, please do sing along. And tell your family to turn off the TV and sing along with you. – – –
“Jim Avett and Family” features Jim Avett (guitar, vocals); Bonnie Avett Rini (vocals); Scott Avett (banjo, lead guitar, vocals); Seth Avett (piano, guitar, vocals, percussion); Bob Crawford (bass); Nelson Mullis (lead guitar); Joe Kwon (cello).
For more information, visit www.jimavett.com.