The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You (Official Video)

Youtube ^ | 2015 | The Avett Brothers

[MtnClimber]

Many songs romanticize the road, playing up the lure of both the journey and the destination. “I And Love And You” by The Avett Brothers takes a different tack, examining what pushes one to leave in the first place while ruminating on the chances missed with those left behind.

The song proved crucial for The Avett Brothers, as it kicked off their time as major label artists in 2009 by serving as the title track, opening song and lead single of the album they made with producer Rick Rubin. As Scott Avett told American Songwriter, the move to the new recording digs was a bit unnerving until Rubin put them at ease.

“We were nervous going in,” he remembers. “I think there was a little reservation about, ‘Would we be changed?’ There’s sort of this mythological abyss that people sometimes go into on major labels. But at the end of the day, it’s always up to the artist. Working with Rick, he was the first one to tell us that it was our call.”

The context of the creation of “I And Love And You” was that Avett had recently immersed himself in the music of Townes Van Zandt. “There was something very hopeless and sad-sounding about it, but I always felt there was a redemptive quality to it,” he says of Van Zandt’s work. “I felt like there was a dark hope thing to it. As sad as Townes would sound, it always felt there was still something very precious and bright about him.

“’I And Love And You’ was something where I was sitting at the piano, living with those melodies from Townes. And I was just writing endless verses. There was a melody but there was no chorus. There was no point in any type of structure. I never thought once of that song having a commercial value of any sort. Those lyrics came from thinking about a relationship with a family member, but not a wife or husband. It came from a father or mother and son relationship and the difficulty of being able to tell them, ‘I love you.’”

[MtnClimber]

Three words that became hard to say...

[KevinB]

The song that turned them from a punkgrass band to a chick band.

[Fungi]

One word: soporific.

[Robert DeLong]

The Avett Brothers - I wish I Was

[Major Matt Mason]

Preferred their earlier work to what has come after this album was released. Still some good songs in there, but also some boring, mopey songs, as well (a little wokeness mixed in, too, although not annoyingly so).

[Retrofitted]

Ugh. I think I’ll stick to “I Killed Sally’s Lover” and forget they did anything newer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiLshKJ75s0

[steel_resolve]

Ping

[GSWarrior]

Thanks for posting. Im a big fan of Americana music but Avett Brothers don’t do it for me. If you like four guys singing in unison while stomping their feet….

Disclaimer: I’ve only listened to their first album.

[John S Mosby]

Second word about all of their “mu-sick”... sophomoric. Really puerile. they have an audience— whoopee. so does taylor swift the vapid. the era of the smart phone and “educated” (not) stupid people.