My favorite memory of Avett Brothers before I covered their show at Red Rocks with Mandolin Orange in the summer of 2018 happened a few years before in the Tri Cities … home of Day Trotter and Moeller Mondays. The band I was playing in at the time, Lara Ruggles & the Lost Gold was set to record a 4 song session at Day Trotter while we were out on a small tour. Part of our tour included a Monday night show at Rozz-Tox in Rock Island where Moeller Monday’s was hosted by none other then Sean Moeller himself.
Avett Brothers happened to be passing through playing a show the night after our Moeller Monday’s set, but since they were already in town to also record a Daytrotter session themselves, Sean hyped up our set at Rozz-Tox with rumors that Avett may be joining our show for a surprise day of late night set.
The buzz was great and our show was filled to the brim…which is rare when you’re a little band on the road in the middle of the country on a Monday night. The Avett Brothers did not end up being able to make the late night set, due to a radius clause with the venue they were playing the night after. But we still played to a full house at Rozz-Tox and developed a major band crush on a crew called Laney Jones & the Spirits who shared the bill with us under the stars that night in Rock Island.
The next day we recorded a lovely session at Daytrotter and as we were loading out…guess who was loading in to record their own Day Trotter session? Avett Brothers of course. Though we did not get to share the bill with them the night before, we still did get to share that sweet moment when one band is clearing the stage of their gear, so another lovely band can load in and set theirs up, accept in this context, it was a small recording studio in the middle of Iowa. Our little Subaru from Colorado looked so lovely sitting next to their massive tour busses as we all shared lot space in the Daytrotter band loading docs.
Years later after the Daytrotter run in, the beginning of the on the road relationship with Mandolin Orange, and after photographing multiple Red Rocks shows of some of my other favorite artists…I finally had the chance to photograph Avett on the Rocks. I’ll alway be grateful to the Mando Crew for inviting me into the night here at Red Rocks. After Mando played a brilliant opening set, The Avett Brothers got up and did just the same.
It would take ages to choose my favorite Avett Brother’s song, but the words of ‘No Hard Feelings’ has been resonating lately. With the world in the state that it’s in, all I want to do is live for love and peace and do my best to let go of any disdaining feeling that I’ve let hang on for to long.
‘No Hard Feelings’ The Avett Brothers ~
~ and the keys to my house ~ with no hard feelings ~
won’t be kept held at bay any longer ~
and it’s just hallelujah
and no hard feelings ~
where will I go ~ will the trade winds take me south ~
through Georgia grain or tropical rain ~ or snow from the heavens
and shake hands laughing ~ and walk through the night
holding the love I’ve known in my life ~
and no hard feelings
kept me afraid and cold ~ with so much to have and hold ~
under the curving sky
to say it and mean it too
good as it’s been to me
