MC: Has the process of songwriting changed for you?
Avett: It has changed and it continues to change. It doesn’t reach a stopping point. If it wasn’t changing I would be concerned. The biggest change––and what is hard to go back to––as life has gotten fuller with more family responsibilities, writing has become a more organic endeavor for me. I don’t have sit-down writing sessions; I would be more productive if I did, but I don’t know if I would be writing great songs. I wait, and if they’re great they stick.
MC: Is there a specific physical space where you are more productive?
Avett: I allow for the natural time to be at the piano, and I have about five different stations that have notebooks and recording devices all over my house, my studio and my vehicle. I try to integrate songwriting into life.
MC: So does it then become a part of a larger tapestry?
Avett: I was watching a documentary last night about the designers Charles and Ray Eames, and it was saying “Life, work, love, work,” putting it all together: family, life, the things that come with work and integrating it into one big ball. I hope to continue that process. It’s part of the fabric of who I am, and there is no line between the Scott who is writing the song and the Scott who is cleaning up the garbage in the front yard that the dog spread, or is putting the kid to bed, and going out to have beers with a friend who just found out his wife is pregnant. All of those things coming together are part of the songwriting, the art-making process and a very colorful life.
MC: We are aware of the medical challenges that Bob Crawford’s two-year old daughter, Hallie, has been confronting in her struggle with brain cancer. How is her progress?
Avett: It’s an ongoing thing. They are preparing to go to Memphis for their third scan since they stopped chemotherapy. She will be monitored for years to come. It’s one day at a time, and that’s led us to our realization that it’s all so fleeting, and we cherish that time together in the studio, rehearsal and especially on stage more than we’ve ever done. Because we were gifted this glimpse into how fragile it all is in a terrifying way.
Avett: That’s taken time. If you think in spiritual terms and you search for something positive in such a challenging thing. Bob’s challenges are 10-fold. I don’t have the same kind of challenges; his duties are unreal, and he’s a real champion. But the word “gift?” I wouldn’t put it past him. The awareness that’s come with this and his presence is huge.
MC: The overall theme of The Carpenter seems to illustrate this fragility of life and the inevitably of its passing. Was that present in the original concept for the record, or did it emerge through the songwriting?
Avett: You can only make what you can naturally make; that which is in you. And there’s probably songs that could be on the lighter side and we tried balancing it with sequencing, but once it was said and done it was what it was, our expression as a whole. Consciously or subconsciously, it was our representation of the past couple of years. Maybe it seemed a little heavier, especially when we saw people writing about it. It all happened before Hallie got sick, so presenting it made it seem like even more of a coincidence.
