Avett Brothers ready to celebrate ‘big year’ with 20th New Year’s Eve show in Raleigh

The Avett Brothers are almost ready to ring in 2024.

The Grammy-nominated band will play PNC Arena on Dec. 31, bringing the group’s annual New Year’s Eve show back to Raleigh for the first time since 2017 — and celebrating a significant milestone.

“This is the 20th New Year’s show for us, for the band,” Seth Avett told The News & Observer in a phone interview.

The group — primarily made up of Seth Avett, his brother Scott, bassist Bob Crawford and cellist Joe Kwon — has come a long way since its inception in Concord in the early 2000s. Though they still tour for much of the year, they’ve progressed from — in Seth Avett’s words — “an era of taking any show, any offer, any crummy motel room, any whatever” to being featured on major tours with Willie Nelson and fellow North Carolinian Luke Combs.

The band was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association in September.

And even 20-plus years after it all began, their music continues to reach new audiences, notably through “Swept Away,” a musical based on the band’s 2004 album “Mignonette.” The musical premiered at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre last year and began a second run this fall at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. The show, which has received praise and generally favorable reviews, was recently extended for an additional two-week run.

As 2023 winds down and the band puts the finishing touches on the 20th New Year’s Eve show, The News & Observer caught up with Seth Avett to discuss the band’s accomplishments this year, what to expect from the Raleigh show — the setlist and surprises are starting to come together, he said — and the possibility of new music from the band next year.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

N&O: It’s been a big year for the band, from the “Swept Away” musical debuting in DC this fall to winning the Lifetime Achievement Award. Before we look ahead to the New Year’s Eve show and 2024, how are you reflecting on this year and what has it meant to you?

Seth Avett: It hasn’t occurred to me to reflect on the year until just now, at this very moment that you asked the question. So much so, that even when you started by saying “It’s been a big year,” the first thought that went through my mind was, “Oh yeah, has it? Oh yeah, I guess it has.” Which, if I’m sticking with an optimistic mind, I can only assume that I’m taking strides towards living in the moment.

The two things you mentioned were both big highlights.

I just think of our journey as a band, and it’s just so heavily informed by touring, by performing on stage. That’s center stage, that’s always the first consideration. So, everything else that comes along feels like icing on the cake, sort of. Making albums and releasing albums, and then the blessing of occasionally being recognized, and then maybe winning an award or having some acknowledgment by anyone — by a community or by a person or by a group of any sort — it’s very flattering.

It’s also sort of surprising sometimes, because it really just feels like the experience, really, is this sort of insular experience of going and going and going, from town to town to town, and connecting in real time through the songs and these moments in these dark rooms and these festivals. It’s all very informed by real life experiences.

And then when there’s this sort of abstract concept, like recognition — or the musical, it’s sort of hard to put it into words what that whole deal is — it’s just so surreal.

It has been a big year, and I’m feeling the gratitude in this moment, as we’re leading towards Christmas and the deck is clearing, and we’re getting more time with our families. I’m feeling how big of a year it’s been, because this all feels very contrasting.

N&O: Speaking of touring, y’all tour for most of the year, but you typically play these New Year’s Eve shows in North Carolina, whether it’s Raleigh, Greensboro or Charlotte. How did these shows get started, and why is ending the year here, at home in North Carolina, important to the band?

SA: Initially, it started out as just sort of a way to ensure that we would be home, or near home, around the holidays. Because early, early on, the touring was so extensive, and it was so all-consuming, that we couldn’t really be sure that we would otherwise. We were very open to wherever this thing was going.

Twenty years ago was very much the era of “yes.” It was the era of taking any show, any offer, any crummy motel room, any whatever. We were just really getting going, so we didn’t have the luxury of saying “no.” So, basically, to make sure that we were home for the holidays, we had to make a conscious decision to book ourselves at home for the holidays. That’s how it started.

We’re very lucky that our shows generally seem to have a celebratory air to them. Our audiences bring quite a lot of jubilation, and quite a lot of joy and quite a lot of celebration, and that can just be on a Tuesday in the middle of nowhere. So, to focus it in on something as specific as bidding the old year goodbye and welcoming the new year with open arms, it’s such a celebratory moment in and of itself. And to mix our wonderful audience and the music with that occasion, it’s just such an obvious and natural fit. And the place where we’re gonna be able to make it the biggest moment is North Carolina. Period.

N&O: You talked about all of your shows being celebratory, but do you think of the New Year’s shows differently in any way, even down to creating the setlist?

SA: Yes. All of it’s different. All of it is heightened. All of it is planned to a higher level. All of it is perceived with greater attention to detail and, in turn, is answered with with more imprinted memories, in a way. The room during the countdown, after the countdown, it’s a crystalline moment every year. It’s something that you really take with you.

Scott and I had a similar experience with the New Year’s show where, all of this talk about it being a heightened experience in one capacity or another, it was also a more stressful experience for for many, many years.

It is a more involved show. We want to dress to the nines. We want to present ourselves in the best way. We want to provide this awesome moment for everyone. But somehow, a few years ago, it seems like we finally gave ourselves permission to really just enjoy it and let it be the big mess that it is, and if things go wrong, or the countdown’s out of sync or whatever, just embrace it. And don’t let the stress of matching the energy of a roomful of people that big overshadow the fact that they’re there because of love. They’re there with love in their hearts and with a very pure, celebratory spirit.

N&O: The last time you played PNC Arena in Raleigh for a New Year’s Eve show, the band left the stage and played a pop-up show on the concourse. What was that experience like, and are there any similar surprises fans can expect at this year’s show?

SA: Oh, man. Well, if there were, I wouldn’t tell you. But I don’t know yet, honestly. We’re still sort of dialing it in right now.

The setlist is pretty close. Generally, Scott and I will make a setlist — it might be two hours before a show, it might be earlier in the day, but it’s likely gonna be a lot closer, maybe just before soundcheck. But for the New Year’s show, the setlist will be figured out a good month in advance.

We’re getting there on fun little moments and transitions. But all of that is not dialed in totally, it’s all still very much a work in progress, a rough draft, living revision kind of thing.

But I can say that the things like that in the past have been super fun and have sort of jettisoned us back in time in a way. Especially when we ended up in the concession stand. That was, in some ways, very familiar — not because we used to play in concession stands, but the scale and the immediacy and the glorious throw-away of it, and just the flat-out party aspect of it, really hits home when you’re basically out in the lobby with everyone getting their tickets and by the merch table and all that stuff. It used to be, in the early days, the stage was right by the merch table.

It’s a fun thing, because for us, it kind of crashes dimensions and different chapters of our history into one experience. And the New Year’s show is the ultimate opportunity to do that, and for the energy and for the manpower to be there to pull off some things like that.

N&O: We talked about “Swept Away” at the beginning. That show has been extended a couple of weeks into the new year. What has it been like to see your work in a new way and potentially reach different audiences?

SA: It is incredible. I don’t have a word for it. Whoever is reading this article — I’m not big on telling people what to do or advertising — but go and see this thing.

It’s a very special story. It’s a very genuine inspiration coming from everybody involved. And it’s not just the songs — the songs are a massive element — the story is really special. All of the themes are are universal, but the specificity is touching.

As a songwriter, my own experience of it, I think, is probably pretty unique. But the ironic thing about that is that it made me feel more connected to humanity, to humanhood — not as much like, “Hey, I wrote that song!” It wasn’t a feeling like that, it was more like a good ego-shedding experience and a narrative that highlights the one-ness, the connectedness.

Artistically, I have to say, though: Coming from the angle of someone who did put in quite a lot, in terms of writing the music and the lyrics, when you’re a songwriter, you naturally endeavor to turn your life experience into this abstract thing, which is a song. But what you don’t ever experience is to have that abstract thing taking a big step forward and turned into another experience. That’s the weird part of this process. That’s the once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing for a songwriter. It generally stops in that big, open, abstract world of the song.

So, it’s a very interesting and mind-blowing experience to see the abstract thing turned into a new experience. Anyone that really has a relationship with our music, they have a great opportunity to have a transcendental experience in watching this production.

N&O: What’s in store for next year? Could “Swept Away” be headed to Broadway, or can fans expect new music from the band?

SA: The musical making it to Broadway is absolutely the hope. Whether that happens now, or later, or ever is unknown, but that’s certainly a desire, certainly where all of this work is possibly, hopefully pointing towards.

And even if it never went, it would still be beautiful. The run at Berkeley, this run now — all of it has been very much worth it for where it is. But yes, the intention is to eventually be on Broadway.

And for the band, we have our sights dead-set on a new record — a new full-length record — for next year. Exactly when and all that, we’re still working it out. But we’ve been hard at work with that, with that aim very much on our minds.

How to see the Avett Brothers on New Year’s Eve

The Avett Brothers will play their New Year’s Eve concert with special guest Marcus King.

• The details: Sunday, Dec. 31, 8 p.m., PNC Arena, 1400 Edwards Mill Road, Raleigh

• Tickets: Available on Ticketmaster

• Find tour dates at theavettbrothers.com/tour.