Seth Avett

Timothy Seth Avett (born July 30, 1980) is one of the lead singers and founding members of the American folk-rock band The Avett Brothers. Avett sings and plays guitar, drums, and piano for the band based out of Concord, North Carolina. In 2008, their album, The Second Gleam, reached the number ten spot on Billboard.com's Top Independent Albums chart, and stayed there for three weeks.^[1]

Background

Seth Avett is the son of Susie and Jim Avett of Concord, North Carolina. He is the youngest of three children. Bonnie, his older sister, was born in 1973, and Scott, his older brother, was born in 1976. Seth was born in Charlotte on July 30, 1980. His father owns a welding business in Concord, and his mother teaches at a school.^[2]

The Avett Brothers

Seth and Scott were heavily involved with their respective bands during their college years. During this time, Scott was playing with Nemo in Greenville and Seth was involved with the Charlotte-based band Margo, which was started by high school friends. Seth Avett was lead singer and played lead guitar, Noah Warner was drummer/guitarist/singer/writer, Kenny Graham was back-up guitarist, and Ben Sawyer was bass guitarist. Seth and Noah grew up best friends from about the 5th grade, they played soccer together and started playing music together. While in high school they started their first band, "Nothing". They eventually changed to the Margo moniker putting on shows at the local Lions Club and then started playing bars in Charlotte with parents in tow, even winning the local high school Battle of the Bands talent show. Margo had the song "Dumbfight" published on a compilation album with the California production company Rodelle Records. (Scott has been quoted classifying Margo’s music as “melodic rock”.)^[3] The Brothers, along with guitarist/founding member John Twomey, decided to merge the bands while maintaining the name “Nemo” in 1998.[10] The Avett Brothers were formed during the Nemo days with fellow Nemo guitarist/founding member, John Twomey. During that time, the name was changed to The Avett Brothers while Nemo and The Avett Brothers continued touring as separate bands. Bob Crawford later joined that band in 2001 as Twomey quit both bands and Nemo dissolved. Eventually, Nemo disbanded and, with the addition of acoustic instruments and bassist Bob Crawford of Charlotte, The Avett Brothers were formed.^[4] In 2003, The Avett Brothers were introduced to Dolph Ramseur, the owner of Ramseur Records, an independent record label in Concord.^[5] Seth married his wife, Susan, in 2008. Since the year 2000, The Avett Brothers have released eleven albums (seven with Ramseur) and have enjoyed ever-growing popularity and success.^[6] In late 2007, The Avett Brothers added cellist Joe Kwon, a graduate of the University of North Carolina and then-member of "Big Pretty and the Red Rockets", to their roster. This success has included a 2007 appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, a 2008 signing to the Columbia record label, and having the number one album (Emotionalism) on Billboard's Heatseekers chart.^[6] The Avett Brothers have toured with Portland band Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside.^[7] The year brings their first release with Columbia on September 29 and performances as the opening act for both the Dave Matthews Band and Widespread Panic.^[6] As of February 2009, The Avett Brothers have sold over 150,000 albums.^[5]

Solo career

Seth Avett has released three albums under the moniker of "Darling", or "Timothy Seth Avett as Darling". The first, To Make the World Quiet, was recorded in the winter of 2001 and self-released shortly thereafter. In 2002, he self-released another album, Killing the Headlamps.

His latest solo release, The Mourning, the Silver, The Bell, is his most successful to date. Released by Ramseur Records in 2006, the record is now out of print, along with its two companions. The last copies of The Mourning, The Silver, The Bell available were sold in December 2008 during a 3-night residency at Asheville's The Orange Peel.

On December 30, 2009, all three of the "Timothy Seth Avett as Darling" albums were re-released through Ramseur Records. The first two albums, To Make The World Quiet and Killing the Headlamps, were re-mixed by Doug Williams at Electromagnetic Radiation studios and mastered for the first time by Brent Lambert at The Kitchen Mastering.

Personal life

Avett married Susan Kay Adkins in January 2008, and announced their divorce on June 11, 2013 after a period of separation.^[8]

Avett started dating actress Jennifer Carpenter in 2013. On February 10, 2015, it was announced that the couple were engaged and expecting their first child. Carpenter gave birth in May 2015 to a son, Isaac, and Carpenter and Avett married in May 2016.^[9][10]

References