I contacted Jim Avett to ask if I could photograph this show, and he was happy to say yes. I’m not sure permission is needed for a show at the Muse, but I always like to ask. I much prefer shooting artists I’m interested in, and certainly Jim is in in that category.
I was a little late to The Avett Brothers party. I’ve lived in Charlotte for close to 15 years, and didn’t know about them until about 3 years ago and they are one of my favorites now. I soon discovered that their Dad was making music as well, and when I got his CD’s it instantly took me back to the music and sounds of my childhood. My family used to gather around and play country and gospel songs when I was young, and Jim’s voice and playing reminded me so much of those gatherings.
So I couldn’t resist when I heard he was playing the Muse last Friday. The Mrs. was kind enough to give me a pass from my duties of tending to our 2 month old, so I grabbed the camera bag and headed up. Jim brought out a bunch of different players, and as a nice surprise Scott and Seth came out to sit in on a couple of songs. So I’ll start out with my favorite shot of the night, four Avetts on stage about to play and sing together and Seth sharing a greeting with his sister. I presumed they had not seen each other in some time. Great stuff, I must say. (click on the picture below to enlarge).
I’d never seen a crowd that big at the Muse. Jim is a local treasure for a lot of people and he had quite a crowd out to support him and to hear his new songs, which were fantastic by the way. Pick up his new CD, ‘Second Chance’ at his website or on Itunes. To hear Jim talk about life, music and what it takes to be considered a success, go watch this outstanding piece by UNC TV’s ‘Our State’.
Ok, back to photography. Technically speaking, what can I say? The stage lighting at the Evening Muse continues to be difficult to work with if you want a proper White Balance, but what you see is pretty true to what it looked like while there and I thought it worked out fine despite the heavy color saturation. I don’t intend to insult the venue when I say that, it’s the nature of the beast with stage lighting. The Evening Muse remains the best place in Charlotte to see live music in my opinion. In the end I was happy with the setting I came up with.. I think it served the aesthetic well. I would prefer that skin tones not appear so red, but it really turned out to be an accurate depiction.
So it’s a long post, but there were so many I liked, it was hard to narrow down. Perhaps I’ll throw some more up down the road.
“This song sounds like Bob Dylan on Bad Day”
The night started off with just Jim and guitarist Ray Morton
Diane Reed Cox on Cello.
The “Apple of Jim’s Eye”, his daughter Bonnie
Scott said “I’m not used to having someone in between me & Seth”
Jim said “When they were little, I’d have to sit in between them at church so they’d behave”. Or something like that.
Here they’re playing Tom T. Hall’s “That’s How I Got to Memphis”
Another photo similar to the one at the top of the page.
Bonnie claps for her Aunt, who is in the audience.
For four people that have pretty different vocal styles, they sure do sound great when they sing together. They’re singing a fantastic version of gospel classic, “Angel Band”.
David Childers opened the show, and here he and his guitarist Randy Saxon sit in with Jim & Ray.
There are some alternate photos (and perhaps a few repeats) on Facebook.
