"tell the ones that need to know—we are headed north": or, my love for the Avett Brothers

Pack a change of clothes

and a pillow for the road

for when we drift off to sleep.

~"Open Ended Life"

So begins "Open Ended Life," the first song on the Avett Brothers latest album, Magpie and the Dandelion, released yesterday. The song ends with a rollicking, feel-good fiddle melody accompanied by cheery instrumentals. 

I have loved the lyrical beauty, indie-folk-bluegrass music of the Avett Brothers from the moment I first heard "I and Love and You." 

This past summer, Gregg and I saw the Avett brothers in concert with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, and the Violent Femmes: an epic Summerfest amphitheater show. 

As the festival fireworks popped in the distance outside of the stadium, the Avett Brothers launched into "I and Love and You," pausing mid-song for the finale of fireworks, a fountain of sparkle and smoke. After the last glimmer, the band resumed the song, and my heart filled with aching, transient beauty. 

I've listened to the new album four times and feel the same sense of bittersweet beauty, one of my favorite emotions. 

Bring your love to me

and I'll hold it like a dandelion. 

~"Bring Your Love to Me"