Seth Avett wrote a really long letter about the Avett Brothers and what their new album will sound like

The Avett Brothers have announced details about their forthcoming album, True Sadness out on June 24th. We’re hoping we’ll get to hear some of the new songs when WXPN Welcomes The Avetts to the Mann on May 14th.

In a lengthy, heartfelt letter to their fans, Seth Avett reflects on the band’s artistic, musical, and personal evolution over 16 years as a band, offering a glimpse into the future of what their new album will be like. Avett writes:

True Sadness is a patchwork quilt, both thematically and stylistically. Wherein a myriad of contrasting fabrics make perfect sense on the same plane, this album draws upon countless resources from its writers and performers. To further propel the expansive color and textural fields of the record, we are blessed to play and perform music with a group of musicians who possess not only great talent, but great interpretive ability. They are an extension of our family and their care for the work at hand (and the project at large) informs a dynamic musical contribution to any piece we proudly give our last name. Sonically, the album is as multidimensional as its makers. The same could be said of its long list of influences. So the quilt is sewn, in part, with the brightly colored threads of Queen, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Jimmie Rodgers, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails, Gillian Welch, Aretha Franklin, Walt Disney, Pink Floyd, Kings of Convenience, calypso of the 1950s and country of the 1930s. Rock and roll is here, as always. There are moments of undeniable celebration and camaraderie, others of quiet and lonely exhalation. Throughout the album, we stitched together the boldest red and the calmest green, polka dots and stripes, the roughest denim and the smoothest velveteen. They came together because they are the best patterns we have and because each of us brought our own fabric to the quilting frame.

Read the entire letter here.