by photojournalist Dan Fernandez
The Avett Brothers (TAB) returned to Clearwater, Florida, on Saturday, October 10, 2026, to deliver the kind of emotionally charged, genre-defying performance that has made the North Carolina natives one of Americana’s most recognized acts. This is the second time that The Brothers and co have played The BayCare Sound since 2024 and honestly, I hope that it becomes a tradition of sorts as the venue fits the bands aesthetic perfectly.
The evening began with The Secret Sisters, a country-rock duo from Alabama composed of sisters Laura Rogers and Lydia Slagle. I had previously seen the duo open a show several years ago, and they impressed me then just as much then as they did this time around. Their harmonies were striking, their songwriting sincere, and their crowd banter hilariously dry, providing a fitting introduction to the emotional honesty that would define the rest of the night.
Based out of Concord, North Carolina, The Avett Brothers, made up of Scott Avett, Seth Avett, Bob Crawford, Joe Kwon, Mike Marsh (formerly of Dashboard Confessional), Tonia Elizabeth and sister Bonnie Avett, have built a sound that refuses to settle into a single category. Bluegrass, country, rock, pop, indie, honky-tonk, and ragtime all find a place in their catalogue, resulting in a style that is unmistakably their own and impossible to replicate.
The eclecticism of their sound is only outmatched by the group’s veraciously candid songwriting. The Avett Brothers have long distinguished themselves through lyrics centered on themes of family, intimacy, vulnerability and human connection combined with the struggles and joys of change. Their songs embrace personal truths of failure, love, mortality, self-doubt, and perseverance without the commercial gloss that often dumbs down these topics.
Although the band is more than capable of delivering heavy riffs and powerful instrumental passages (the boys started in punk and metal believe it or not), it is often the stripped-down, heavenly harmonized moments that command the most attention. When the arrangements are pared back, the nuanced lyrics take center stage, captivating the audience and forcing them to linger on the importance of every word.
I have seen The Avett Brothers dozens of times in venues of all sizes, leaving every show with the same sense of completeness and clarity. The atmosphere at an Avett Brothers concert is difficult to describe and impossible to fully understand without experiencing it firsthand.
Whether they are performing at a massive venue such as Red Rocks or a more intimate room like BayCare Sound, the band gives everything it has to their fans. That commitment was evident throughout Saturday’s performance. The setlist favored the time-tested songs that helped establish the band’s dedicated following, while still allowing room for the energy and spontaneity that make each Avett Brothers show unique. The first half of the concert alone would have been one heck of a concert, including songs such as “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise,” “No Hard Feelings,” “Murder in the City,” “Talk on Indolence” and “Paranoia in B-Flat Major.”
The momentum continued with “Ain’t No Man,” “Laundry Room,” “Swept Away” “I Wish I Was” “Distraction 74” followed by one of their most notable songs “I and Love and You.” For an encore, the band offered a cover of Tom T. Hall’s “Me and Jesus,” followed by a memorable rendition of Doc Watson’s “Froggie Went-a-Courtin” with Joe Kwon providing the lyrics in Korean before closing out the night with my personal favorite TAB jam “Salvation Song.”
The Avett Brothers Clearwater performance was a reminder of why The Avett Brothers have maintained such a passionately die hard following over their tenure. Their music is expansive yet deeply personal, energetic yet reflective, and polished without ever feeling over worked. If and hopefully when The Avett Brothers come back around this way I would implore you not to miss out! If you’d like a deeper dive into the band, check out the groups award winning HBO Documentary “May It Last” directed by none other than Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio.
