Authenticity is hard to come by. And it’s often foolish to get worked up about artifice. Art is artifice, after all. But, that said, there are loads of Americana bands out there with cowboy hats, boots and snap-button shirts, bands that don’t really know much about country living or about living roots music traditions.
The Avett Brothers, from the foothills of North Carolina, have real connections to bluegrass and acoustic music and to folk-rock songwriting chops. The Avetts were the subject of a Judd Apatow HBO documentary, “May It Last,” which came out earlier this year.
The Avett Brothers are masters of pulling heartstrings with their music and doing it in a way that doesn’t leave the listener feeling manipulated or tugged at. It’s tear-jerky folk-rock, but it’s real pretty, too. (They know how to harmonize in ways that can knock you over.) If there’s anyone who deserves credit for making clawhammer banjo seem like a viable instrument for 21st century pop, it has to be them.
The brothers write stomp-along, clap-along, sing-along music with the right eye-dropper of grimness and doubt. There’s love and loss and a gospel fervor in there too. Their most recent record, produced by Rick Rubin, was called “True Sadness.” Their songs are inspirational anthems for earnest searchers.
The Avett Brothers perform at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, 2132 Hillside Road, Storrs, on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $37.76 to $40. 860-486-4226 or jorgensen.uconn.edu
