Seth Avett & Jessica Lea Mayfield Sing Elliott Smith Reawaken Songs for a New Generation

 We had the pleasure of seeing "Seth Avett & Jessica Lea Mayfield Sing Elliott Smith” live at the Neptune Theater Thursday night. Avett and Mayfield played to a completely sold out and (although seated) a very enthusiastic crowd. 

It's a humbling experience to watch musicians of a higher caliber completely dedicate an album and performance to another musician. There is no doubt that Smith’s songs were performed with the respect and sincere admiration that it deserved. This tour seems to be a theriputic release as the two musicians find solace and kinship through a great artist that has come before them. 

Avett is best known for his punchy, alt. folk band with brother Scott, The Avett Brothers, and Mayfield

drips 90s despair rock like a candle with a flame that burns too hot. It's an odd pairing on paper, not 

Avett and Mayfield, but Avett, Mayfield and Smith. Mayfield comes closest to Smith lyrically in her 

own right, and as Avett sings some of the more painful of Smith's lyrics, there is still that familiar 

bouncy feel in his voice that has made his main act a success.

But there is beauty on this record. Mayfield's voice on "Angel in the Snow" is starkly beautiful, distant 

and haunting. Avett's arrangements, stripping down Smith's more orchestrated tracks, leaving Avett 

alone with his guitar, allows him to embody the loneliness Smith thrived in creatively. If there is a fault 

with the record is that it seems that Avett can't get out from behind that Avett Brothers sound. "Baby 

Britain" comes across like one of the brother's more mellow numbers as Avett plucks and strums, his 

voice carrying the familiar North Carolinian melody. Not that he shouldn't be allowed to put his own 

spin on Smith's back catalogue of notable hits and fan favorites. In fact, it's a good problem to have. 

For the listener who doesn't know Smith's work, but puts on anything featuring an Avett singing, this 

album of covers serves as a good introduction to an artist whose career ended far too soon.

It's hard to judge an album of covers from an artist with a following and reverence as strong as Smith's. 

Recording the album is a bold move, one that has taken Mayfield and Avett three years to complete. 

The premise alone may have some critics balk at the idea. However, it's a pleasure to hear Smith's 

lyrics in a fresh medium. Avett and Mayfield took Smith's work down more of a folk path and the 

songs fit the genre well. "Pitseleh" has both Mayfield and Avett taking lead vocals accompanied by a 

lonely guitar, banjo and piano. "Let's Get Lost," a fan favorite, stays close to its source material, but 

Mayfield's vocal accompaniment makes the track. Her voice, low and sultry on this record, is hard 

to ignore. Smith's songs operate in a type of vacuum of singer-songwriter genius; many have tried 

to capture Smith's brilliance in their own music and come up short. Avett and Mayfield, on the other 

hand, play the songs they love to listen to and perform them as they would one of their own. It's nice to 

give the songs a chance to breathe.

"Memory Lane" is a fitting choice to close out the record. It features some the most orchestrated 

arrangements. Avett's voice gives the isolating lyrics an uplifting feel and its evident Avett feels some 

kinship to the words. One could argue, with his new found fame, Avett would rather be back, settled 

into that little house, strumming a guitar and playing the songs that move him. The album is a good 

listen for the Smith fan-base and a great companion record to one's Avett collection. But its greatest 

achievement is reawakening Smith's songs from a long slumber.

Words by Craig Brown

Photos//words by Adam Richert

Review: Jessica Lea Mayfield at Brighton Music Hall 4.2.11

By Lily Linquata

When asked by WNKU in 2009 what the driving force was behind the tone of her songs, the then  20-year old Jessica Lea Mayfield responded with “sadness.” “I kind of put sadness and music on the same table. It’s… like salt and pepper.”

That sadness is the momentum steering Mayfield’s songwriting should come as no surprise to those familiar with her prior releases. Both 2006’s White Lies EP and 2008’s With Blasphemy So Heartfelt LP make Patsy Cline’s drawl sound warm and motherly. With her latest 2011 release, Tell Me, Mayfield seems still driven by the sadness. The direction in which she’s driving, however, just might be brighter.

Following an outstanding set by Kentucky’s darling, Daniel Martin Moore, Jessica Lea Mayfield performed to a giddy audience at Boston’s Brighton Music Hall on April 2nd. Taking the stage in five-inch, silver glittered heels, she carries a simple beauty that extends past platinum blonde hair dye, sequins tops, and adorable cardigans.

No one was fooled by her innocent – if not elegant – get up for long, though. Backed by the infinitely badass Richie Kirkpatrick on electric guitar, by a Highlife-drinking Grant Gustafson on electric bass, and by Scott Hartlaub on drums, Mayfield fits the “bad girl” bill well. Opening her sixteen-song set with “Our Hearts Are Wrong,” she quickly established the evening as more of a rock concert, and as less of a plea from a damsel in distress. The haunting “I’ll Be the One You Want Someday” immediately followed, reintroducing her signature melancholy, but with an edge.

Turned up and accentuating the bass lines, Mayfield et al played the near entirety of Tell Me and included her best pieces from Blasphemy So Heartfelt, “Kiss Me Again,” “We’ve Never Lied,” and the standout ballad, “For Today.” Five songs in, she opted to perform a new song solo, joking that none of the audience would know if that’s how it was supposed to go. While Tell Me does start to sound more hopeful than despairing, new lyrics of “I don’t know what I did wrong, but life just seems so unappealing / I am on the brink of tears when I wake up in the morning” prove that Mayfield is still, and may always be, worlds away from that Taylor Swift-like, bubble-gum pop songwriter, despite the fact that she often looks the part. Nevertheless, one may assume she’s at peace with her darker role. Before playing “Somewhere In Your Heart,” she announced it was an awkwardly sad song written with brother, David Mayfield of the David Mayfield Parade. Not as readily wacky as her brother, the younger sibling’s dry humor does add another layer to a subtle yet complex stage personality.

Jessica Lea Mayfield - Tell Me

Labeled across the music scene as “One to Watch in 2011,” it’s fascinating to witness Mayfield flirt with a title of rocker. Whether she’ll permanently assume this part is unknown, but it is clear that she’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Having been raised in a musical family and having started touring at age eight, Mayfield is, even at 22, a well-seasoned musician. She has admittedly played almost every venue in the country and with the likes of Dan Auerbach, Justin Townes Earle, and The Avett Brothers, among countless other. Her third album turns a new page in her previously bluegrass, alt-country, and folk repertoire book, but certainly much to everyone’s enjoyment.

If you have a chance the see Jessica Lea Mayfield perform live – be it an acoustic set or with her endlessly entertaining band – jump on it. Boys just may fall in love and girls will feel comfortably at home with her inherently feminine, yet beautiful malaise.

Video of Jessica Lea Mayfield performing "Sleepless" live at Brighton Music Hall: