The Avett Brothers Get their 'Shine' in Gap's New 'Icon Redefined' Collection

Awhile back, Gap launched its global marketing campaign for fall 2012, called Shine. Now it's introducing a new collection within that campaign, billed as Icon Redefined. To market it, the department store chain is "featuring an eclectic mix of musicians and dancers wearing Gap's signature pieces updated with a modern design point of view and rich fall color palette," according to a press release. Among those musicians are Concord natives Seth and Scott Avett of The Avett Brothers.

Credit: Gap Inc.

Joining the Avetts in the promotional campaign are pop duo Karmin; professional "Jookin" dancer Lil' Buck; singer-songwriter Lia Ices; Chinese-born San Francisco ballet dancer Yuan Yuan Tan; musician Kaki King; and singer-songwriter Nicki Bluhm. So as you can see, Gap is truly redefining icons and not going for the typical mainstream artists.

The Avett Brothers also appear in a Gap commercial, which you can see below, where they perform a snippet of their new single "Live and Die." The 30-second clip is part of an eight-week content series being featured on Gap's social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, etc.; the Avetts' image is currently Gap's Twitter background).

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Avett Brothers Concert to Be Shown on World’s Largest HDTV at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Concord's homegrown folk rock band, The Avett Brothers, are playing a sold-out concert on July 9 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. And when they do, fans in Concord, Charlotte, and surrounding areas will be able to watch it live, simply by going to Charlotte Motor Speedway. The speedway will air a live simulcast of The Avett Brothers' July 9 concert on its high-definition television screen. At 200-feet wide and 80-feet tall, it's the largest HDTV in the world, and it debuted last month during the May NASCAR races. The speedway will bring in concert-grade speakers for the event.

The Avett Brothers.

The massive HD screen is adding new life and entertainment options to Charlotte Motor Speedway. During the races and pre-race activities last month, music videos and tribute videos were shown on the big screen, and fans camping in the infield were treated to screenings of History Channel shows such as Top Gear and Ice Road Truckers and NASCAR-themed movies Talladega Nights and Stroker Ace. If the simulcast of The Avett Brothers' concert is a success, this could mark the beginning of similar showings for concerts or movies. Imagine how cool it would be if movie screenings of new releases are shown, like for Cars 2, or for a special premiere of Transformers 3. It would be like a drive-in on steroids.

The Avett Brothers are touring all summer, but are also recording their next album, the follow-up to their major label debut, I and Love and You, released in 2009. The band also released a live album last year, Live, Volume 3, which was recorded during a concert at Bojangles' Coliseum. They were exposed to a wider audience when they performed earlier this year at the Grammy Awards alongside Bob Dylan and Mumford & Sons. In a recent interview with Billboard.com, legendary producer Rick Rubin, who's working with The Avett Brothers again, gave a brief update on their upcoming album, which he says "is coming out beautifully."

For the July 9 concert simulcast, the speedway's gates will open at 8 p.m. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are scheduled to begin at 9:30 p.m., and The Avett Brothers will perform around 11 p.m. Tickets are on sale now for $10 until July 1, when they'll increase to $15 until July 8; tickets purchased the day of will cost $20. Call 1-800-455-FANS (3267) to buy tickets or go to to the speedway ticket office. Visit www.charlottemotorspeedway.com for more details.

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Avett Brothers to Share Stage with Jay-Z

Well, The Avett Brothers won't technically be on stage with Jay-Z, but the folk-rock band from Concord will share a date with the greatest rapper of all time at this year's Coachella festival. Jay-Z is the headlining act on Friday, April 16 and The Avett Brothers will perform earlier in the day. Click here for the lineup of more than 130 musical acts performing over three days.


In other TAB news, the band recorded a cover of Tom T. Hall's "I Love" and it appears on Starbuck's just-released Valentine's Day compilation, Sweetheart 2010, which includes 14 artists performing their favorite love songs. Click here to order the CD off iTunes.

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Listen to The Avett Brothers' New Album

The Avett Brothers, the popular folk-rock band from Concord, are set to release their major-label debut, I and Love and You, on September 29. But you don't have to wait to hear what it sounds like. NPR is streaming an exclusive first listen of the album in its entirety on its website. This has been a much-hyped album (as much as folk-rock can be hyped) because it's produced by the legendary Rick Rubin. (Dude, their album is produced by the guy who produced "99 Problems"!)


Click here to listen to the album on NPR.

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Nicole Atkins On 'The 101' Tonight

Catch singer Nicole Atkins performing tonight as part of the DirecTV Concert Series. That means you have to have DirecTV to see it. The one-hour concert airs at 7 p.m. on the satellite-only channel called The 101 (which is channel 101). The 101 has been showing some great concerts. I saw Katy Perry and Ferras over the weekend and I was surprised that I enjoyed it. If you can't catch Atkins tonight, the concert will be re-airing.

Atkins is a New Jersey native who spent several years here as a student at UNC Charlotte and lived here a while after graduating. She was writing songs the whole time and performed with other local artists, including the Avett Brothers. She landed a record deal with Columbia Records in 2006 and released her debut album, Neptune City, almost a year ago. She was last in Charlotte in the spring for a couple of shows.

Read more about Atkins in an article I wrote for Charlotte magazine earlier this year. Click here.

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