The Avett Brothers Release New Single, ‘Ain’t No Man’ [LISTEN]

The wait for new music from the Avett Brothers is over. Though the band has been performing it live in concert, "Ain't No Man," the first single from their forthcoming album, True Sadness, is now officially released.

"Ain't No Man" is an uptempo, full-bodied, harmony-heavy song that listeners will fall in love with upon first listen; press play on the video above to hear it. Bassist Bob Crawford tells Consequence of Sound that the song began with Scott and Seth Avett in the studio trying to start on some new music.

"Scott had these lyrics and had this idea in his head, and he sang it -- he was just singing it for Seth. And he sang the bass line -- he had this bass line in his head -- he sang the bass line for him, and that was literally, it was just kind of like smoke in a bottle," Crawford recalls. "It was just a moment of complete inspiration; it was one of these moments when the song kind of comes together in one second. That was the genesis for the vibe and for basically what became that song."

The bass line, indeed, stands out and is crucial to the energetic, "stick it to the man"-type vibe of the song.

"I feel like "Ain’t No Man," kind of, there is a higher level to it. I’m trying to avoid the word 'religion' and 'spiritual,' but there is something about finding your place in the universe, or being able to put your finger on where you sit in this life, whatever your religion is or your worldview is," Crawford continues. "I feel like if you take the catalog of songs that we have from 2001 to the past 15 years, there is this, this song is almost like the star on top of the tree in a way."

It's been three years since the Avett Brothers released their last album, Magpie and the Dandelion. True Sadness is set for release on June 24; in March, the group announced the project in a letter from Sett Avett, who calls the new disc “a patchwork quilt, both thematically and stylistically.”

The Avett Brothers are currently on their spring / summer tour and recently played Madison Square Garden. In June, they will perform at Mountain Jam in Hunter, N.Y.

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