Avett Brothers from the heart

"All the hip-hop that involves itself in money and how many women they own or have been with, that's a real turn-off in my opinion," says Avett.

For him, songwriting comes from the heart.

That much is clear to anyone who's listened to the Avett Brothers' lyrics, which are generally earnest and emotional.

The relentlessly touring band's latest album, "I and Love and You," which debuted last September and peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard 200, explores feelings of love, loss, life and death.

In the song "Tin Man," the brothers trade vocals and sing about heartbreak: "And if you won't give my heart back / I've no need to stick around."

"We are aware of some of the vulnerability and the personal parts that we bring," says Seth Avett. "A lot of the music we love is very genuine and you can tell."

The Avett Brothers, who have played more than 2,000 shows in the last nine years, including Coachella last Friday night, will play the Rialto Theatre on Friday.

Seth Avett spoke with Caliente from his home in Concord, N.C..

You played in Tucson last May. Got any favorite spots in town?

"Tucson is a place, like a lot of places, that has treated us well but we haven't been able to spend enough time in. We set up, get on stage, play our music and then it's time to leave. We've played at the Rialto before. We've never stayed at Hotel Congress before, but we had supper there. And it was awesome."

How much longer are you staying in Concord?

"About 38 hours or so."

The road beckons, eh? How's the tour going?

"It's kind of hard to describe it. It feels very much like sort of the beginning of a new era for us. 'I and Love and You' seems to have been either the last line in one chapter or the first line in the next."

What feels different? What have you learned?

"I learned a lot about pacing. We have a history of moving fast and moving too fast sometimes. We tend to have our minds on the next step, rather than the one we're currently involved in. Sometimes that's a great thing and sometimes it's a major hindrance. We learned to slow down a little bit and take our time to experiment with ideas and not just write 'em off. To take our time and get it right on every level, not just technically. To find the right spirit of the song and emotion of the song.

"The record before 'I and Love and You,' 'Emotionalism,' we recorded the whole thing in 11 days, because that's all the time we had. Mixing, mastering, dubbing - the whole thing in 11 days. We had a little more time with 'I and Love and You.' "

Did signing with a major label afford you more time to record?

"Yeah, in some ways. Everything that we've done so far working with a major label has been very much in our control. We haven't had to do anything we didn't want to. But there was nothing like, 'Hey here's $10 million. Do whatever you feel like.' There was some space allowed because it's in the label's best interest that we do our best work."

When will you record your next album?

"I don't know when it'll be. It's heavy on our minds at the moment. Scott and I have already made quite a few demos for the next record. That's another thing we did for 'I and Love and You' that we had never done previously. We actually made demos beforehand. That was part of the process that worked very well for us."

Will some of your new songs tread any new terrain?

"We're not good fiction writers. We're not the kind of songwriters who can come up with a story out of thin air. We do our best to be honest with our songs and write about things we're trying.

"The songs will change and the music will change because we change. There's a new song that Scott and I have been working on that deals with his experience of having a daughter. It's a natural progression. It's not something we can write without having these experiences."

If you go

• What: The Avett Brothers in concert with Truth and Salvage Co.

• When: 8 p.m. Friday.

• Where: Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St.

• Cost: $30 general admission advance, $33 day of show, $33 floor seats.