57. Murder in the City by the Avett Brothers

"Murder in the City" by The Avett Brothers

Written by Scott Avett and Seth Avett
Produced by The Avett Brothers and Doug Williams
Released on The Second Gleam (July 22, 2008)
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This is a perfect song. It's simple and sweet and amazing. I knew nothing about the Avett Brothers when I found it, and I don't know much more now. I discovered this song shortly after it was released, inside the pages of either GQ or Esquire magazine: One of their pop culture blurbs mentioned it, so I had a listen. At the time, I thought these types of men's magazines might teach me something about manhood or help me figure out who I am. While I did learn about fashion, and there were occasionally some well written articles, ultimately most of it didn't amount to much. Much like the fashions they were helping to peddle, it was mostly fluff wrapped up in a pretty package.

The reason I was drawn to men's magazines is that I spent most of my early adult life trying to find my place in the world and figure out what it means to be me. I'm still not sure how a fashion magazine was supposed to help with that, but at the time it seemed to make sense.

While I still find myself questioning who I am and why I'm here, I'm taking more opportunities to look inward for those answers. It would be so much easier if we could find the answers outside ourselves. I often looked to parents, siblings, friends, colleagues, celebrities, articles, Christian Science practitioners, books, movies, albums, and anything else to give me some kind of clear concise message to just lay it all out plainly. Sure there were hints and allegations, but what I ultimately learned was that the only one responsible for myself was me.

So who am I? While the simple response is to say that I am a teacher, no one can be defined solely by their vocation. The answer is never simple. There are too many variables. I can't give a real or even satisfactory answer to that short question. What I have gotten better at is not letting the way others perceive or define me get in the way of my journey. Sure, I still wonder what other people think about me, but I don't worry about it as much anymore.

So, while I couldn't find the answers to life's great questions inside these magazines, every once in a while, among the fantastically expensive clothes and vapid celebrity profiles, a decent pop culture recommendation would appear in those pages. I'm not sure that I would even know this song existed, had I not read about it in a magazine. A year or two later, a student of mine mentioned The Avett Brothers to me as being a favorite of his. Had I not read about them, I may have asked him who they were, but I'm not sure I would have actually given their music a try.

That's often the great question regarding music: What great music have I missed simply because I live in the wrong place, or listen to the wrong radio stations, or hang out with the wrong friends, or ignore the wrong suggestions? I think I just have to be grateful that I have found this one beautiful song that I otherwise would have ignored. There are many more hidden gems out there, many of which I will never hear. My hope is that I find as many as I can while I can.

Right now "Murder in the City" by Avett Brothers is (probably) my 57th favorite song of all time.