One morning in September 2025, I woke up to a text from a friend containing a link and a simple message: “I didn’t have this on my Bingo card.”
The article announced an unlikely new collaboration between two musical worlds I never expected to collide. The Avett Brothers had joined forces with Mike Patton of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle fame for a new endeavor dubbed AVTT/PTTN.
My reaction was equal parts curiosity and skepticism. The pairing seemed almost impossible on paper, which only made me more eager to hear what it sounded like.
I’ll admit that my knowledge of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle doesn’t run especially deep. The Avett Brothers, however, are a different story. I celebrate their entire catalog. Over a 20-year career in journalism, people have often asked me to name the best concert I’ve ever attended. For nearly two decades, I never had a definitive answer. Then came August 1, 2025, when The Avett Brothers took the stage at Chautauqua Institution in western New York. By night’s end, I finally had my answer.
Scott Avett was kind enough to spend some time on the phone with me the day before AVTT/PTTN brings its unique brand of musical experimentation to Cleveland’s Jacobs Pavilion. {DETAILS & TICKETS}
During our conversation, Scott offered insight into the origins and evolution of AVTT/PTTN, discussing how the collaboration came together and where it may be headed next. (He was kind enough to explore other topics, too!)
One thing became immediately clear: whatever AVTT/PTTN is, Scott doesn’t want you calling it a “side project.”
In fact, he doesn’t particularly care for the word “project” at all.
“I hesitate to even say ‘project,'” Scott said. “Before I offered these songs to the AVTT/PTTN family, I thought I was just making Avett Brothers songs. I thought I was entering the next chapter of songs that I was going to contribute to whatever Seth and I were crafting and writing.”
As the songs developed, so did Scott’s friendship with Patton, a relationship rooted in decades of admiration.
“What was developing was a relationship, a friendship with Mike, beyond my being essentially taught by him as a kid, just being an appreciator and a lover of his art,” he explained.
While fans might assume the collaboration required Scott to dramatically alter his songwriting style to accommodate Patton’s famously experimental tendencies, Scott sees it differently. At its core, the partnership was built on a shared creative purpose.
“I truly believe that Mike, Seth, me, and many of us artists, we’re put on this planet to create,” Scott said. “That’s our purpose. That’s our contribution. When things get heated up in life, that’s what you turn to, because that’s your calling. That’s your job. For Mike and I, we just picked up there with our friendship and our admiration of each other.”
As a journalist, I’ve been fortunate enough to interview many of my musical heroes over the years. Even after dozens of conversations, there’s still something surreal about speaking with someone whose work helped shape MY life. But interviewing a hero for 20 minutes is one thing. Recording an album with them and then heading out on tour together is something entirely different.
For Scott, Patton wasn’t merely an influence. He was a formative figure.
“I thought about this on stage the other night when we were in Baltimore,” Scott said. “Words like ‘surreal’ and ‘amazed’ don’t do it justice. I just would not have believed it. I put myself in those shoes and think, ‘How about that, kid? How about this?'”
Yet Scott is quick to point out that the relationship evolved beyond fandom.
“I don’t think I could have done this without my experience,” he said. “I had to walk in shoes that are similar to Mike’s as an entertainer and an artist to be able to share space with him and allow us to be people with each other instead of a hero.”
His admiration for Patton ran deep long before the two became collaborators.
“My friendship with Mike was more than just being a fan or admiring him. I literally studied him. I imitated him like a big brother. I really looked at him as part of an identity that I related to and understood.”
If Scott has his way, the AVTT/PTTN story is only beginning.
“I do believe there’s a future with this group.”
Then came another gentle jab at the dreaded “project” label.
“The word ‘project’ triggers me a little bit,” Scott laughed. “It sounds so brief and half-hearted or half-baked. I was making the best music that I could at the time. I gave these works to Mike for him to do his best with. It’s more than a project. We’re very personal with each other now.”
For fans hoping this collaboration extends beyond the current run of dates, that’s an encouraging sign.
“Hopefully those things will come beyond 2026,” Scott said. “We’ll see.”
Of course, Scott’s longest-running creative partnership remains the one he’s shared with brother Seth. Their relationship—and occasional disagreements—was beautifully documented in the 2017 documentary May It Last.
As someone with two siblings of my own, I can confidently say that I love them dearly. I can also confidently say that I cannot imagine sharing a touring bus, creative responsibilities, business decisions, and a stage with them for more than two decades without occasionally wanting to throw a banjo through a window.
The Avett brothers somehow make it work.
“I think we know how to make space whenever we don’t feel great or if we’re disagreeing,” Scott said. “We try our best to manage it quickly and then have space when we need it.”
Asked what the secret is, Scott didn’t claim to have one.
“It probably has something to do with the general nature of our family, our parents, how we were brought up, and the tone of our household,” he said. “A lot of it probably has to do with nothing I could ever articulate.”
What he does know is simple.
“When someone disagrees with each other, they try to do it in a meaningful and loving way. I think we can’t lose then.”
Another relationship that has profoundly impacted The Avett Brothers is their friendship with the legendary Willie Nelson.
Scott recalled meeting Nelson for the first time in front of roughly 18,000 people.
“Willie immediately was kind of picking with us and joking and grinning and making us feel so welcome and warm,” he said.
Over the years, the Avetts gained access not only to Nelson’s stage, but also to his world.
“What we started to see was not just what you see on stage, but the people, the family, the people that work in and around the organization,” Scott said. “The principles just fell right in line.”
More than anything, Nelson’s operation has served as a blueprint for longevity.
“What we see is what a future can be for artists like us,” Scott explained. “It’s not just what you see on stage. It’s what’s going on backstage, how we get from A to B, and what we do when we’re there off the stage. It’s just as important.”
Each night on the AVTT/PTTN tour, the show concludes with a communal rendition of the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul.” The moment feels worlds apart from the loud, genre-defying musical adventure that precedes it, yet somehow perfectly complements everything that came before.
“It’s been really exciting to see how that plays at the end,” Scott said. “We really do it choir-style where we all just gather around.”
The conversation naturally turned toward faith, creativity, and why hymns continue to resonate so deeply with him.
“I’ve had conversations with a producer and buddy of ours where I said, ‘Sometimes I think there’s really nothing I can write about but God.’ And he said, ‘What else is there to write about?'”
Scott acknowledges that discussions of faith can sometimes make people uncomfortable, but for him, spirituality remains an endless source of inspiration.
“God, church, music in the church, a community that is interested in the dialogue surrounding this blessed mystery—we call it God and Christ—this is just an infinite well of creativity beyond anything we can nail down,” he said.
He believes the enduring power of hymns comes from both their stories and their melodies.
“When it comes to the songs, the depth of the melodies that set you up to hear what those words are and involve yourself in the story just pulls us in.”
That discussion led to one of the most unexpected stories of our conversation: taking Mike Patton to a church barbecue in the Avetts’ hometown.
If there is one place on Earth where everyone should feel welcome, accepted, and like they belong, surely it’s a church fellowship hall with barbecue on the menu.
According to Scott, Patton fit right in.
“Mike is a huge fan of deep melodies and with these old hymns, you just can’t deny many of them,” Scott said. “We ended our week of rehearsals for AVTT/PTTN by going to a church barbecue in our hometown and we took Mike Patton with us.”
For anyone picturing the avant-garde vocalist as a fish out of water, Scott quickly corrected the assumption.
“On paper, people think that would sound like an awkward place for Mike Patton to be, and it just isn’t,” he said. “It’s actually a perfect place for Mike. He fits in and he’s so caring.”
By the end of our conversation, one theme kept surfacing: connection.
Whether it’s the friendship between Scott and Mike, the lifelong partnership between Scott and Seth, the mentorship and example provided by Willie Nelson, or the shared experience of gathering around a hymn at the end of a concert, AVTT/PTTN seems to be built less on musical contrasts and more on human commonality.
The collaboration may have surprised fans when it was announced, but after hearing Scott talk about it, the pairing feels remarkably natural. Strip away the genres, the labels, and the expectations, and what’s left are artists doing what they’ve always done: creating, connecting, and following the work wherever it leads.
And if Scott has anything to say about it, don’t call it a project. It sounds like this story is just getting started.
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