Scott and Seth Avett have played music together since childhood as their grandmother was a concert pianist and their father Jim Avett was a guitarist. Their collaborative partnership began in the late 1990s with the merger of Seth's Mount Pleasant High School rock band Margo and Scott's college group Nemo. Margo had released the song "Dumbfight" on a compilation album before merging with Nemo. After releasing three albums with Nemo, the Avetts started experimenting with acoustic music with some friends at night. After a few street performances and parties they performed under the names The Back Porch Project or Nemo Downstairs. The brothers and Nemo guitarist John Twomey put together an EP entitled The Avett Bros in 2000 while performing both as the Avett Brothers (with Scott, Seth and John) and as Nemo.
