Avett to release duet tribute to Elliott Smith

On the heels of the announcement Tuesday that the Avett Brothers will headline Merlefest this year, comes the news that Seth Avett and singer-songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield will release an album of duets by Elliott Smith. "Seth Avett and Jessica Lea Mayfield Sing Elliott Smith" will be released on Ramseur Records March 17.

The album was produced by Avett and recorded at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville and in Concord and Mayfield's home of Kent, Ohio. The album also features Scott Avett on banjo, cellist Joe Kwon and violinist Tania Elizabeth of the Avett Brothers' band and Nashville bassist Paul Difiglia, who played with Langhorne Slim and has filled in for the Avett's Bob Crawford live.

Avett and Mayfield talk about the project, which started in October 2011, in the video above.

Dates for a subsequent tour will be released shortly.

Smith died in Los Angeles in 2003 at the age of 34.

The tracklisting is below:
1. Between the Bars
2. Baby Britain
3. Fond Farewell
4. Somebody That I Used to Know
5. Let's Get Lost
6. Twilight
7. Ballad of Big Nothing
8. Angel in the Snow
9. Pitseleh
10. Angeles
11. Roman Candle
12. Memory Lane