True Sadness

True Sadness is the ninth studio album by American folk rock band The Avett Brothers. Produced by Rick Rubin, the album was released on June 24, 2016, through American Recordings and Republic Records.^[1] A vinyl edition was released on August 5, 2016.^[4] At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for Best Americana Album, and the first track "Ain't No Man" was nominated for Best American Roots Performance.^[5][6] The production of the album is chronicled in the 2017 Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio documentary May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers.^[7]

True Sadness
Studio album by The Avett Brothers
Released	June 24, 2016
Genre	Folk[1] alternative country[1] Americana[2]
Length	50:59
Label	American Republic
Producer	Rick Rubin
The Avett Brothers chronology
Live, Vol. Four (2015) True Sadness (2016) Closer Than Together (2019)
Singles from True Sadness
"Ain't No Man" Released: April 15, 2016 "Satan Pulls the Strings[3]" Released: June 9, 2016

Reviews

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	68/100[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Boston Globe	[9]
Consequence of Sound	B[10]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[2]
The Guardian	[11]
PopMatters	[12]
Rolling Stone	[13]
Slant	[14]
Uncut	[8]

True Sadness received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 68, based on seventeen reviews.^[8]

Sarah Brooks of Consequence of Sound gave a positive review stating "With True Sadness, The Avett Brothers open up to their audience, sharing their dark depths with tenacity and bravado, all while inspiring to see struggles as strength."^[10] Will Hermes of Rolling Stone gave The Avett Brothers a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Hermes stated "It feels like the record's most profound celebration - just joyous strumming, bowing, and the sound of earnest voices collectively making light out of dark."^[13] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave a review a 7/10 "Far from being an album for wallowing in the depths of grief, True Sadness is a record about the emergence of hope."^[1]

Promotion

The Avett Brothers promoted the album by performing on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on June 24, 2016.^[15]

Commercial performance

In its home country of the United States, True Sadness debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200, with 46,000 equivalent album units, behind Drake's Views and Lemonade by Beyoncé.^[16] It was the best-selling album of the week, selling 43,000 copies in its first week.^[16]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Ain't No Man"	3:32
2.	"Mama, I Don't Believe"	4:16
3.	"No Hard Feelings"	5:14
4.	"Smithsonian"	4:33
5.	"You Are Mine"	3:28
6.	"Satan Pulls the Strings"	3:08
7.	"True Sadness"	4:35
8.	"I Wish I Was"	5:16
9.	"Fisher Road to Hollywood"	4:23
10.	"Victims of Life"	2:59
11.	"Divorce Separation Blues"	4:56
12.	"May It Last"	4:39

Target bonus tracks^[17]

No.	Title	Length
13.	"I Wish I Was" (Full band version)	4:47
14.	"Rejects in the Attic"	5:22

Personnel

from Allmusic^[18]

• Scott Avett – lead vocals, background vocals, banjo, acoustic guitar, harmonica, percussion, synthesizer
• Seth Avett – lead vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards
• Bob Crawford – bass guitar, upright bass, guitarron, percussion, viola, background vocals
• Paul Defiglia – Hammond B-3 organ, piano, Wurlitzer, upright bass, percussion, background vocals
• Tania Elizabeth – violin, percussion, background vocals
• Joe Kwon – cello, percussion, background vocals
• Mike Marsh – drums, percussion, background vocals

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2016) Peak position Canadian Albums (Billboard)[19] 23 US Billboard 200[20] 3 US Folk Albums (Billboard)[21] 1 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[22] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2016) Position US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[23] 41