Avett Brothers headline 'Americana' in fine fashion

Several thousand fans of all ages gathered at Riverfront Park to see The Avett Brothers headline the 15th annual Americana Music Festival.

And if any fans in attendance still needed to hear another definition of the broad-ranging musical genre known as Americana, Scott Avett offered one from the stage Saturday night.

"I know what Americana is," he said before the rest of the band exited the stage for his spotlighting solo turn for the song "Murder In the City." "It allows us to be who we want to be."

The show from the North Carolina-based band, which of late has been headlining the Bridgestone Arena on Nashville tour stops, marked the festival's first-ever held at Riverfront Park. Angaleena Presley, Shakey Graves and The Lone Bellow kicked off the evening's performances.

The Avett Brother's took the stage at about 8:30 p.m. and started the set with a string of crowd favorites, such as "Live and Die" from the 2012 album "The Carpenter", and "Morning Song," from the band's latest release "Magpie and the Dandelion."

Time passed quickly as the band played through its catalog, delighting the crowd with older tunes "Kick Drum Heart" and "The Perfect Space" off the 2009 album "I and Love and You," as well as two new tracks to be released on an upcoming album.

The 21-song set came in at just under two hours before the band made its way back onstage for an exhilarating, four-song encore.