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EXCLUSIVE: Preview Avett Brothers’ Live DVD

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The Avett Brothers are perpetually in the studio, writing and recording new music for the follow-up to their 2009 breakout album I and Love and You. But, on October 5, the trio will tide fans over with the release of Live, Volume 3, a new CD/DVD chronicling a hometown concert in Charlotte, NC. Watch an exclusive clip of “Murder in the City” below!

The show — an August 8, 2009 gig at the 9,000-capacity Bojangles Coliseum — was, at the time, the band’s biggest yet, and Scott Avett tells SPIN that his solo performance that night was “beautifully terrifying.”

“Playing in front of that many people — you’re just hoping you can get the room quiet enough to listen to what you’re playing,” he says. “And if you do grab them, what are you going to do? Stumble?”

Avett certainly didn’t. His performance of the acoustic ballad, off the band’s 2008 EP The Second Gleam, captivated with its simple, tender finger picking and lyrics that address his family on the event of his death. But while the album version has Avett mentioning his sister and mother, the version onstage in Charlotte had an adaptation: “Make sure my daughter knows I loved her / Make sure her mother knows the same / Always remember, there is nothing worth sharing / Like the love that let us share our name,” he sang.

It’s a special, very personal song for Avett, one he first played privately with his wife, before sharing it with the band. “I remember when I first played it for her, I wasn’t sure if it resonated, but she very much was affected by it,” he says. “I knew at that time that it was important to put that song out there.”

“It’s a special moment to document because you’re only going to be that vulnerable for a short amount of time,” he adds.

Since the hometown gig, the Avett Brothers have gone on to play even bigger shows, including a massive appearance at this year’s Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, TN.

Watch Scott’s solo performance of “Murder in the City” below, then tell us what you think in the comment section.

WATCH: Avett Brothers, “Murder in the City”

Additional reporting by Peter Gaston.