Seth Avett’s take on “Angeles” by Elliott Smith was one of our favorite covers last year for its impressive channeling of Smith’s soft tenor and delicately intricate guitar work, but now we have a look at the Avett Brother honoring a singer with an opposing vocal approach: Tom Waits. Smoothing out the edges of Waits’ deep, weathered croon, Avett sweetens the tone of the world-weary narrator in this Alice ballad a bit, injecting the sailor’s sad tale with a kind of innocent charm. In short, he tips his hat to Waits by side-stepping attempted mimicry of an inimitable legend, all while summoning a forlorn ditty more his own. Let this tender clip of “Fish & Bird” “dry your eyes” below: