A Fond Farewell' was among the first few Elliott Smith compositions we learned," Avett tells us. "I was initially struck by how pure the opening lyrics came across with Jessica's voice.

“A Fond Farewell” serves as a sterling example of Elliott’s mastery of sorrow. A cryptic chorus and verses that run through characters that seem at once simulacra for Smith and ...

Elliott Smith is full of the contradictions that ... where the brilliance of Smith’s craft is most apparent. On ‘A Fond Farewell’ and ‘Let’s Get Lost’ (the latter named after a song ...

. According to his then-girlfriend, J.J. Gonson, she returned years later and knocked on the door to find the Shins' James Mercer lived there. Smith helped Crane build his studio at its original ...