Trampled by Turtles finds new spark working with old friends Avetts, Dead Man Winter

“After 22 years of Trampled by Turtles, we’re finding new ways to be creative.”

When he said that by phone from Boston’s airport last week coming home from Flannel Jam, Dave Simonett could have been talking about any number of new ideas that Minnesota’s renowned acoustic sextet has hatched over the past year.

Like their first-ever show at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday co-headlining with the Avett Brothers. Or their pivot to playing other arenas and stadiums as an opening act for twangier acts like Zach Bryan and Turnpike Troubadours. (Bryan likes them so much that he showed up unannounced and sang with Simonett’s crew at Flannel Jam.)

In this case, though, the Trampled by Turtles frontman was referring to the new EP his band just put out that features the same five songs his other band, Dead Man Winter, also just put out.

“I try to think of them as one piece of work,” Simonett said of the dueling EPs, jointly titled “Always Here” (Trampled’s) and “Always Now” (Dead Man Winter’s).

Less chummy bandmates might have thought Simonett himself was a piece of work when he suggested the idea for each group to take on the same set of songs. The plan came to him during a moment of conflict, when he couldn’t decide which of his new songs were meant for which band.

Mind you, there’s a sharp difference: Trampled uses all acoustic string instruments, while DMW boasts electric guitars, drums and keyboards.

“I’d never had that problem before, not knowing who the songs were meant for,” Simonett said.

“I just thought, ‘Why not try them with both and see what happens?’ Then once I thought of that, I started to get excited, thinking of it as some kind of exercise.”

His bandmates were into it, too. Trampled went first with the songs, then DMW. Except for bassist Tim Saxhaug — who plays in both bands — none of the electric players had heard the acoustic fellas’ renditions before recording their versions.

“That was their idea,” the singer said. “They wanted to make them their own.”

It worked. From each collection’s poetically opaque opening song, “You Never Let Me Down,” to the straight-on lovelorn closer “I Want to Love You,” the two EPs sound markedly but organically different.

Trampled’s EP sounds like, well, Trampled by Turtles — the usual wistful, steady-on strumming and picking sprinkled with Ryan Young’s teary fiddling. Dead Man Winter’s EP sounds more like Dylan and the Band’s “Basement Tapes,” with guitarist Erik Koskinen (also a renowned singer/songwriter) filling the gaps with his light-handed magic while keyboardist Bryan Nichols cuts loose from his jazz roots with soulful Booker T. Jones-style organ parts.

Of course, Simonett said he couldn’t pick a favorite between the two EPs. In fact, it sounds like his original goal of deciding which song rightfully belongs to which band blew up in his face.

“When I listen to one version, to me, that’s it, that’s the right version,” he said. “But then I listen to the other and think the same thing. I was actually worried I was going to like one band’s version more than the other, which could happen. But honestly it didn’t happen.”

Only one of the band’s EPs features a big-name guest singer, though: Country music hitmaker LeAnn Rimes chimes in beautifully (and soulfully!) on two of the Trampled EP’s tracks, the haunted slow burner “Out of Time” and the tender wound-licker “On My Way Back Home.” You can chalk up her appearance as another new idea to spark creativity.

“I wanted to have a different voice in the recordings,” Simonett recalled, “and since we have six dudes in Trampled, I really liked the idea of having a woman as something really different.”

“In no way did I imagine we’d get LeAnn Rimes, though,” he added with an incredulous laugh.

Rimes had gotten hip to Trampled when she signed up with their same management company/record label, Thirty Tigers. They sent her some tracks, and she pretty quickly sent back her parts.

“She figured out some really cool stuff to do with the songs,” Simonett enthused. “What she sent us is what’s on the record. We didn’t change anything.”

Rimes’ involvement on the new EP furthers the idea Trampled has pursued on the concert end, pairing up with other well-known acts on the road.

Simonett said he and his bandmates — who’ve come a long way from their first gig at Duluth’s Sir Benedict’s Tavern in 2002 — enjoy the “1+1=3 factor” from such pairings, which has also included other recent Midwest outings with Wilco and Caamp. They preceded this week’s St. Paul date with another big Avett Brothers date in August at Wisconsin’s Alpine Valley Music Theatre (see more on the bands’ camaraderie below).

“Both bands get to play nicer, bigger places than we normally would,” he explained, “and you get the bonus of playing to the other band’s fans, which sometimes doesn’t work but mostly it does.”

As for the experiment on the recording end pairing up with Dead Man Winter, Simonett clearly believes that worked, too.

“My big takeaway is I really want to do it again,” he said.

Both bands formed in the early 2000s. Each prominently features banjo yet isn’t too bluegrass-y. There’s more to the Avett Brothers/Trampled by Turtles connection than those obvious shared traits, though. Here’s Dave Simonett talking about his band’s camaraderie with the North Carolinians as they pair up again Thursday at Xcel Center (Trampled opens but will play a full-length set).

On first becoming an Avetts fan: “We played this festival in Oregon, Pickathon, probably about 2008. We were playing sometime in the afternoon and they were headlining. They were just starting to get popular, and we were both string bands working our way up, so we made a point to see them. I loved them right away.

“We didn’t see them again for a long time, but then a few years ago they reached out to us, and we’ve opened about a dozen shows for them now in arenas.”

Why they make a good pair: “They’ve had more mainstream radio success than our band, but there’s a little bit of overlap of our fans with their fans. That’s always a nice start when you’re opening for someone in an arena, which can be a pretty lonely experience. And then the other nice thing is they’re just a really solid group of humans. When you’re touring, the show is really the shortest part of the day. The rest of the day is what really matters, and all of those guys are really great people, kind of a big touring family like we are.”

His favorite Avetts song: “‘Head Full of Doubt/Room Full of Promise.’ That’s one where when I’m backstage and I hear them start it, I’ll always run out. I’m a sucker for a song in that time signature, but the lyrical work is what I really like. I remember hearing that opening lyric, ‘There’s a darkness upon me that’s flooded in light,’ and going wow.”

When: 7 p.m. Thu.

Where: Xcel Energy Center, 199 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul.

Tickets: $50-$141, ticketmaster.com.