Used to be, the Avett Brothers came to Roanoke in a van. On Friday night, the band’s ride to Jefferson Center was a big, honking Prevost bus.

That’s a perk that comes with a growing career. This summer, the Avett Brothers finalized a deal with Columbia/American Records, and have been recording with master producer Rick Rubin.

Last time the band played the Jeff’s Shaftman Hall, the 938-capacity room was more than half empty. On Thursday, the venue was sold out, the mostly young audience on its collective feet for all of a nearly two-hour show.

That’s largely because of the band’s reputation as exciting live performers. That was no different this time around. The Avetts combine navel-gazing lyrics with tunes best described in shorthand as chamber-emo-folk, with bursts of hilljack-metal and electric psychedelia to excite a quickly growing fan base.

By the time it was over, the band-audience connection was cemented. “Go to Sleep,” the final song of the set, included a singalong chorus full of “la la la.” The singing faded as brothers Seth and Scott Avett and cellist Joe Kwon laid down their instruments to shake hands stretched out over the stage. The crowd kept singing as bassist Bob Crawford plunked the groove on out.

From the pre-encore chanting, stomping and hollering, re-emerged that familiar refrain. It kept on for about three minutes before the band returned for its encore.

“We run into a lot of crowds, but the dynamics here with you tonight are incredible — soft one minute and loud the next,” Scott Avett had said earlier.

The music featured stomping aplenty, with Scott Avett kicking a bass drum and pounding his banjo like a snare drum, and Seth Avett working his foot over a hi-hat cymbal while strumming guitar. Sometimes, they looked like a pair of guys running in place, feet mashing pedals. Crawford held it all together with a big, round tone, and Kwon’s trips to the stage with his cello brought good texture and precision.

Songs such as “The Ballad of Love and Hate,” “Tear Down the House,” “Shame” and “Salinas” went over well with this crowd, which knew the words and liked to sing along.

Opening act Justin Gordon played a folky mix of fingerpicked tunes, and the band joined him at the end of his set, then went straight into its own without a break.