A country legend passes

I read the news today that country legend and hall-of-famer Charlie Louvin passed away on January 26th at the age of 83. Charlie died from complications resulting from pancreatic cancer but remained musically active until the day he died.  As one of the two members of the Louvin brothers, Charlie's music has inspired countless country acts and his songs have become staples of the folk and bluegrass repertoire. I thought I'd share a few of his favorite songs to honor his life and his music. 

I was introduced to the Louvin brothers about a year ago by a musician friend at the University of Arizona. One night, while sitting around jamming with a few friends, a left handed guitar player struck up and sang a beautiful traditional song, Katie Dear, that the Louvin Brothers performed on their album, Tragic Songs of Life. This became one of my favorite traditional songs and is special to me as the first Louvin Brothers song I ever heard.  Disarming in its lyrical simplicity, the song conveys the tragedy of impulsive young love with their trademark 'high-lonesome' harmonies.   I also found a nice rendition of Katie Dear on the newest Seldom Scene, the bluegrass recording legends, album.  Seldom Scene headlined the 2010 Pickin' in the Pines festival in Flagstaff, Arizona this past September. 

The Louvin Brothers created a tight sound that did not find immediate success in the commercial world.  It wasn't until they started to include secular songs in their repertoire that they began to get on the charts. Another one of my Louvin Brothers favorite, My Brother's Will, is a great story song that paints a harrowing scene of a man's final wish, to have his brother marry his love and take care of her.  What I love about the song is the way the short, concise lyrics skillfully convey the complicated life circumstances that can block our wishes. 


Despite their commercial success, their gospel songs remained a central part of their music and would help to define the bluegrass-gospel genre. There is an interesting article here on the fervent faith of Charlie and the role of his Christian spirituality in his long career.  While many of their songs might seem tongue-in-cheek to listeners (the chorus line to their hit Broadminded goes "that word broadminded is spelled S-I-N"), they created their own brand of sincere, but self-conscious gospel. 

Louvin Brothers cd, Satan is Real

The Louvin Brothers win the award in my book for the best pre-photoshop album cover. Their cover to their gospel album, Satan is Real, depicts Charlie and Ira in white suits singing in front of a giant fire, a cartoonish looking devil looming behind them.  The story behind the cover is even better than the image itself.  Charlie described the terrifying effort they undertook to make the cover:


"Ira built that set. The devil was twelve feet tall, built out of plywood. We went to this rock quarry and then took old tires and soaked them in kerosene, got them to burn good. It had just started to sprinkle rain when we got that picture taken. Those rocks, when they get hot, they blow up. They were throwing pieces of rock up into the air."


Luckily for the two brothers, and the rest of the world, their artistic ambitions were not their undoing. Had they burned in an out of control tire fire, smothered by a twelve foot satan cut-out, I'm sure they would have still made their way into countless country singers' repertoires, but luckily we can enjoy the fruits of their music-making and pyro-impulses. Charlie's life and music are an inspiration to musicians everywhere, especially this one in Mexico who enjoys an old radio country hit every once in a while to remind him of another place and time. Rest in Peace Charlie. 


You can read a nice biography in honor of Charlie's passing at allmusic.com. I'll leave you with a cover of the Louvin Brother's song, Atomic Power, by the band Uncle Tupelo, a country-folk rock band new to me but prominent during the late 80s and 90s.