2023 Charity Shop Purchases #49 - Ira & Charlie Louvin - A Tribute to the Delmore Brothers
I absolutely love the Louvin Brothers. I'm not sure if it was Andy Kershaw or Hank Wangford ,in a Radio 2 documentary, who first brought them to my attention but whoever it was I am eternally grateful.
The Cancer Research shop in Troon probably only had about 20 CDs and THIS was one of them.A 2003 re-release on Gusto of an album first released in 1960 on the Capitol label.
I'm not familiar with the Delmore Brothers (Alton and Rabon) who were huge in the 1930s and 40s. I have nothing physical by them but found a copy of Freight Train on my hard drive. The Louvins edited it to include the line The Delmore Brothers was a mighty team, they could play and sing like a dream.
Bruce Elder in a review for AllMusic is rightly ecstatic You could listen to music for 50 years and not hear harmonies as sweet or playing as nimble as what's on A Tribute to the Delmore Brothers. The album was one top-flight brother harmony duo paying tribute to the first great brother harmony duo in recording history.
Bob Yates in No Depression continues in the same vein the great songs of the Delmores sung by country music’s finest brother duet... rightly ranks as one of the music’s best tribute albums.
You will not hear anything better than this today.
Excellent stuff. Thanks CC
ReplyDeleteVery very good indeed. Well done.
ReplyDeleteGot to be among your best charity shop finds. I missed picking up Charlie's autobography when it came out, and it immediately became difficult to find. Last year we rented a house in Palm Springs for a week-long vacation. I was perusing the book shelf there one day, and there it was... Satan Is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers. I couldn't believe it. I read as fast as I could but only got about halfway through before it was time time go home. I was so enthralled I considered contacting the owner to see if I could buy it. Ultimately, I did find a copy, and I rank it among the best music biographies I have ever read. Their lives would make quite a film. Yes, Ira was the nasty one, but it only took a few chapters to understand why.
ReplyDeleteYup one of my better finds!
DeleteI got Satan is Real out of the library a few years back it was an interesting read!
I've just had a 4x CD exposure to the Louvin Bros career and lived to tell the tale. I much prefer their early stuff despite it being much too 'gospel'ly for me. Their harmonies though are sublime
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