https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYMf_kOYQlc(Someone else can post the original)
― A Man Needs A Meme (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:04 (thirteen years ago) link
RIP. I got into these guys through Uncle Tupelo in the early 90s & played their records to death in college: my roommates could not understand this gospel dread.
From the NY obit, how emptiness has a body: “When it comes time for the harmonies to come in, I will move to my left because my brother and I always used ... one microphone,” he said of performing solo. “Even today, I will move over to the left to give the harmony room, knowing in my mind that there’s no harmony standing on my right.”
― Euler, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:12 (thirteen years ago) link
those two did have one of the most perfect vocal blends of all time.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:13 (thirteen years ago) link
aw man RIP
totally admire how he kept working/playing/performing right up to the end
― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:17 (thirteen years ago) link
^^ditto
songs that tell a story in particular
amazing singer. RIP.
― smang a goon (get it on) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:40 (thirteen years ago) link
This will always be my favorite Louvin Brothers song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZpmoS_2peI
― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:58 (thirteen years ago) link
RIPhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zouoo9iS3nQ
― ergonomically chromium plated fish slice (La Lechera), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 18:02 (thirteen years ago) link
Light In The Attic fanzine issue 2 (zine of the label) has a great feature w/Kris Kristofferson interviewing Louvin, search that out folks.
― sleeve, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 20:11 (thirteen years ago) link
9 people on ILX were aware of this guy?
fuck this board
― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 20:18 (thirteen years ago) link
it's only been 3 hours, chill out man.
― peacocks, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 20:21 (thirteen years ago) link
The Louvins are one of my 5 favorite country acts. Great harmonies, fire and brimstone and soul. Charlie's tenor on "When I Stop Dreaming" puts shivers down my spine every time. Then there's "Don't Laugh," "Pitfall," "Cash On The Barrelhead," "Knoxville Girl," "Wreck On The Highway," "Christian Life".... So many great ones.
― Jazzbo, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 20:27 (thirteen years ago) link
Aw damn. So long, Charlie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8USe97jWW4
Discovered them late, after the Livin Lovin Losing tribute a few years back. What a treasure once I started digging to hear their originals for the first time. Beautiful.
― VegemiteGrrrl, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 20:28 (thirteen years ago) link
ha you'd have to pretty damn old to discover them on time. r.i.p.
― contrflowvers-e (tremendoid), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:03 (thirteen years ago) link
the louvins and jimmie rodgers were what made me 'get' country
<3 <3
RIP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXTdvPZ9hSY
i heard this and was like 'oh'
― HOOS the master?? STEEN NUFF (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:17 (thirteen years ago) link
can't find a youtube of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot unfortunately
so ghostly
― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:48 (thirteen years ago) link
this is my favehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfPFCPDdiSM
― tylerw, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:49 (thirteen years ago) link
god yeah louvin's 'swing low' is just gorgeous
― bear, bear, bear, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:51 (thirteen years ago) link
Another great one featuring dreaminghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcMmC1EkxK8
― Never Make Your Moog Too Soon (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:52 (thirteen years ago) link
hey guys
― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:52 (thirteen years ago) link
^^^8 CD box set of complete recordings, from Bear Family (Germany), OOP in the US and usually costs hundreds of $$$
― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:56 (thirteen years ago) link
blurgh
― tylerw, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:57 (thirteen years ago) link
(thank you is what i meant)
you're welcome!
― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:58 (thirteen years ago) link
the louvins... were what made me 'get' country
I was the same way. their music was a great gateway to discovering other country music, largely because they showed so much love for the music they grew up with. it was touching that before they recorded their Tribute to the Delmore Brothers album, they visited the one surviving Delmore to get his blessing. that album and Tragic Songs of Life (which includes a bunch of ballads the Blue Sky Boys had recorded) really inspired me to look into early country/old-time music. their covers of old material were reverent but always filled with their personal, inimitable fire, and they bridged the gaps between bluegrass and honky-tonk and mountain gospel in a forward-thinking way.
very strong vocal by Charlie here, made even more poignant by his death:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opd-Uw3__zg
― the loneliness of the dexys midnight runner (unregistered), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:07 (thirteen years ago) link
Me too. The gateway was something called Radio Favorites that came out in the mid-eighties, a collection of live-in-studio material
― Never Make Your Moog Too Soon (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:46 (thirteen years ago) link
last paragraph is lol
― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 27 January 2011 17:59 (thirteen years ago) link
^^^Dylan on the Louvin Bros
this is the only Louvin Bros thread? wtf
check this shit out:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWp7MGY3II4
― unorthodox economic revenge (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 27 October 2011 20:18 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSj3wQuWckM
― Jazzbo, Friday, 28 October 2011 00:24 (twelve years ago) link
OK, the autobiography that came out this year Satan is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers is the real deal, completely convincing, must read. The cowriter Benjamin Whitmer is to be commended for helping to make it sound exactly like Charlie is talking to you, dear ilxor.
― Stumpy Joe's Cafe (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 22 June 2012 01:09 (eleven years ago) link
ooh! thx for the heads up
― a dense custard of infinity (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 22 June 2012 15:53 (eleven years ago) link
Sure. Presumably the co-author also helped in the sequencing. The beginner chapters pack a great one-two punch.
― Stumpy Joe's Cafe (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 22 June 2012 16:16 (eleven years ago) link
But not for the faint of heart.
― Stumpy Joe's Cafe (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 23 June 2012 23:44 (eleven years ago) link
Some of it, in its depiction of hardscrabble Depression-era rural America observed with a darkly humorous eye, reads like a Jim Thompson novel
― ratso piazzolla (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 24 June 2012 03:03 (eleven years ago) link
Oh wow, yeah I def have to read this. Thanks James!!
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 24 June 2012 03:06 (eleven years ago) link
To Amazon.com!
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 24 June 2012 03:09 (eleven years ago) link
Enjoy.
Am I the only who didn't know that it was Ira who sang the high parts and Charlie the low? I mean apart from Billy Bob Thornton
― ratso piazzolla (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 June 2012 04:26 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5XVEUdNye0&feature=related
― ratso piazzolla (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 01:26 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=4G1tTNzPaco
― ratso piazzolla (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 01:27 (eleven years ago) link
Oh wait, that is up thread a few posts.
― ratso piazzolla (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 01:28 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_EdgoouQq4My daddy played the five
― ratso piazzolla (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 01:34 (eleven years ago) link
This morning I finished the book, which was about as perfect as anything can be in this world. Meanwhile here is an interview with the co-authoer Benjamin Whitmer, with some stories that didn't make the book: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/01/satan-is-real-louvin-brothers.html
― ratso piazzolla (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 27 June 2012 02:30 (eleven years ago) link
I'm 3 chapters in and I've only had the book for a matter of hours
so in love already
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 27 June 2012 04:42 (eleven years ago) link
This is surprisingly touching. Or maybe not so surprising.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxXlCqbq3jI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
― ratso piazzolla (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 June 2012 00:05 (eleven years ago) link
Rave review from earlier this month
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303703004577474972942879772.html
Two months before his own death in 2011, Charlie Louvin finished work on an autobiography that was published earlier this year. "Satan Is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers" (Igniter/HarperCollins), which has the rough-hewn sound of a real person swapping stories after hours, is one of the most important and illuminating memoirs ever written by a country singer. Not only is it as readable as a first-rate novel, but "Satan Is Real," which is named after the Louvin Brothers' best-known album, a 1959 collection of gospel songs, offers urbanites a joltingly vivid glimpse of what it was like to grow up on a Depression-era farm.
― Like Monk Never Happened (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 2 August 2012 00:07 (eleven years ago) link
Of course I mean last month.
― Like Monk Never Happened (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 2 August 2012 00:10 (eleven years ago) link
Just bought that book. It's tremendously readable without getting too academic (actually, not academic even in the slightest), and I'm pretty amazed at Charlie's honesty and forthrightness about a lot of stuff most folks wouldn't talk about at all. The bits about his father killing dogs and stuff at the beginning pretty much blew my mind.
― crustaceanrebel, Thursday, 2 August 2012 00:34 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah I'm almost 3/4 through it now and I can't recommend it enough. The stuff about Elvis is really great.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 2 August 2012 01:39 (eleven years ago) link
Book is great! Co-sign!
― jamiesummerz, Thursday, 2 January 2014 22:09 (ten years ago) link
Somebody I knew who met him told me he was a total button pusher, which I can believe, but I file it in the same folder with Miles Davis sending out a lot of attitude as a protective measure, like a beautiful Amazonian creature exudes poison to ward off predators. Was just reading something about Ray Charles recording Modern Sounds of Country and Western Music and was reminded of the story of Charlie going to see him in Vegas and Ray announcing "one of my favorite songs" and having then shine a spotlight on Charlie before singing "When I Stop Dreaming" and I was moved all over again.
― Kilgore Haggard Replica (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 24 April 2014 02:59 (ten years ago) link
That's a great story, James.
Here's an article about the guy who put together the book:
― banjoboy, Thursday, 24 April 2014 03:30 (ten years ago) link
Sorry. Here's the link: http://www.avclub.com/article/whats-it-co-write-someone-elses-autobiography-203493
― banjoboy, Thursday, 24 April 2014 03:35 (ten years ago) link
damn. I love the book even more now -- and I loved the shit out of it before reading that.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 24 April 2014 04:29 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, thanks for posting that link, banjoboy, it makes the whole thing a little bit deeper, which might have seemed impossible.
― Kilgore Haggard Replica (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 24 April 2014 04:41 (ten years ago) link
kinda interested in that guy's fiction now
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 24 April 2014 04:59 (ten years ago) link
Think he only has the one novel out so far, with another coming this September. I glanced at the first few pages of the first one, seemed like pretty violent noir, which can be good, but not every guy can be, I dunno, Jim Thompson. Still curious, if you read it and recommend it would take the plunge.
― Kilgore Haggard Replica (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 24 April 2014 05:11 (ten years ago) link
Just finished the book. Loved it! I really want him to have lived long enough to see people enjoying his story.
― Evan, Wednesday, 12 November 2014 20:41 (nine years ago) link
otm
― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 13 November 2014 00:40 (nine years ago) link
yeah this book was great!
― tylerw, Thursday, 13 November 2014 20:42 (nine years ago) link
Need to reread
― Junior Dadaismus (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 14 November 2014 02:01 (nine years ago) link
why oh why did I wait so long to read this. the first few chapters are insane.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 17 November 2014 16:57 (nine years ago) link
Yeah I've gone ahead and recommended it to everyone I can.
― Evan, Monday, 17 November 2014 17:21 (nine years ago) link
What finally brought you around, Shakey? Did Barry Malzberg recommend it?
― Junior Dadaismus (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 17 November 2014 18:19 (nine years ago) link
haha no this has been on my list for a long time and when this thread got revived I looked it up at my local library branch and they had it
― Οὖτις, Monday, 17 November 2014 18:25 (nine years ago) link
First version of "I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby" I hit on Spotify seems to be a rerecord with a ringer instead of Ira. Was able to find a more authentic version though.
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 6 November 2017 03:43 (six years ago) link
Listening to the Taylor Coe podcast about the Louvins right now
― Spirits Having Pwned (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 30 August 2018 01:09 (five years ago) link
They just had a big hit with “When I Stop Dreaming” and buy two Nudie suits- each!
― Spirits Having Pwned (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 30 August 2018 01:41 (five years ago) link
https://www.loc.gov/programs/static/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/WhenIStopDreaming.pdf
― Spirits Having Pwned (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 30 August 2018 02:41 (five years ago) link
Highly recommend that podcast
― The Great Atomic Power Ballad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 30 August 2018 14:01 (five years ago) link
Agreed. The Louvins episode is what pulled me in.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 30 August 2018 14:54 (five years ago) link
Are you still in NYC?
― The Great Atomic Power Ballad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 30 August 2018 14:55 (five years ago) link
Yah - I'm here for another two and a weeks or so. I'll bump a thread.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 30 August 2018 16:13 (five years ago) link
Cool
― The Great Atomic Power Ballad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 30 August 2018 18:58 (five years ago) link
Now have listened to the Buck Owens/Don Rich episodes. Incredible stuff. This guy knows exactly what I want to hear.
― The Great Atomic Power Ballad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 31 August 2018 00:12 (five years ago) link
i just subscribed today and am going to give it a listen.
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 31 August 2018 03:13 (five years ago) link
Two things, in no particular order:1) Don Rich had some crazy eating habits 2) The Buck and the Buckaroos bluegrass album Ruby is great.
― The Great Atomic Power Ballad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 31 August 2018 23:15 (five years ago) link
Going to see if I can use the long weekend to make it through the three-parter (!) on “Harper Valley PTA.”
― The Great Atomic Power Ballad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 September 2018 00:10 (five years ago) link
Yeah Tyler's no slouch. And he's a deep, deep music nerd -- the final episode of the season, when he responded to listener questions, he damn near blew my mind when he mentioned he was a Disco Inferno fan. Followed him immediately after that on Twitter.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 1 September 2018 00:13 (five years ago) link
the first episode on Tubbs has hooked me. just the way he broke down Tubb’s singing style & Acuff & George Jones was like,<3 bless u sir
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 1 September 2018 01:10 (five years ago) link
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 1 September 2018 01:21 (five years ago) link
ugh :(
What?
― The Great Atomic Power Ballad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 September 2018 01:22 (five years ago) link
double posting
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 1 September 2018 01:53 (five years ago) link
Listening to one of the Buckaroos pretending to be Ernest Tubb during the Fun N’ Games section of the Carnegie Hall Concert.
― The Great Atomic Power Ballad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 3 September 2018 17:47 (five years ago) link
What was this? https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/louvin-brothers-lost-album-715231/
― Buckaroo Can't Fail (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 28 October 2018 14:31 (five years ago) link
No idea! I missed this announcement
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 28 October 2018 16:36 (five years ago) link
Okay, some of these have been showing up in my Release Radar and sounded fine, just hadn’t put two and two together.
― Buckaroo Can't Fail (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 28 October 2018 17:17 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAMiHXMV8tk
― Beware of Mr. Blecch, er...what? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 18 October 2019 02:31 (four years ago) link
So hey, I wrote a Louvin Brothers pastiche once, which I kind of like. But I never had an appropriate project to perform it in or had friends follow through on their interest in doing so. I could post this lyrics here if you like.
― Robbie Shakespeare’s Sister Lovers (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 21 March 2020 02:59 (four years ago) link
I may post that before the weekend is over.
― Three Hundred Pounds of Almond Joy (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 10 April 2020 21:22 (four years ago) link
I will read them
― Mule, Friday, 10 April 2020 21:39 (four years ago) link
I wrote this Louvin Brothers pastiche once and it kind of scared me, I felt like I was channeling Ira. I am posting it here in honor of this Holy Week of Our Lenten Quarantine. Stay safe!
Don't Be A Stranger To The Manger - James Redd(Chorus)Don't be a stranger to the mangerDon't keep your distance from the crossDon't forget you'll have to answer toThe man upstairs who's boss
One day there'll come an onslaughtOf a great Satanic hordeWhen we fight that final battleWill you side up with the Lord?
(Verse)So many men and womenPursuing gold and fameSeeking out their own destructionLike moths before the flame
They'll enjoy a few good hoursBut at what enormous costWhen their one immortal soulFor eternity is lost
( repeat chorus)(2nd verse)On the stages of theaters (pronounced "the-aters")On the floors of ballrooms grandIn the discotheques and nightclubsAcross this sinful land
You can hear their voices risingIn a great unruly swellIs there anything more certainThan where in the end they'll dwell?
(chorus)
― Three Hundred Pounds of Almond Joy (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 11 April 2020 12:53 (four years ago) link
Haha, that’s great. I wanna hear this now.
― Mule, Saturday, 11 April 2020 15:17 (four years ago) link
One year later....
― It Is Dangerous to Meme Inside (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 4 April 2021 20:56 (three years ago) link