Let’s talk Louvin Brothers. They hold a special place in music history and their music is hard to categorize. Some bluegrass fans love them as i do while others would rather listen to music that more tightly fits the mold that evolved out of the original Bill Monroe band, the Bluegrass Boys. That’s OK but there is no denying that the music of Charlie and Ira Louvin has hugely influenced the bluegrass music we enjoy today. One of their relatives, Edgar Loudermilk, played bass for us at the CBA Father’s Day festival in Grass Valley not so long ago.
The Louvin Brothers recorded in an era when they, like Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, were considered county musicians. It wasn’t until other people like the Stanley Brothers started imitating Monroe’s special sound and Flatt and Scruggs split off to form their own band that people like Ralph Rinzler started talking about bluegrass music as something distinct and different.
A few years ago my friend Ernie Hunt let me borrow his boxed set of eight Louvin Brothers CDs. I wish I had never returned it. At the very least I should have burned all of the tunes onto my digital music platform because there is so much great material there. So much of the music Charlie and Ira created sits very well with a bluegrass interpretation. Take for example the song “Love and Wealth”. It sounds very much like something Lester Flatt might have written.
Darling I am all alone in our little mountain home
It’s lonely cold and loveless now inside
For your childish vows of love lasted only one short year
Then you went away to be another’s bride
You will never know the pain; that I felt the day you left
Should you ever wed again; let me wish you love and wealth
The Louvin Brothers had a true genius for writing a good song that could be expressed well through many musical genres. Their song “If I Could Only Win Your Love”, which was famously covered by Emmylou Harris, states the title in the first line and then plays catchup for the rest of the song as the melody note words continue:
(pseudo beginning):
If I could only win your love
(real beginning):
I’d Make the most of everything
I’d proudly wear your wedding ring
My heart would never stray one dream away
(not the end of the first verse even though it sounds like it but actually the start of the next):
If I could only win your love
Another feature of the Louvin Brothers music that appeals to bluegrass fans is their use of harmony. The Louvin Brothers did harmony as well as anybody and of course tight vocal harmony is one of the key features of bluegrass music. They knew each other’s notes like the backs of their hands and often shifted between tenor, baritone and lead when they were singing together but a bluegrass stack is possible and delicious on any one of their harmony songs.
Bluegrass harmony often has a nexus in gospel music and the Louvin Brothers blazed their own path in that area. Their album “Satan is Real” is iconic for its bizarre cover as well as for its original music. Ira might have made a good old time preacher with all of the passionate songs he wrote with gospel themes but his personal life didn’t live up to his aspirations. Perhaps Ira’s ability to write gospel music was his way to atone for that erratic lifestyle. In today’s world he might be on medication for bipolar disorder. Ira made rock and rollers look like pussycats, smashing his instruments well before the Who did the same and nearly being killed by his third wife. He died in an automobile accident at age 41. In many ways the life of Ira Louvin was a country song. Maybe that explains why he wrote so many good ones.
Although brother Charlie’s life was much more conventional, the story of the Louvin Brothers would make a great Hollywood movie. Rumor has it the one is in the works as we speak starring Ethan Hawke. I hope the music is good.
