The Everlys: Oh, Brothers, Where Art Thou?

A new bio, plus covers by The Beatles, Gram and Emmylou, Billie Joe and Norah Jones, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and more, and our usual hot cartoons.

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We could all use a break from Trump ravings (e.g., last night calling for the arrest of Beyonce, Oprah, etc.) so here is a musical tribute, and only then our usual cartoons.

One of our long ago writers for Crawdaddy, Barry Mazor, is out with one of the first bios ever of the Everly Brothers, one of the greatest rock acts ever and still the greatest harmonizers, who influenced heavily, among others, the Fab Four, Simon & Garfunkel and so many others. It’s getting widely reviewed, and here is an excerpt from the Washington Post (yes, the paper still exists, despite the efforts of Bezos the Clown)

In his book, Mazor is quick to refute many of the myths that have accreted around the pair, starting with the backstory that the brothers were reared in Kentucky, a cradle of bluegrass, and that their dad, an accomplished guitarist and singer, nurtured them up from rural poverty into spotlight stardom. In fact, Mazor’s book points out that the brothers, who were born two years apart, moved around a lot as kids — Iowa and Chicago, mostly — soaking in the musical folkways of those regions and absorbing it all into their musical bloodstream.

Another misconception that Mazor clears up in “Blood Harmony” is the notion that the Beatles were the first musical group to write and play its own songs. In fact, Phil and Don wrote a clutch of the Everlys’ greatest records, including Phil’s 1960 composition “When Will I Be Loved,” which became a mammoth hit when Linda Ronstadt covered it in 1975. It’s also true that Don is rock’s first great rhythm guitarist, his strident acoustic strum powering ”Wake Up Little Susie” and others. George Harrison was listening, as was Pete Townsend.

Linda Ronstadt in an NPR interview after Phil Everly’s passing:

RONSTADT: I mean, I had heard the Blue Sky Boys, and I'd heard the Louvin Brothers. But they had the audacity to put - you know, it was this very traditional duet sound that came down out of this traditional music from Kentucky. And then they added, you know, rock 'n' roll drums and electric guitar and bass, and they made it into something totally different. They opened the door for those of us who later followed, for folk rock. And so Bob Dylan, The Birds, the Eagles, Peter and Gordon, the Beatles, you know, they all went streaming through this gate that the Everly Brothers opened.

A few song highlights below from among dozens of possibles. First, “Cathy’s Clown,” with Buddy Holly’s Crickets backing them following Buddy’s death.

The pair famously broke up in the ‘70s when they came to, you know, hate each other after 30 years joined at the hip. Then they made a heartening comeback in the 1980s. One of the great vocals ever was captured on film below, “Let It Be Me,” and you’d never know the animosity remained (they barely even spoke to each other).

Also from the reunion, “Till I Kissed You.”

Did you know Green Day’s Billy Joe and Norah Jones did an Everlys tribute album, “Foreverly”? Neither did I. But here is very early Everlys “Long Time Gone.”

During the recording of “Let It Be,” the Beatles took a one-minute break to fool around with “Bye Bye Love.”

Same album, the Paul & John “Two of Us” harmonies were directly an homage to the Everlys, plus they merely used acoustic guitars, with George on bass. Paul would later testify: "When John and I started to write songs, I was Phil and he was Don."

McCartney later wrote “On the Wings of a Nightingale” for the Everlys’ reunion, which got them back on the radio.

A more obscure early Everlys album cut, “Sleepless Nights,” was recorded much later by Gram Parsons and Emmylou. No one can duplicate the boys, however.

Another great attempt here by two of the finest singers of our era, Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson, on “When Will I Be Loved” written by Phil. A #2 hit for Linda Ronstadt a little later.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss re-did two songs, “Price of Love” and “Gone Gone Gone” for one of their mega-hit albums, but here are the boys with the originals.

From Tunes to Toons.

Barry Blitt: