The early years of rock and roll are remembered (among many other artists) for the hip thrusts of Elvis, the guitar styles and lyricism of Chuck Berry, the song craft of Buddy Holly, the vocal blend of The Platters and the extroversion of Little Richard. Doo wop, rockabilly, rhythm and blues were getting kids excited (and their parents despondent) about popular music. One pair of brothers had joined the rock and roll fray, but saw themselves more as country artists....and despite their youth were already music industry veterans.
Welcome to episode 197 of Love That Album.
Don and Phil Everly had been part of their parents' radio shows since they were very young kids. They would do two shows a day – one before heading off to school – and got to be seriously good at vocal harmony blends. Much is made of natural sibling harmonies, but the Everlys just had a very long time to work on them before recording their first sides for Cadence Records. Success came, the 60s came, they got a million dollar contract to record for Warner Brothers, and.....their early adulation disappeared. It could have been the time they went away to join the marines that made their fans move onto the next thing. It could have been that the legal issues with their manager that prevented them from using the best songwriters for them in Boudleaux and Felice Bryant. It could just be that music progressed and stylistically, they didn't. Musical pioneers of the 50s,more often than not, didn't maintain their star power in the next decade.
By the mid 60s the brothers made some stylistic acquiescence to the music of the day – a couple of good albums didn't see a return to their popular days at Cadence. In 1968, Warners staff producer (and huge Everlys fan) produced their final studio LP for the label, Roots. It features a mix of songs that straddle the old and the new. It has country, it has a little psychedelia, it has a healthy respect for songcraft and arrangement. There's the famous Everly harmony blend, of course, but they also sing as individuals. It's a wonderful album that deserves to have the reputation of The Flying Burrito Brothers' “Gilded Palace of Sin” or The Byrds' “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” - not least because those bands (amongst so many of the British invasion) were huge Everlys fans.
I've assembled an all star line-up for this episode of LTA. I'm rejoined by show regular (and Bondi Cigar head honcho), Shane Pacey. Also stepping up to the mic are Brett Vargo (one half of the Only Three Lads' podcast – think about that) and my twin brother Farmer John (host of Vinyl Relics podcast). All three of these gents are eloquent and wise in this discussion about the wider career of The Everly Brothers, and the ideas behind the creation of Roots. This is not an echo chamber – we have some strong disagreements about the work of the Everlys, but in keeping with 21st century internet culture, we bully the unpopular opinions into submission. I truly loved recording this episode and hope to welcome this combination of gents back to the show in the new year.
Tune in, turn on and stop by the Vinyl Relics podcast with Farmer John and Uncle Herff for all the best under-the-radar 60s and 70s music discussion going – really, VR is more of an audio documentary. Tune in and get educated.
“Baby Boy” Brett is joined by his wonderful co-host Uncle Gregg every week to speak to musicians not only about their own work, but about the music they love. Their focus is the “classic” era of alternative music (70s to 90s) but they go all over the place. Third lads have included Robyn Hitchcock, Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey of the dB's, Lisa Kekaula and Bob Vennum of The Bellrays, and tons of other incredible musicians – all doing lists of their favourites pertaining to the week's topic.
VR and O3L are part of the Pantheon Podcast Network.
If you haven't tuned into episode 194 of LTA yet, download and hear Shane talk about his brilliant album of this year “Cross Of The Heart”, then get a hold of the album at https://shanepacey1.bandcamp.com/album/cross-of-the-heart
It's worth mentioning that I'm now 3 episodes away from episode 200....it will be the traditional favourite musical discoveries. Feel free to write in with your selections....
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Love That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Network of music podcasts. Check out all the other wonderful shows at http://pantheonpodcasts.com
Download Episode 197 from here.
