Charlie Louvin's solo career began in 1964 after his split with his brother, Ira. Ira Louvin died one year later in an automobile accident. (Alan Messer)Charlie Louvin and his band began a national tour on March 31 to promote Louvin's new self-titled album.
It's Louvin's first new studio album in 10 years, and the record company, Tompkins Square Label, enlisted artists such as Elvis Costello, George Jones, Jeff Tweedy, Will Oldham, Tom T. Hall, Tift Merritt, Mary Stuart, Bobby Bare Sr. and David Kilgour, among others, to put together collaborations of some of the most important Louvin Brothers music. Louvin and his brother, Ira, were one of the most influential country music duos of the '50s and '60s. The Louvin Brothers were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.
"We'll be in Boulder tonight (April 3), then Denver, Boise and Seattle," he says over a cell phone while traveling cross country in an Eagle coach. "Then out your way. We been buckin' a headwind since we left Kansas City."
Louvin and his band will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 12, at The Mobius, 281 Fourth St., Ashland.
"We've got a fine band," Louvin says. "There's Bill Kelly on guitar and vocal harmonies, Brent Wilson on the bass fiddle, Kevin Kaphey on drums and Perley Curtis on dobro and flat top guitar.
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"He picks, sings and dances. I use him for my woman killer. He doesn't kill 'em, he just cripples 'em so I can catch 'em. I'm turning 80 in July."
Louvin says that the group will be presenting the classic Louvin Brothers material, along with some of the music on the new CD and a couple of songs that haven't been recorded during the performance in Ashland.
"There's always a lot of love songs, some funny songs and a few sad ones," he says. "We're just lookin' to have a good time."
And, are the band members as young as Louvin?
"You can add all of 'em up together, honey, and they wouldn't outweigh me," he says.
The story:
The term "living legend" gets thrown around quite a bit, but it actually applies to Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Louvin.
The magical harmonies and depth of feeling found on Louvin Brothers recordings of the '50s and '60s inspired a new generation of musicians, firmly establishing the Louvins' stature as one of the most influential duos in country music history.
In 2006, Tompkins Square label owner Josh Rosenthal reached out to Louvin about making his first new studio album in 10 years. Rosenthal enlisted Mark Nevers, who has engineered many country records and produced work by artists such as Calexico, Lambchop and Candi Staton.
"I wanted someone who understood Charlie's connection to a new generation of artists, and who could put together interesting collaborations," Rosenthal says. "We chose some of the most important Louvin Brothers songs as well as early country classics."
Guests on the album include Elvis Costello, George Jones, Jeff Tweedy, Will Oldham, Tom T. Hall, Tift Merritt, Marty Stuart, Bobby Bare Sr., David Kilgour, members of Bright Eyes, Lambchop, Clem Snide, Superchunk and more.
Louvin enjoyed the experience.
"Mark Nevers is one of the best engineers I've ever worked with," he said. "My brother and I cut our teeth on some of those old songs and they influenced us tremendously. I'm glad we're able to remind people of them."
Louvin was born July 7, 1927, in Henager, Ala. He and his older brother Ira worked as field hands on the family farm. In the evening, they would listen to the country hits of the day on their father's Victrola. Inspired by the tight-harmony duets of The Delmore Brothers, Monroe Brothers and Blue Sky Boys, the brothers began developing a distinctive style called "shape note singing" based on gospel harmonies they had learned in church.
The duo nailed down steady work in the '40s on radio stations in Knoxville and Memphis, Tenn. They also toured in Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee during this period.
On one swing through Dyess, Ark., Charlie remembers an encounter with a teenager named Johnny Cash.
"We were playing with Eddie Hill. I was selling tickets and I saw this young man standing outside alone. I asked him to show me where the bathroom was. As we walked back, he noticed I had two soda crackers in my shirt pocket. He asked me why, and I said, 'To keep from starving to death.' I invited him in to the show — I could tell he didn't have any money. Years later in his book, "Man In Black" (1975), he said he always ate two soda crackers before he went on stage." Cash also recalls the date in an introduction to his version of the Louvin's "When I Stop Dreaming" on the 2006 Columbia/Legacy release, "Personal File."
The Louvins scored their first record deal with Apollo in 1947, released a single on Decca in 1949 and recorded 12 sides, or singles, for MGM in 1951 and 1952. One of those sessions took place with Hank Williams waiting outside for his turn in the studio. Their recording and performing schedule was sporadic due to Charlie's military service during the Korean War. Upon his return to the States, he and Ira began recording for Capitol Records, which remained their label home until the brothers parted ways in 1963.
Marking a shift from gospel to secular material, the Louvins scored their commercial breakthrough in 1955 with the top 10 hit "When I Stop Dreaming." They toured in early 1955 with soon-to-be superstar Elvis Presley as their opening act, and became members of the Grand Ole Opry. From 1955 through 1962, the Louvin Brothers churned out 12 hits on the Billboard country chart, including "I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby," "You're Running Wild," "Cash On The Barrelhead" and "Knoxville Girl."
Although the Louvins' hit machine had slowed by the early '60s, they instead created a string of themed albums, cult favorites that still resonate with today's alt-country audience, including "A Tribute to the Delmore Brothers" and "Satan Is Real." By 1963, with a shifting marketplace and interpersonal tensions mounting, the Louvin Brothers parted ways. Ira released his lone solo album, "The Unforgettable Ira Louvin," in 1964. He died in a car crash in Missouri on June 20, 1965.
Charlie's solo career began in 1964 with the top five hit "I Don't Love You Anymore," and he followed it with six Billboard-charting singles from 12 Capitol LPs. By the late '60s, a renewed interest in the music of the Louvin Brothers began to take shape.
The Louvins' continued legacy is at least partly attributed to Gram Parsons, who, according to legend, paid people to scour L.A. record shops looking for their out-of-print sides. His versions of Louvins classics "The Christian Life" on the Byrds' "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" and "Cash on the Barrelhead" from "Grevious Angel" serve as the blueprint for so much "alt-country" that was to follow. Emmylou Harris' first hit was the Louvins' "If I Could Only Win Your Love." Uncle Tupelo covered "Great Atomic Power" on their third album, and "The Christian Life" has been worked into The Raconteurs' live set recently.
The Louvin Brothers were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in October 2001.
In 2003, Louvin was invited to open on a national tour with Cheap Trick and Cake. That year also saw the release of "Livin', Lovin' Losin': Songs of the Louvin Brothers" on Universal South, a Louvin Brothers tribute album featuring James Taylor, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash, among others. The collection went on to win two Grammy Awards in 2004.
Louvin will celebrate his 80th birthday on July 7.
