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Charlie Louvin

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Charlie Louvin

 
Charlie Louvin
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Avg: 3.5 (39 ratings)

The surviving Louvin brother gets help on his newest record.

  • We Say...

    Review by Andy Beta

    Country music is as obsessed with (and deferential to) tradition as that other American pastime, baseball. From the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s classic 1972 double Will the Circle Be Unbroken to Johnny Cash’s late-era renaissance, country tribute albums shade towards fantasy camp, giving initiates a chance to brush elbows with their idols. Such is the case with the lone surviving Louvin Brother, Charlie, and his first album in a decade. And the line-up is deep indeed: Elvis Costello, Jeff Tweedy, Will Oldham, members of Clem Snide, Lambchop and Bright Eyes. Even George Jones sings alongside Charlie on two numbers. (Gram Parsons is kicking his ash up in heaven now, having died three decades too soon.) Rural music adepts, be it gospel, country, or bluegrass, the Louvin Brothers close harmonies sang of the longing and depression inherent to this terrestrial realm. While Louvin Brothers staples like “The Christian Life” and “When I Stop Dreaming” remain heartrending, Charlie’s tremulous voice fissures with sorrow on the penultimate “Ira,” about his brother who died in a car accident in 1965. To this day, he wishes they could play together again.

  • They Say...

    Review by Jeff Tamarkin, All Music Guide

    Charlie Louvin has been singing on his own for more than four decades, but he'll still always be known above all else as the lower-voiced half of country's famed Louvin Brothers. Every so often Charlie -- his brother, Ira Louvin, died in 1965 -- trots out a new album to remind fans that he's still going strong, and this time -- for his first new studio set in a decade -- he's got a lot of help to assist in making the point. Among the guests lending a hand here are George Jones, the omnipresent Elvis Costello, Marty Stuart, Tom T. Hall, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, and members of contemporary rock and country bands such as Superchunk, Clem Snide, and Lambchop, all invited into the proceedings by producer Mark Nevers. As is often the case when superstars pay tribute to admired old-timers by mixing it up with them, be it Jerry Lee Lewis or Ray Charles or Charlie Louvin, the innate talent of the old-timer, if egos are kept in check, only gets magnified, and that's a good thing indeed. Louvin's voice has weathered plenty over the years, but he's still a master, and though there are little touches of rock and other contemporary sounds injected (not surprising, perhaps, because the Louvins were among the first to use electric guitar in country), more often than not the visitors find their space in Louvin's groove and ornament it without getting in his face. There are Louvin Brothers classics here, including "The Christian Life," once recorded by the Byrds, and -- with Tweedy in tow -- 1952's "Great Atomic Power," co-written with Buddy Bain and as relevant today as it was at the start of the Cold War era. Jones and Stuart lend vocals and mandolin, respectively, to Jimmie Rodgers' "Waiting for a Train," and Stuart returns, along with Hall and Bobby Bare, Sr., for the oft-recorded "Blues Stay Away from Me," written by one of the other great sibling harmony acts, the Delmore Brothers. But it's not until the album's penultimate track, "Ira," that the full emotional depth of Charlie Louvin's singing and songwriting is fully exposed. A tribute to his late brother ("I still hear you, off in the distance, your sweet harmony"), it's touching and sweet, the perfect juxtaposition to Charlie Louvin's voice, road-weary but still carrying the torch.

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