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When I Stop Dreaming
_______________________________________________
The Louvin Brothers
When I Stop Dreaming: The Best of The Louvin Brothers
Razor And Tie
888
_______________________________________________
On all tracks:
Ira Louvin: vocals, mandolin
Charles Louvin: vocals, guitar
1. BROAD MINDED
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 9/30/52
Chet Atkins: electric guitar
probably Eddie Hill: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
2. THE FAMILY WHO PRAYS
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 9/30/52
Chet Atkins: electric guitar
probably Eddie Hill: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
3. WHEN I STOP DREAMING
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 5/25/55
Chet Atkins: electric guitar
probably Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
entered chart 9/10/55, peak position: 8
4. PITFALL
(S. Smith/T. Smith)
recorded 5/25/55
Chet Atkins: electric guitar
probably Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
5. DON'T LAUGH
(Rebe Gosdin)
recorded 10/29/55
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Eddie Hill: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
entered chart 3/9/57, peak position: 11
6. I DON'T BELIEVE YOU'VE MET MY BABY
(Autry Inman)
recorded 10/29/55
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Eddie Hill: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
entered chart 1/14/56, peak position: 1
7. HOPING THAT YOU'RE HOPING
(Betty Harrison)
recorded 3/25/56
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: acoustic guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
entered chart 5/26/56, peak position: 7
8. THE FIRST ONE TO LOVE YOU
(Helen Carter)
recorded 3/25/56
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: acoustic guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
9. IN THE PINES
(Alan Riggs)
recorded 5/2/56
Paul Yandell: lead guitar
George McCormick: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. “Lightning” Chance: bass
Murray M. “Buddy” Harman: drums
10. KNOXVILLE GIRL
(Trad. Arr. by Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 5/3/56
Paul Yandell: lead guitar
George McCormick: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. “Lightning” Chance: bass
Murray M. “Buddy” Harman: drums
entered chart 2/16/69, peak position: 19
11. CASH ON THE BARRELHEAD
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 5/4/56
Paul Yandell: lead guitar
Don Helms: steel guitar
George McCormick: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. “Lightning” Chance: bass
Murray M. “Buddy” Harman: drums
Entered chart 10/6/56, peak position: 7
12. YOU'RE RUNNING WILD
(R. Edenton/D. Winters)
recorded 6/28/56
Paul Yandell: lead guitar
Hank Garland: guitar
George McCormick: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Murray M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
entered chart 10/6/59, peak position: 7
13. MY BABY'S GONE
(Hazel Houser)
recorded 4/1/58
Paul Yandell: lead guitar
"Smiley" Wilson: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
entered chart 10/20/58, peak position: 9
14. I WISH IT HAD BEEN A DREAM
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 8/4/58
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
15. WHILE YOU'RE CHEATING ON ME
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 8/4/58
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
16. IF I COULD ONLY WIN YOUR LOVE
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 8/4/58
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
17. YOU'RE LEARNING
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 8/5/58
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Hank Garland: guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
18. THE RIVER OF JORDAN
(Hazel Houser)
recorded 8/8/58
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Hank Garland: guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
19. THE KNEELING DRUNKARD'S PLEA
(H. Carter/A. Carter/J. Carter/M. Carter)
recorded 8/9/58
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Hank Garland: guitar
George McCormick: guitar, harmony vocal
Floyd T. "lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
20. SOUTHERN MOON
(Alton Delmore)
recorded 5/12/60
Jimmy Capps: guitar
Ira Louvin: tenor acoustic guitar
Roy M. Huskey, Jr.: bass
21. GONNA LAY DOWN MY OLD GUITAR
(Alton Delmore)
recorded 5/16/60
Jimmy Capps: guitar
Ira Louvin: tenor acoustic guitar
Roy M. Huskey, Jr.: bass
22. THE GREAT ATOMIC POWER
(B. Dane/Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 7/26/61
Ray Edenton: guitar
Roy M. Huskey, Jr.: bass
23. WRECK ON THE HIGHWAY
(Dorsey Dixon)
recorded 6/21/62
Lloyd "Cowboy" Copas: guitar
Jimmy Capps: guitar
Harold Bradley: guitar
Harold B. "Shot" Jackson: dobro
Roy M. Huskey: bass
Howard "Howdy" Forrester: fiddle
Jimmy Riddle: harmonica
24. STUCK UP BLUES
(Roy Acuff)
recorded 6/22/62
Lloyd "Cowboy" Copas: guitar
Jimmy Capps: guitar
Harold Bradley: guitar
Harold B. "Shot" Jackson: dobro
Roy M. Huskey: bass
Howard "Howdy" Forrester: fiddle
Jimmy Riddle: harmonica
__________________________________________________
Recorded In Nashville
Tracks 1-22: Produced by Ken Nelson
Tracks 23 & 24: Produced by Hugh Wyatt
Compiled and annotated by Marshall Crenshaw
Mastered by Steve Hoffman at L.R.S.
Burbank, CA
Assisted by Kevin Gray
Art Direction & Design: Brigid Pearson
Project Coordinator: Rob Kemp
Thanks to: Mike Ragogna, Tom Clark, Dave Booth, Susan King, Lori McCluggage, Gary Newman, Mike Rosenberg, Matt Goldman, Charles Wolfe & The Bear Family
Chart positions refer to Billboard's
Country Singles chart.
Courtesy of Billboard Publications Inc. and Joel Whitburn
_________________________________________________
Without a doubt, Charlie and Ira Louvin were one of the greatest duos in country music. The songs and harmonies of the Louvin Brothers still ring as loud and clear after all these years as they did when they were recorded. Every time I need a shot of heaven, I go and listen to "You're Running Wild." Then, I do.
– Marty Stuart, January 1995
_________________________________________________
After singing professionally on the radio since 1942 using such names as "The Radio Twins" and "The Sand Mountain Playboys," Ira and Charlie Loudermilk decided around 1947 to start billing themselves as "The Louvin Brothers." According to Charlie, "People tended to have trouble with 'Loudermilk.' They pronounced it wrong, spelled it wrong, sometimes even laughed at it." In 1960, when Ira and Charlie both had their last name legally changed to "Louvin," they had achieved success and gained recognition after many years of struggles, with more struggles yet to come. Today, the name "The Louvin Brothers" is known and revered by music fans all over the world.
Lonnie Ira (born April 21, 1924) and Charlie Eizer (born July 7, 1927) grew up in the Sand Mountain area of Alabama and were the only sons in a family of seven children born to Colonel Monero Allen Loudermilk ("Colonel" was his name, not a rank) and his wife Georgiane Elizabeth, the daughter of a Baptist preacher. Colonel and Georgiane needed a lot of kids to help work the family's 23-acre farm and the mainstays of Ira and Charlie's early lives were hard work and music. Colonel had a local reputation as a good clawhammer style banjo player, while Georgiane often sang traditional ballads like "Knoxville Girl" and sentimental songs like "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight." Outside the home, there was music at fiddling contests, dances, all day singings and at church. By the early '30s, the family had a wind-up phonograph and a battery powered radio. The boys and their father became devoted fans of early Grand Ole Opry stars like Uncle Dave Macon, The Fruit Jar Drinkers and especially fellow Alabama natives The Delmore Brothers. Popular singing-brother acts in country music left their mark on Ira and Charlie during the 1930s, including the Bollick Brothers, The Blue Sky Boys, Cliff and Bill Carlisle, and Bill and Charlie Monroe. Certainly Bill Monroe, with his high tenor voice and his mandolin, had an obvious influence on Ira Louvin.
During 1940, the boys began appearing in public as a duo with Ira on mandolin and Charlie on guitar, which Ira had taught him to play. That July 4th, they got paid for the first time for performing. "We sang in the center of a Flying Jenny," remembers Charlie. "It was a sort of homemade merry-go-round and it was powered by mules." After singing all day in the blazing sun, with breaks once an hour for water, Ira and Charlie were paid three dollars each. "That three dollars was six times what our father could make working from daylight to dark on the farm," Charlie added.
Later that summer while working on the farm, the brothers had their minds blown one day by the sight of Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys tearing up the highway in a huge touring car on their way to playa show at the Spring Hill School in Henegar, Alabama (the boys' alma mater). That night while standing outside the school listening (they couldn't afford the 25 cent admission), the brothers agreed that a career in country music was their destiny, do or die. "When we saw Acuff pass by in his car that day, we knew what we wanted to do," Charlie later remembered. "It was just a matter of how to do it."
They spent roughly the next fifteen years having that resolve severely tested, scuffling around the southern circuit, from Chattanooga to Knoxville to Memphis (where they stayed from late 1946 until 1950). They worked various radio shows and played at churches, country schoolhouses, small-town auditoriums and lodge halls. They split up temporarily in 1945 when Charlie joined the Army, and then again in 1951 after losing three successive radio gigs (in Knoxville, TN, Greensboro, NC and Danville, VA) and winding up back in Memphis more or less dead broke.
Throughout all these spells of scuffling and dues paying, the Louvins continued to develop as singers, musicians and songwriters. In 1947, they cut a single for Apollo Records, followed by another in 1949 for Decca and half a dozen more for MGM in 1951-52. In September 1952, the Louvins (through the auspices of publisher Fred Rose and A&R man Ken Nelson) started recording for Capitol, and this is where their fortunes started to take a significant turn for the better. Three months after the release of their first Capitol single, "The Family Who Prays," the brothers received a royalty check for $596.00. Charlie recalled "We didn't dare cash it until we were sure it wasn't a big mistake."
1955 was the year that things started to come together for the Louvins. That March, they became regulars on the Grand Ole Opry, and in May they recorded what was to be their first bonafide hit record, "When I Stop Dreaming." This recording represented a considerable gamble for the Louvins; up to this point, they'd only recorded gospel material for Capitol and had a modest amount of success with it. By recording "When I Stop Dreaming," a secular song, they were at risk of alienating their fans and were told by Ken Nelson that they would be off the label if this occurred. No strangers to disaster, the Louvins were inviting it again, but this time, they struck gold, and it was only the beginning of a period of success that lasted for years. During this time, not only did the Louvin Brothers become one of the most popular country acts of their time, but they also created some of the most beautiful, moving and enduring work in country music history.
The singles and album tracks collected here, whether gospel or secular, are country music at its most startlingly pure. Even on pop-influenced recordings like "You're Learning," the brothers never lost their grounding in the close harmony singing and classic traditional ballads that provided a template for their artistry. "You're Running Wild" rernains a quintessential Louvin Brothers song, a lament whose sentiment is intensified by the yearning blend of Ira and Charlie's vocals. "Cash On The Barrelhead" describes the transient's life that Ira must have been quite familiar with.
In addition to their singles (hits and otherwise), the Louvins recorded a series of outstanding concept albums for Capitol, such as Tragic Songs Of Life, a collection of excellent versions of songs the brothers had known since childhood, including "In The Pines" and "Knoxville Girl." Satan Is Real featured a bizarre Ira Louvin-designed album cover, and included gospel classics like "The River Of Jordan" and "The Kneeling Drunkards Plea." Tributes to boyhood heroes like Roy Acuff and particularly the Delmore Brothers reflected their commitment to the music that influenced them the most.
Recorded and released in 1960, Charlie and Ira Louvin-A Tribute To The Delmore Brothers is certainly a classic, unforgettable country LP, containing some of the Louvins' most inspired and heartfelt performances, represented on this collection by "Southern Moon" and "Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar." While preparing for the recording sessions, Ira and Charlie visited Alton Delmore, who was then retired and in poor health; his brother Rabon died in 1952. The three of them consulted on the final song selection for the LP and as the meeting progressed, Alton became more and more enthusiastic about the project. Suddenly, according to Charlie, "He went under his bed and dug out this tenor guitar case, brought it into the living room and opened it. He said 'There is nobody touched this guitar since Rabon played it. But I'm gonna give it to you to cut this album with ...' And there were some old strings still on Rabon's guitar, and Ira took those home and took 'em off and soaked 'em in kerosene and rubbed 'em and soaked 'em in kerosene again 'til he got 'em alive. And he cut that album with the same strings that Rabon had played on twelve years before."
Among those attending the sessions, lending moral support and musical advice, were Grandpa Jones and Merle Travis, who'd worked extensively with the Delmores on records and radio shows. In fact, Merle Travis came in all the way from California, riding in a camper driven by cowboy singer Johnny Western. "Merle just laid up in bed all the way, 'cause he was so sick he couldn't hardly stand up," Charlie recalled. In many ways, the Delmore tribute represents an artistic high point for the Louvin Brothers.
By the early '60s, Ira's behavior and personal habits became too much for the duo to deal with. Ira Louvin was often compared to a rattlesnake by those who knew him best. Country music history books are filled with tales of his rotten-tempered antics (for a particularly vile example, check out pp. 252-253 of Peter Guralnick's Last Train To Memphis). Years before Pete Townshend ever saw a guitar, Ira was getting the Louvins fired from radio shows and tours with his onstage mandolin-smashing tantrums. For the last few years of his life, he carried three bullets in his back that were put there by his third wife during a drunken brawl. According to Charlie, "(The Delmore Brothers) had the identical, the same setup as Ira and I; one teetotaler and one who couldn't stay sober." Finally, one night in August 1963, Charlie decided to take Ira up on what, until that night, had been idle threats to break up the act. And that was the end of the Louvin Brothers.
Charlie went on to a successful solo career and remains one of the true greats on the Grand Ole Opry. In June 1965, Ira Louvin and his fourth wife, singer Anne Young, were killed in an auto wreck on the way home from a performance in New Bloomfield, Missouri. Ira Louvin is remembered as one of the all-time great country songwriters and musicians and as one half of probably the greatest of all country music duos: the Louvin Brothers.
– Marshall Crenshaw
Woodstock, NY
March 1995
_________________________________________________
Sources for liner notes:
Peter Guralnick, "Last Train To Memphis: The Rise Of Elvis Presley" (Little Brown, 1994); Alton Delmore, "Truth Is Stranger Than Publicity" (Country Music Foundation Press, 1977); and Charles Wolfe, booklet essay for The Louvin Brothers: Close Harmony Bear Family box set BCD-15561 HI
_________________________________________________
The Louvin Brothers
When I Stop Dreaming: The Best of The Louvin Brothers
CD (#888), Cass (#889)
Merle Haggard
The Lonesome Fugitive: The Merle Haggard Anthology (1963-1977)
Featuring the greatest hits from the most vital and enduring country artist alive. Includes every charting' 60s single, featuring the standards Okie From Muskogee, Sing Me Back Home and If We Make It Through December.
2 CDs (#868), 2 Cass (#869)
Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant
Stratosphere Boogie: The Flaming Guitars Of Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant
High-octane western swing from this seminal duo, including Low Man On A Totem Pole, Midnight Ramble and Speedin' West.
CD (#886)
George Jones
Homecoming In Heaven
Jones expresses his faith on this classic' 62 devotional album. Features Peace In The Valley, He Made Me Free and My Cup Runneth Over.
CD (#880), Cass (#881)
Bobby Bare
The Best Of Bobby Bare
All the classics reissued at last from this giant of country music. Includes Detroit City, 500 Miles Away From Home, The Long Block Veil and Four Strong Winds.
CD (#794), Cass (#795)
The Everly Brothers
EB '84
Those heavenly harmonies return on this reunion album, produced by Dave Edmunds and featuring Paul McCartney's On The Wings of A Nightingale and Bob Dylan's Lay, Lady, Lay.
CD (#789)
The Razor & Tie catalog also includes titles by Ivory Joe Hunter, Kenny Rogers and Billie Jo Spears. Drop us a line and let us know what you would like to see reissued.
The Louvin Brothers
When I Stop Dreaming: The Best of The Louvin Brothers
Razor And Tie
888
_______________________________________________
On all tracks:
Ira Louvin: vocals, mandolin
Charles Louvin: vocals, guitar
1. BROAD MINDED
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 9/30/52
Chet Atkins: electric guitar
probably Eddie Hill: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
2. THE FAMILY WHO PRAYS
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 9/30/52
Chet Atkins: electric guitar
probably Eddie Hill: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
3. WHEN I STOP DREAMING
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 5/25/55
Chet Atkins: electric guitar
probably Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
entered chart 9/10/55, peak position: 8
4. PITFALL
(S. Smith/T. Smith)
recorded 5/25/55
Chet Atkins: electric guitar
probably Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
5. DON'T LAUGH
(Rebe Gosdin)
recorded 10/29/55
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Eddie Hill: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
entered chart 3/9/57, peak position: 11
6. I DON'T BELIEVE YOU'VE MET MY BABY
(Autry Inman)
recorded 10/29/55
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Eddie Hill: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
entered chart 1/14/56, peak position: 1
7. HOPING THAT YOU'RE HOPING
(Betty Harrison)
recorded 3/25/56
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: acoustic guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
entered chart 5/26/56, peak position: 7
8. THE FIRST ONE TO LOVE YOU
(Helen Carter)
recorded 3/25/56
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: acoustic guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
9. IN THE PINES
(Alan Riggs)
recorded 5/2/56
Paul Yandell: lead guitar
George McCormick: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. “Lightning” Chance: bass
Murray M. “Buddy” Harman: drums
10. KNOXVILLE GIRL
(Trad. Arr. by Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 5/3/56
Paul Yandell: lead guitar
George McCormick: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. “Lightning” Chance: bass
Murray M. “Buddy” Harman: drums
entered chart 2/16/69, peak position: 19
11. CASH ON THE BARRELHEAD
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 5/4/56
Paul Yandell: lead guitar
Don Helms: steel guitar
George McCormick: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. “Lightning” Chance: bass
Murray M. “Buddy” Harman: drums
Entered chart 10/6/56, peak position: 7
12. YOU'RE RUNNING WILD
(R. Edenton/D. Winters)
recorded 6/28/56
Paul Yandell: lead guitar
Hank Garland: guitar
George McCormick: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Murray M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
entered chart 10/6/59, peak position: 7
13. MY BABY'S GONE
(Hazel Houser)
recorded 4/1/58
Paul Yandell: lead guitar
"Smiley" Wilson: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
entered chart 10/20/58, peak position: 9
14. I WISH IT HAD BEEN A DREAM
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 8/4/58
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
15. WHILE YOU'RE CHEATING ON ME
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 8/4/58
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
16. IF I COULD ONLY WIN YOUR LOVE
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 8/4/58
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
17. YOU'RE LEARNING
(Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 8/5/58
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Hank Garland: guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
18. THE RIVER OF JORDAN
(Hazel Houser)
recorded 8/8/58
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Ray Edenton: rhythm guitar
Hank Garland: guitar
Floyd T. "Lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
19. THE KNEELING DRUNKARD'S PLEA
(H. Carter/A. Carter/J. Carter/M. Carter)
recorded 8/9/58
Paul Yandell: electric guitar
Hank Garland: guitar
George McCormick: guitar, harmony vocal
Floyd T. "lightning" Chance: bass
Marvin Hughes: piano
Murry M. "Buddy" Harman: drums
20. SOUTHERN MOON
(Alton Delmore)
recorded 5/12/60
Jimmy Capps: guitar
Ira Louvin: tenor acoustic guitar
Roy M. Huskey, Jr.: bass
21. GONNA LAY DOWN MY OLD GUITAR
(Alton Delmore)
recorded 5/16/60
Jimmy Capps: guitar
Ira Louvin: tenor acoustic guitar
Roy M. Huskey, Jr.: bass
22. THE GREAT ATOMIC POWER
(B. Dane/Ira Louvin/Charles Louvin)
recorded 7/26/61
Ray Edenton: guitar
Roy M. Huskey, Jr.: bass
23. WRECK ON THE HIGHWAY
(Dorsey Dixon)
recorded 6/21/62
Lloyd "Cowboy" Copas: guitar
Jimmy Capps: guitar
Harold Bradley: guitar
Harold B. "Shot" Jackson: dobro
Roy M. Huskey: bass
Howard "Howdy" Forrester: fiddle
Jimmy Riddle: harmonica
24. STUCK UP BLUES
(Roy Acuff)
recorded 6/22/62
Lloyd "Cowboy" Copas: guitar
Jimmy Capps: guitar
Harold Bradley: guitar
Harold B. "Shot" Jackson: dobro
Roy M. Huskey: bass
Howard "Howdy" Forrester: fiddle
Jimmy Riddle: harmonica
__________________________________________________
Recorded In Nashville
Tracks 1-22: Produced by Ken Nelson
Tracks 23 & 24: Produced by Hugh Wyatt
Compiled and annotated by Marshall Crenshaw
Mastered by Steve Hoffman at L.R.S.
Burbank, CA
Assisted by Kevin Gray
Art Direction & Design: Brigid Pearson
Project Coordinator: Rob Kemp
Thanks to: Mike Ragogna, Tom Clark, Dave Booth, Susan King, Lori McCluggage, Gary Newman, Mike Rosenberg, Matt Goldman, Charles Wolfe & The Bear Family
Chart positions refer to Billboard's
Country Singles chart.
Courtesy of Billboard Publications Inc. and Joel Whitburn
_________________________________________________
Without a doubt, Charlie and Ira Louvin were one of the greatest duos in country music. The songs and harmonies of the Louvin Brothers still ring as loud and clear after all these years as they did when they were recorded. Every time I need a shot of heaven, I go and listen to "You're Running Wild." Then, I do.
– Marty Stuart, January 1995
_________________________________________________
After singing professionally on the radio since 1942 using such names as "The Radio Twins" and "The Sand Mountain Playboys," Ira and Charlie Loudermilk decided around 1947 to start billing themselves as "The Louvin Brothers." According to Charlie, "People tended to have trouble with 'Loudermilk.' They pronounced it wrong, spelled it wrong, sometimes even laughed at it." In 1960, when Ira and Charlie both had their last name legally changed to "Louvin," they had achieved success and gained recognition after many years of struggles, with more struggles yet to come. Today, the name "The Louvin Brothers" is known and revered by music fans all over the world.
Lonnie Ira (born April 21, 1924) and Charlie Eizer (born July 7, 1927) grew up in the Sand Mountain area of Alabama and were the only sons in a family of seven children born to Colonel Monero Allen Loudermilk ("Colonel" was his name, not a rank) and his wife Georgiane Elizabeth, the daughter of a Baptist preacher. Colonel and Georgiane needed a lot of kids to help work the family's 23-acre farm and the mainstays of Ira and Charlie's early lives were hard work and music. Colonel had a local reputation as a good clawhammer style banjo player, while Georgiane often sang traditional ballads like "Knoxville Girl" and sentimental songs like "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight." Outside the home, there was music at fiddling contests, dances, all day singings and at church. By the early '30s, the family had a wind-up phonograph and a battery powered radio. The boys and their father became devoted fans of early Grand Ole Opry stars like Uncle Dave Macon, The Fruit Jar Drinkers and especially fellow Alabama natives The Delmore Brothers. Popular singing-brother acts in country music left their mark on Ira and Charlie during the 1930s, including the Bollick Brothers, The Blue Sky Boys, Cliff and Bill Carlisle, and Bill and Charlie Monroe. Certainly Bill Monroe, with his high tenor voice and his mandolin, had an obvious influence on Ira Louvin.
During 1940, the boys began appearing in public as a duo with Ira on mandolin and Charlie on guitar, which Ira had taught him to play. That July 4th, they got paid for the first time for performing. "We sang in the center of a Flying Jenny," remembers Charlie. "It was a sort of homemade merry-go-round and it was powered by mules." After singing all day in the blazing sun, with breaks once an hour for water, Ira and Charlie were paid three dollars each. "That three dollars was six times what our father could make working from daylight to dark on the farm," Charlie added.
Later that summer while working on the farm, the brothers had their minds blown one day by the sight of Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys tearing up the highway in a huge touring car on their way to playa show at the Spring Hill School in Henegar, Alabama (the boys' alma mater). That night while standing outside the school listening (they couldn't afford the 25 cent admission), the brothers agreed that a career in country music was their destiny, do or die. "When we saw Acuff pass by in his car that day, we knew what we wanted to do," Charlie later remembered. "It was just a matter of how to do it."
They spent roughly the next fifteen years having that resolve severely tested, scuffling around the southern circuit, from Chattanooga to Knoxville to Memphis (where they stayed from late 1946 until 1950). They worked various radio shows and played at churches, country schoolhouses, small-town auditoriums and lodge halls. They split up temporarily in 1945 when Charlie joined the Army, and then again in 1951 after losing three successive radio gigs (in Knoxville, TN, Greensboro, NC and Danville, VA) and winding up back in Memphis more or less dead broke.
Throughout all these spells of scuffling and dues paying, the Louvins continued to develop as singers, musicians and songwriters. In 1947, they cut a single for Apollo Records, followed by another in 1949 for Decca and half a dozen more for MGM in 1951-52. In September 1952, the Louvins (through the auspices of publisher Fred Rose and A&R man Ken Nelson) started recording for Capitol, and this is where their fortunes started to take a significant turn for the better. Three months after the release of their first Capitol single, "The Family Who Prays," the brothers received a royalty check for $596.00. Charlie recalled "We didn't dare cash it until we were sure it wasn't a big mistake."
1955 was the year that things started to come together for the Louvins. That March, they became regulars on the Grand Ole Opry, and in May they recorded what was to be their first bonafide hit record, "When I Stop Dreaming." This recording represented a considerable gamble for the Louvins; up to this point, they'd only recorded gospel material for Capitol and had a modest amount of success with it. By recording "When I Stop Dreaming," a secular song, they were at risk of alienating their fans and were told by Ken Nelson that they would be off the label if this occurred. No strangers to disaster, the Louvins were inviting it again, but this time, they struck gold, and it was only the beginning of a period of success that lasted for years. During this time, not only did the Louvin Brothers become one of the most popular country acts of their time, but they also created some of the most beautiful, moving and enduring work in country music history.
The singles and album tracks collected here, whether gospel or secular, are country music at its most startlingly pure. Even on pop-influenced recordings like "You're Learning," the brothers never lost their grounding in the close harmony singing and classic traditional ballads that provided a template for their artistry. "You're Running Wild" rernains a quintessential Louvin Brothers song, a lament whose sentiment is intensified by the yearning blend of Ira and Charlie's vocals. "Cash On The Barrelhead" describes the transient's life that Ira must have been quite familiar with.
In addition to their singles (hits and otherwise), the Louvins recorded a series of outstanding concept albums for Capitol, such as Tragic Songs Of Life, a collection of excellent versions of songs the brothers had known since childhood, including "In The Pines" and "Knoxville Girl." Satan Is Real featured a bizarre Ira Louvin-designed album cover, and included gospel classics like "The River Of Jordan" and "The Kneeling Drunkards Plea." Tributes to boyhood heroes like Roy Acuff and particularly the Delmore Brothers reflected their commitment to the music that influenced them the most.
Recorded and released in 1960, Charlie and Ira Louvin-A Tribute To The Delmore Brothers is certainly a classic, unforgettable country LP, containing some of the Louvins' most inspired and heartfelt performances, represented on this collection by "Southern Moon" and "Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar." While preparing for the recording sessions, Ira and Charlie visited Alton Delmore, who was then retired and in poor health; his brother Rabon died in 1952. The three of them consulted on the final song selection for the LP and as the meeting progressed, Alton became more and more enthusiastic about the project. Suddenly, according to Charlie, "He went under his bed and dug out this tenor guitar case, brought it into the living room and opened it. He said 'There is nobody touched this guitar since Rabon played it. But I'm gonna give it to you to cut this album with ...' And there were some old strings still on Rabon's guitar, and Ira took those home and took 'em off and soaked 'em in kerosene and rubbed 'em and soaked 'em in kerosene again 'til he got 'em alive. And he cut that album with the same strings that Rabon had played on twelve years before."
Among those attending the sessions, lending moral support and musical advice, were Grandpa Jones and Merle Travis, who'd worked extensively with the Delmores on records and radio shows. In fact, Merle Travis came in all the way from California, riding in a camper driven by cowboy singer Johnny Western. "Merle just laid up in bed all the way, 'cause he was so sick he couldn't hardly stand up," Charlie recalled. In many ways, the Delmore tribute represents an artistic high point for the Louvin Brothers.
By the early '60s, Ira's behavior and personal habits became too much for the duo to deal with. Ira Louvin was often compared to a rattlesnake by those who knew him best. Country music history books are filled with tales of his rotten-tempered antics (for a particularly vile example, check out pp. 252-253 of Peter Guralnick's Last Train To Memphis). Years before Pete Townshend ever saw a guitar, Ira was getting the Louvins fired from radio shows and tours with his onstage mandolin-smashing tantrums. For the last few years of his life, he carried three bullets in his back that were put there by his third wife during a drunken brawl. According to Charlie, "(The Delmore Brothers) had the identical, the same setup as Ira and I; one teetotaler and one who couldn't stay sober." Finally, one night in August 1963, Charlie decided to take Ira up on what, until that night, had been idle threats to break up the act. And that was the end of the Louvin Brothers.
Charlie went on to a successful solo career and remains one of the true greats on the Grand Ole Opry. In June 1965, Ira Louvin and his fourth wife, singer Anne Young, were killed in an auto wreck on the way home from a performance in New Bloomfield, Missouri. Ira Louvin is remembered as one of the all-time great country songwriters and musicians and as one half of probably the greatest of all country music duos: the Louvin Brothers.
– Marshall Crenshaw
Woodstock, NY
March 1995
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Sources for liner notes:
Peter Guralnick, "Last Train To Memphis: The Rise Of Elvis Presley" (Little Brown, 1994); Alton Delmore, "Truth Is Stranger Than Publicity" (Country Music Foundation Press, 1977); and Charles Wolfe, booklet essay for The Louvin Brothers: Close Harmony Bear Family box set BCD-15561 HI
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Order Your Favorite Razor & Tie Titles By Phone Or Mail
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Listed below is a selection of available Razor & Tie titles.
Call 1-800-443-3555. To order by mail or to request a free catalog, write to:
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Listed below is a selection of available Razor & Tie titles.
The Louvin Brothers
When I Stop Dreaming: The Best of The Louvin Brothers
CD (#888), Cass (#889)
Merle Haggard
The Lonesome Fugitive: The Merle Haggard Anthology (1963-1977)
Featuring the greatest hits from the most vital and enduring country artist alive. Includes every charting' 60s single, featuring the standards Okie From Muskogee, Sing Me Back Home and If We Make It Through December.
2 CDs (#868), 2 Cass (#869)
Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant
Stratosphere Boogie: The Flaming Guitars Of Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant
High-octane western swing from this seminal duo, including Low Man On A Totem Pole, Midnight Ramble and Speedin' West.
CD (#886)
George Jones
Homecoming In Heaven
Jones expresses his faith on this classic' 62 devotional album. Features Peace In The Valley, He Made Me Free and My Cup Runneth Over.
CD (#880), Cass (#881)
Bobby Bare
The Best Of Bobby Bare
All the classics reissued at last from this giant of country music. Includes Detroit City, 500 Miles Away From Home, The Long Block Veil and Four Strong Winds.
CD (#794), Cass (#795)
The Everly Brothers
EB '84
Those heavenly harmonies return on this reunion album, produced by Dave Edmunds and featuring Paul McCartney's On The Wings of A Nightingale and Bob Dylan's Lay, Lady, Lay.
CD (#789)
The Razor & Tie catalog also includes titles by Ivory Joe Hunter, Kenny Rogers and Billie Jo Spears. Drop us a line and let us know what you would like to see reissued.
