Herland Sister Resources

By Jill Garner

Through the 1950s into the early 60s, Charlie and Ira Louvin, influenced by the close-harmony country brother duets of the Blue Sky Boys, the Delmore Brothers, the Callahans Brothers and the Monroe Brothers, made their mark on the music world. With Ira’s incredibly high tenor and Charlie’s smooth melody tenor, the duo began with gospel and then convinced the record company to let them move into non-secular music. It worked for them and the Louvin’s have influenced a wide range of artists from Johnny Cash, the Everly Brothers, Gram Parsons and Elvis Costello. Emmylou Harris had her first hit with “If I Could Only Win Your Love” and the Louvin’s themselves scored with “Cash on the Barrelhead” and “When I Stop Dreaming” among many others.

This CD, Songs of the Louvin Brothers, consists of duets by many well-known artists, and a few not so well known. I love it and all the combinations work for me. Most of the duets are male/female with the women doing Ira’s part because not many men can sing like he could. All are big fans of the Louvin’s and jumped into this project willingly, thanks in large part to Ira Louvin’s daughter Kathy, who sings on the lively “I Wish You Knew”, and Carl Jackson, a wonderful singer and musician who appears on several songs on the collection.

One of my favorite duets on the CD is “When I Stop Dreaming” sung by Glen Campbell and Leslie Satcher. Satcher is an incredible singer who I’ve been blessed to be a fan of since I first heard her on a Gram Parson’s collection. A couple of more unlikely duets that I can’t get enough of are James Taylor and Alison Krauss on “How’s the World Treating You?” and Vince Gill and Terri Clark singing “I Can’t Keep You in Love With Me”. All have incredible voices and to hear the harmony they do is just inspiring. Linda Ronstadt adds her talent along with Carl Jackson on “The New Partner Waltz”, and two of my very favorites, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, team up beautifully on “My Baby’s Gone”. Patty Loveless sings with one of my new favorite male voices, Jon Randall, on “Are You Teasing Me”, Ronnie Dunn (from Brooks and Dunn) and Rebecca Lynn Howard meld on “If I Could Only Win Your Love”, and Rhonda Vincent, Dolly Parton and Pam Tillis all sing songs on this collection.

This is one I highly recommend. Not only are there some of the most beautiful female voices on these songs, but the harmony that the Louvin brothers were loved for is recreated with all of these duets. It’s truly a fitting tribute. and I only wish it were a box set because 15 songs just aren’t enough. The Louvins split up as a duo in 1963 and Ira Louvin was killed in a car accident in 1965. But their legacy lives on and if you’ve never heard of them, let this collection be your first introduction. Hopefully you’ll be inspired to want more.