the great charlie louvin is dead, more or less the last of his generation.
i'd have to say that 'satan is real' was the best record cover ever produced. (i don't believe in god. but i do have this funny feeling that satan is real.) but if you think of this stuff as mere kitsch or something, you're wrong. it is deep and beautiful american music. (the emmylou verse on the costello duet is shattering.) and if you find 'kneeling drunkard's plea' amusing, you ain't been there. sometimes country music just yields a perfect soundtrack for, say, a marriage. "when i stop dreaming: the best of the louvin brothers" did the job for me. i remember going to the opry circa 1990 with the society for the advancement of american philosophy. all the wise people were snickering when little charlie louvin came on, cept for me and my music buddy doug anderson. instead, we were shivering. it was like seeing jesus. i used to see emmylou at coffee houses and stuff around dc in the early or mid- seventies; she was already working up several louvin brothers songs, as i recall, which is where i first heard this material. here's royce and jeannie, the kendalls:
(the kendalls did have a hit on this. the way i hear it they made it into a song about the death of a child: our baby's gone. wait maybe i hallucinated that. but anyway it expresses that unreal feeling: how can the whole world just keep going?) man i dig that video of 'don't laugh': no idea who it is, maybe three generations in a kitchen, with 65 hits. but a lovely, straightforward reading. well white people are naturally musical. if you want to know how to end a country song, listen to 'running wild.'
