Are you afraid to die? - The Louvin Brothers

There's a surge of old country and gospel in my (digital!) record collection. I like everything from cheesy oooh-oooh and pom-pom-pom choirs of overproduced late 50's and early 60's country pop to god-fearing gospel of the forties. There's a place in my heart for George Jones, Patsy Cline, Faron Young and Buck Owens (and the Buckaroos, naturally!). I love overblown string orchestrations and the fiddles that are thrown in for good measure in some songs. Spoken love-lorn lyrics about death and longing. Who can resist classic lines such as "There's a tear in my eye / it's not water"? Nobody, that's who! (Tougher stuff like Hank Williams is fantastic, too, but in a somewhat different way)

The Louvin brothers, Charlie and Ira, started making gospel music in the forties. Their real name is "Loudermilk" but "Louvin" was apparently easier to pronounce. They're from Henegar, Alabama. In the mid-fifties their style was widened to include "secular" material as well even though they have little in common with the sound of more pop-oriented acts. They even toured with Elvis in the beginning of his career. There were lots of "brother-duos" before them, so they were not a one-of-a-kind phenomenon. Their perhaps best known album is Satan is real from 1959. The band split up in 1963. Ira died in a car crash in 1965 (along with his 4th wife). His brother went solo.

She picked up that silver dagger
and plunged it through her lily breast
Saying "Goodbye Mama, goodbye Papa,
I''ll die for the one I love the best"

Nick Cave's Murder ballads is a funny collection of murder ballads. You don't take these songs seriously. The Louvins made murder ballads, too. But instead of tongue-in-cheek, the style they pursue is grave and direct. The same goes for their religious material. Titles such as "Kneel at the cross", "The Christian Life" and "Leaning on the everlasting arms" speak for themselves. Their songs have been covered - by the Byrds, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, among others - but these artists make the songs their own. Ira & Charlie sing in close harmony, a style that pretty much resembles The Everly Brothers. But, be warned, there's hardly any puppy love to be found here:

Are You a stranger to God?
carried away by your pride?
tell me sinner did you ever step to think
Are you afraid to die?

What are The Louvin brothers? Their music makes me smile ironically. I laugh at the campy cover art of Satan is real (a plywood Satan). How can that stuff be serious? But the music of The Louvin Brothers is spooky, it crawls under your skin and you start wondering who the hell these folks are. Ira was an alcoholic, according to one source "He sang like an angel but he could be as mean as a striped snake, almost as famous for his drunken, mandolin-smashing tantrums as for his hair-raising tenor." Charlie was more of a business man who has kept up a prolific career for many years. The band members is a mystery, but then there's the question: who listened to The Louvin brothers? How did their contemporaries receive them? Did rock n' roll kids appreciate them? Were they favorites among worshipping Christian? Was their music heard as the white robed men got ready for a KKK rally? Or did Ira & Charlie provide folks with a quick jesus fix before hitting the bar? In what spirit did people listen to them? I know there's a lot of religious themes in pop in the US and elsewhere, nothing strange about that, but this is something different. It's how the stern message and the sometimes jaunty sound of the songs create highly contradictory music ("....you can't find the lord too soon!" is a really, really strange song: chipper barrelhouse piano combined with lyrics bemoaning the fallen state of man....).

It's their attitude that spooks me. Matter-of-factedly, they croon about redemption and judgment day. Something ain't right in these songs. I don't get this feeling by The Carter Family, for example, whose music seems to be quite uncomplicated, earnest gospel. But the Louvins! The singing is so sweet, twangy, yet stern, while the arrangements (mandolin!) stick to the basics. I mean, they look so tidy! I start imagining things. The Louvins snorting a line. The Louvins at the strip joints (never parting ways). The Louvins in a chicken race. The Louvins on a merry hunting trip. The Louvins watch soap operas while tripping on pills ("man...satan is real!" - maybe that's how the idea for the album cover was born).

If I ever write a novel, it will probably be about the Louvin brothers (there's already a biography). For some reason, they kickstart my imagination. But does this music bemuse me & confuse me simply because I know nothing about the tradition of gospel music?

Satan is real
working in spirit
you can see him and hear him
in this world every day

satan is real
working in power
he can tempt you
and lead you astray.

(there's a youtube clip of a Louvin brother performance and a clip from a radio show!)