1,725.) Mon Aug. 23, 2021

RIP Don Everly (1937-2021)

The Song of the Day is:

The Everly Brothers – “Bye Bye Love”

From the album The Everly Brothers (1957)

Bye bye love
Bye bye happiness
Hello loneliness
I think I’m a gonna cry

Bye bye love
Bye bye sweet caress
Hello emptiness
I feel like I could die
Bye bye my love goodbye

Felice Bryant – Boudleaux Bryant

Sadly, we are really moving far away from the genesis of rock and roll , and the passing of Don Everly just helps illustrate that fact. Don Everly was one half of the legendary Everly Brothers act, one of early rock and roll’s more eclectic acts. Along with his younger brother Phil (d. 2014), his music was a harmonious hybrid of country, folk and rockabilly. It was never rock and roll in the sense that we picture with Elvis or Chuck Berry, as they weren’t particularly interested in intricate instrumental parts or creating a rollicking sense of youthful rebellion. No, the Everlys were traditionalists, essentially. What other act would even consider recording a collection of hillbillyfolk tunes from generations prior like the brothers did with their Songs Our Daddy Taught Us album (one of rock’s earliest concept records, released at their peak in 1958). Their close harmony singing was completely homebred and it had lasting effects on rock and roll that would echo through the likes of Simon & Garfunkel to Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Beach Boys and the Beatles. Their influence can still be heard throughout modern music as well, as nearly any roots-based close harmony pop or rock group has followed the Brothers’ blueprint. “Bye Bye Love” is as famous as any of their classic hits, and was only their second single. Also among their arsenal are “Wake Up, Little Susie”, “All I Have to Do is Dream”, “Bird Dog”, “Cathy’s Clown”, “Let It Be Me”, “When Will I Be Loved”, “Walk Right Back”, and “Gone, Gone, Gone”. While the brothers had a lot support from the legendary husband and wife songwriting team of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, they were also quiet capable of own hit material, either together or separately. While Phil Everly was a bit more vocally driven (he would tend to sing the tenor part, while Don sang the baritone) and was generally considered to be the more prolific songwriter, there was little mistaking that older brother Don was the greater guitarist (his opening to “Wake Up, Little Susie” is especially iconic). The brothers managed to keep their peak years extended into the mid-sixties and they did take a break from 1973-1983, but otherwise they would casually perform together until Phil’s 2014 passing of COPD. Don, who did release three solo albums in the mid-seventies, died this Saturday at the age of 84; no cause of death was reported (pictured above on the right, he is usually darker-haired, which is often curly). Sadly, this leaves just Jerry Lee Lewis as the last survivor of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s first class (and if the field is extended to the second class, only Smokey Robinson would be added as a survivor).

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