| When Phil and I hit that one spot where I call it The Everly Brothers, I don't know where it is, 'cause it's not me and it's not him. It's the two of us together. | | | | |  | At least the harmonies were close: Phil (left) and Don Everly at the Bitter End, New York, Jan. 23, 1969.
(PoPsie Randolph/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) | | | | | "When Phil and I hit that one spot where I call it The Everly Brothers, I don't know where it is, 'cause it's not me and it's not him. It's the two of us together." | | | | Brothers in Harms
Rock and pop writers have long romanticized the notion of the little-known but hugely influential band, which only a smattering of people ever see but every one of them immediately runs out and starts a band of their own. The EVERLY BROTHERS were a strange, singular variation on that theme: hugely popular for a brief window—15 top-10 hits, all in a five-year span between 1957 and 1962—but everyone who heard any of those hits, or, really, anything else the Everlys did in a career that continued long after that window closed, immediately ran out and started singing in close two-part harmony. Such was the power of the deeply entwined voices of two brothers, one a baritone and one a tenor, who rarely ventured more than a major third away from each other, who sounded like they had been breathing in sync from the day they were born, and who seemed to instinctively understand what each other was going to do every time they got anywhere near their signature double-microphone stand, which kept them less than a guitar-width apart at almost all times—as if their physical distance from each other could never be greater than the interval between their notes, as if that was how the magic worked. In reality, of course, it took more than magic. It wasn't completely instinctive. Both were well-schooled in harmony singing, and PHIL, who almost always sang the harmony line, frequently pointed out that it required unwavering concentration to follow his older brother DON, who generally sang the leads. Staying that close takes a lot of work, whether in music or in relationships. Don and Phil Everly were better at the former than the latter. There were, over time, drugs, flame-outs, long periods of separation and one infamous smashed guitar. Regular brotherly stuff, Don would say later in life. The rock and pop landscape is littered with brothers who inherited that influence from them, too.
The Everlys learned close-harmony singing from predecessors including the DELMORE BROTHERS and the LOUVIN BROTHERS and, arriving at the dawn of the rock and roll era, spread that style far and wide. They were one of rock's great connectors. They existed comfortably in the country, rock and pop worlds—they're members of both the rock and country halls of fame—and their influence followed down each of those paths. Their run of hits ended, not coincidentally, with the arrival of the BEATLES, who were huge fans and students of those harmonies. Their run of influence kept going long after. Their 1965 song "MAN WITH MONEY" is an astonishing proto-punk-rock two-minute mini-opera about planning a robbery to get the attention of a woman; it was quickly covered by the WHO. Three years later, they released a country covers album, ROOTS, which helped kick-start the country-rock movement along with the BYRDS' SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO, released the same year. "Roots" produced no hits, didn't sell anything to speak of, and is now considered a classic, which, in its own way, actually makes them that hugely influential band that only a smattering of people ever saw. Achievement unlocked.
Don Everly was also, it should be noted, a hell of a songwriter and rhythm guitar player. He died Saturday, seven years after his brother, at age 84. The harmonies live on, in scores of pop, rock, country and beyond songs that employ two-part harmony. Everyone, literally everyone, has heard "ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM" and "CATHY'S CLOWN," including those who think they've never heard them. They live under the skin of modern popular music, as inseparable from the music that followed as those two voices were from each other.
Didn't Make It Through the Rain
Is there a better metaphor for the tone-deafness of pushing ahead with your maskless Covid-is-over comeback concert despite Covid not being over and actually enjoying something of a comeback itself than *still* trying to push ahead with the concert in the middle of lightning strikes, with a tropical storm approaching and city officials having already ordered 60,000 people to leave the premises immediately and find a place to huddle indoors in the middle of, reminder, a resurgent pandemic? The capacity of humans to ignore what's happening in front of their faces, even when it's in the form of torrential sheets of water literally slapping their faces, continues to amaze me. The all-star rap set headlined by LL COOL J, one of the performances that actually happened at "WE LOVE NYC: THE HOMECOMING CONCERT" before it morphed from a small debacle into a big one, was fully worthwhile even if it was sad to see RUN perform "IT'S TRICKY" without DMC. It was also one of the few performances to feature people from New York, the city whose comeback was allegedly being celebrated. If the rain hadn't started while another New York native, BARRY MANILOW, was onstage, I would have assumed the skies were sending a message to the event's booking team, and I would have been on the sky's side. (Kudos though—seriously—to ANDERSON COOPER's time-killing interviews on CNN with Manilow, PATTI SMITH and other canceled performers while his network, which had been airing the concert live, continued to insist it wasn't over)... Kudos also to LAURA JANE GRACE, who made it through her concert earlier Saturday at the infamous FOUR SEASONS TOTAL LANDSCAPING in Philadelphia. "I've played Giants Stadium. I've played Wembley. Sang on stage with CYNDI LAUPER. Written songs with WEEZER. Been on stage with JOAN JETT. None of that compares to this," Grace said of a show that the Philadelphia Inquirer correctly called "a big hit! Huge! Probably the best concert ever!" There was a crowdsurfing cardboard cutout of RUDY GIULIANI.
Rest in Peace
Another member of the Country Music Hall of Fame is gone: singing/songwriting great TOM T. HALL, who was known in Nashville as "The Storyteller." Among the many stories Hall told were "That's How I Got to Memphis," sung most famously by Bobby Bare; "Harper Valley P.T.A.," a major pop and country hit for Jeannie C. Riley, and "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine," which was inspired by his experience at the 1972 Democratic National Convention and which he took to the top of the country charts himself... Pioneering salsa musician LARRY HARLOW, the only non-Latino bandleader signed to Fania Records, was affectionately known as El Judío Maravilloso ("The Marvelous Jew"). He was a co-founder of the Fania All-Stars, producer of over 250 albums for other artists and the driving force in persuading the Grammy Awards to create an award for Latin music in 1976... American conductor MICHAEL MORGAN... Spanish record executive JOSÉ MARÍA CÁMARA.
| | | | Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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| | |  | | Rolling Stone |
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| | Tales of Bohemian Living with The Lounge Lizards in 1979 New York | | by John Lurie | | John Lurie on the days of sex, drugs, and car crash jazz. (Excerpted from his memoir, "The History of Bones.") | |  | | Texas Monthly |
| | The 20 Essential Texas Rap Tracks | | by Kiana Fitzgerald, Paula Mejía, Matt Sonzala... | | The East Coast may have invented rap, but today the Lone Star State rules the hip-hop world. Here's a song-by-song history of how that happened. | |  | | The Guardian |
| | Billie, Lorde, Lizzo: has being a female pop star in 2021 become unbearable? | | by Laura Snapes | | New releases by three pop icons reveal their extreme attempts to protect themselves from the damage caused by fame. Pop stardom has never seemed less aspirational. | |  | | Aurora Flores |
| | Larry Harlow, salsa pianist/bandleader and Fania All-Star known as El Judio Maravilloso passes into ancestry | | by Aurora Flores | | Larry Harlow was a marvel in modernizing Latin music while sticking to the roots. | |  | | The Tennessean |
| | Tom T. Hall, 'The Storyteller' of country music, dies at 85 | | by Matthew Leimkuehler | | The influential country songwriter captured life's intimate details with lighthearted songs such as "I Like Beer," penned the classic "That's How I Got To Memphis" and showcased era-defining sharpness with "Harper Valley PTA." | |  | | NPR Music |
| | Why Do We Need Dolly To Be A Saint? | | by Amanda Marie Martinez | | Media outlets have become so quick to feed the public feel-good stories about the singer that routine fact-checking seems to be getting overlooked, as a recently viral story shows. | |  | | Salon |
| | A feminist reckoning for six Beyoncé songs | | by Sloane Kali Faye | | Queen Bey is independent, sex-positive and successful, but how empowering are her lyrics and business practices? | |  | | GQ |
| | How 'Grand Theft Auto' Cast an Enigmatic Dance Music Legend | | by Mike Rubin | | Moodymann grants a rare interview reflecting on his legacy, his fascination with Prince, and his appearance as a main character in one of the world's most popular video games. | | | on the wings of a nightingale |
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|  | | Culture Notes of an Honest Broker |
| | Did Music Create Human Rights? | | by Ted Gioia | | The first songs to express personal emotions appeared more than 3,000 years ago in Deir el-Medina, a village on the Nile. By coincidence this was also the location of the first successful labor protest in history. | |  | | The New York Times |
| | Afghan School With an All-Female Orchestra Fears the Taliban's Return | | by Javier C. Hernández | | Some students worry that the school will be shut down and that they will not be allowed to play again, even as a hobby. | |  | | Trapital |
| | 24kGoldn on TikTok Success, Investments, and Record Label Deals | | by Dan Runcie and 24kGoldn | | 24kGoldn is a chart-topping hip-hop artist and songwriter who was born and raised in San Francisco. In this episode, he talks about the opportunities he has gotten since "Mood" shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the middle of the pandemic. | | | | The Guardian |
| | Devoted to You: the indelible influence of the Everly Brothers | | by Alexis Petridis | | From Neil Young to Keith Richards, a generation of musicians revered Phil and Don's haunting music. | |  | | Los Angeles Times |
| | Meet the archivist who saved the historic footage that became 'Summer of Soul' | | by Stephen Battaglio | | How Joe Lauro of Historic Films uncovered the trove of 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival footage for the Sundance Festival winner. | |  | | Billboard |
| | Executive of the Week: Billie Eilish Co-Managers Danny Rukasin and Brandon Goodman | | by Lyndsey Havens | | As Billie Eilish tops the Billboard 200 for a second week with Happier Than Ever, her co-managers discuss why physical works with her "golden-era aesthetic." | |  | | The Philadelphia Inquirer |
| | The Four Seasons Total Landscaping concert was a big hit! Huge! Probably the best concert ever! | | by Stephanie Farr | | "I've played Giants Stadium...Written songs with Weezer. Been on stage with Joan Jett. None of that compares to this," Laura Jane Grace said of performing at Four Seasons Total Landscaping Saturday. | |  | | Talkhouse |
| | An Explanation and Brief History of Pile | | by Rick Maguire | | Rick Maguire on the evolution of the band, and his new album "Songs Known Together, Alone." | |  | | Variety |
| | Sparks' Ron and Russell Mael on the Creation of 'Annette' and 'Overcoming All the Expectations of a Movie Musical' | | by Chris Willman | | "What haven't we tried before? Go mainstream!" jokes Ron Mael, as the duo invades homes everywhere with the Amazon Prime Video bow of their decade-in-the-making dream project. | | | | The New York Times |
| | The Struggle to Save a House of Music, and Its Legacy | | by Aida Alami | | For decades, the Tangier home of Abdellah El Gourd has been a wellspring of the Gnawa musical tradition and a place of pilgrimage for jazz performers. But it has fallen into deep disrepair. | | | | That's Don on the right, singing the lead. | Australian TV concert doc, 1971. | | | Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech | | "REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in
everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask 'why?'" | | |  | | | Jason Hirschhorn | | CEO & Chief Curator | | |  |
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