Charlie Louvin

Album review

Charlie Louvin has been singing on his own for more than four decades, but he'll still always be known above all else as the lower-voiced half of country's famed Louvin Brothers. Every so often Charlie -- his brother, Ira Louvin, died in 1965 -- trots out a new album to remind fans that he's still going strong, and this time -- for his first new studio set in a decade -- he's got a lot of help to assist in making the point. Among the guests lending a hand here are George Jones, the omnipresent Elvis Costello, Marty Stuart, Tom T. Hall, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, and members of contemporary rock and country bands such as Superchunk, Clem Snide, and Lambchop, all invited into the proceedings by producer Mark Nevers. As is often the case when superstars pay tribute to admired old-timers by mixing it up with them, be it Jerry Lee Lewis or Ray Charles or Charlie Louvin, the innate talent of the old-timer, if egos are kept in check, only gets magnified, and that's a good thing indeed. Louvin's voice has weathered plenty over the years, but he's still a master, and though there are little touches of rock and other contemporary sounds injected (not surprising, perhaps, because the Louvins were among the first to use electric guitar in country), more often than not the visitors find their space in Louvin's groove and ornament it without getting in his face. There are Louvin Brothers classics here, including "The Christian Life," once recorded by the Byrds, and -- with Tweedy in tow -- 1952's "Great Atomic Power," co-written with Buddy Bain and as relevant today as it was at the start of the Cold War era. Jones and Stuart lend vocals and mandolin, respectively, to Jimmie Rodgers' "Waiting for a Train," and Stuart returns, along with Hall and Bobby Bare, Sr., for the oft-recorded "Blues Stay Away from Me," written by one of the other great sibling harmony acts, the Delmore Brothers. But it's not until the album's penultimate track, "Ira," that the full emotional depth of Charlie Louvin's singing and songwriting is fully exposed. A tribute to his late brother ("I still hear you, off in the distance, your sweet harmony"), it's touching and sweet, the perfect juxtaposition to Charlie Louvin's voice, road-weary but still carrying the torch.
© Jeff Tamarkin /TiVo