Don Everly RIP

Yet another link with the earliest days of rock and roll has been broken by the death, aged 84, of Don Everly. I loved the sweet harmonies of the Everlies from their first hits on Cadence - 'Bye Bye Love', 'Wake Up Little Susie', 'Should We Tell Him', 'All I Have To Do Is Dream', 'Bird Dog', 'Problems', 'Poor Jenny', ('Til) I Kissed You', 'Let It Be Me', 'When Will I Be Loved' and 'Like Strangers' - many of them written by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant. All of them gems. When they moved to Warner Brothers in 1960 their fans feared that the quality might deteriorate. But songs like 'Cathy's Clown, 'Walk Right Back', 'Crying In The Rain', 'How Can I Meet Her' and 'No One Can Make My Sunshine Smile' maintained a high standard. However their career was affected by Wesley Rose's ban on them recording songs written by the Bryants or themselves after their move to Warners. Eventually the onslaught of the Mersey sound dented the Everlies' ability to have major chart hits, even in the UK where they were more successful than in the States in the mid sixties. Animosity between the two brothers did not help, resulting in the duo splitting up in 1973. Both brothers recorded as solo artists with Don having success in the country charts, but they were always better together than alone and they reunited at a reunion concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1983. They toured again and recorded sporadically and their live performances showed just what the music world had been missing in the intervening years. Their influence, on everyone from the Beatles to the Beach Boys and just about every other harmony group since, was immense. When I kept my personal top ten from 1960 to 1965 the Everly Brothers had more chart entries (23) than any other artist (even Sam Cooke) and this was largely because they recorded so many wonderful double sided records. Who can forget 'I Wonder If I Care As Much', 'Maybe Tomorrow', 'Claudette', 'Devoted To You', 'Love Of My Life', 'Take A Message To Mary', 'Lucille', 'Ebony Eyes', 'Stick With Me Baby', 'Don't Blame Me' and 'That's Old Fashioned' - all of them B sides. The Everlies toured the UK a number of times in the sixties and I was lucky enough to catch them a few times, including their 1963 tour with Bo Diddley and the Rolling Stones low down on the bill. Two years ago, on one of our US road trips, we visited Central City, Kentucky, the home town of the Everly Brothers where there is a museum dedicated to them (see bottom photo). There's a marker to Phil Everly in a cemetery nearby. Now it's time to say farewell to Don - a sad day indeed.