The great Don Everly has left us.
Alerted to that fact by @jafant’s post in the What’s In Your CDP Tonight? thread, I can’t hope to do justice to the fantastic music Don made, or his contribution to Rock ’n’ Roll. As I (and others ) have long said: No Everly Brothers, no Beatles. At least, not as we knew them.
I hope everyone has at least an Everly Brothers greatest hits or best of collection in his or her music library. They had the best songs, the best 2-part vocal harmonies, and the best studio musicians on their recordings. Don himself was a fantastic rhythm guitarist, playing a big ol’ Gibson J-200 acoustic (Gibson eventually introduced an Everly Brothers signature model, which is a J-200 with pickguards both above and below the soundhole. Very collectible, very expensive.). Don & Phil started performing in public and on radio while still little kids, as part of their parent’s musical show. John and Paul modeled their harmonies on those of the brothers, as is obvious when you compare the two duos.
On the sole album by super group Rockpile, huge Everly Brothers fans Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe (on the back cover of his Pure Pop For Now People LP, Nick is pictured playing a black Everly Brothers guitar) included in the first pressing of the LP a 7" EP of them performing four Everly Brothers songs. The single on that album was "Teacher Teacher", which itself sounds very much like The Everly Brothers. When the Brothers made a showbiz comeback (after having been apart for many years), they chose Edmunds to produce their album (entitled EB84). The single on the album is "On The Wings Of A Nightingale", written for them by Paul McCartney. Both the Rockpile and just mentioned EVB album are what I consider essential listening.
Speaking of Dave Edmunds, his run of albums from the early 1970’s into the 80’s are imo unmatched by any other Rock ’n’ Roll artist of that era. Absolutely fantastic music, as were many of the albums he produced for other artists (Brinsley Schwartz---of which Nick Lowe was a member, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Stray Cats---okay, not all were great ;-), Carl Perkins, and Dion. Edmunds had triple bypass surgery a while back, and has returned to his home country of Wales. He is now 77 years old, so may himself soon be joining Don and Phil.
