Artist: The Louvin Brothers
Album: Tragic Songs of Life
Year: 1956
I didn't know anything about The Louvin Brothers prior to listening to this album. Apparently they're among the most significant and influential country duos of all-time.
In the end, I didn't care much for this music. These guys have some nice harmonies, but all the songs kind of shuffle along at the same languid pace and blend together. I guess the noteworthy part of this album is its lyrical content with its dark meditations on murder and death. "Katie Dear" is kind of a backwoods-Romeo-and-Juliet story, kind of fascinating in a strange way.
One of these songs stood out to me in particular: "In the Pines." It took me a few minutes to figure out where I'd heard this song before, but then I realized: it's Nirvana's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"!!! I know this song well from Nirvana's Unplugged set where they introduce the song as a Leadbelly cover. I guess they weren't the only band to cover it. Anyhow, where Nirvana's version is an incendiary dirge, brooding and passionate, the Louvin Brothers' is inoffensive, leached of emotion with its major-key shuffle.
It's boring. And that pretty much sums it up for me.
Rating: Not worth a listen
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