The Louvin Brothers were arguably the greatest close harmony duo in the history of country music.
Ira and
Charlie Louvin both possessed clear tenor voices that could dance around one another with ease and skill, and the passion and conviction of their best recordings is little short of revelatory.
Charlie and
Ira were also songwriters, and before their careers as performers took off, they were contract tunesmiths for Acuff-Rose, among the biggest and most prestigious publishing houses in the country field. Their job wasn't just to write songs, but to follow trends while also attempting to anticipate them. Like most songwriters,
the Louvin Brothers made rough demo recordings of their compositions so they could be heard by prospective artists, though they were never intended for release to the general public. Between 1951 and 1961,
the Louvins recorded dozens of publishing demos, and 29 of these rare recordings have been restored on the collection
Love and Wealth: The Lost Recordings. As songwriting, this set is hit and miss. "It's All Off," "Television Set," and "Unpucker" suggest novelty songs written on assignment were not the duo's strong suit, "Discontented Cowboy" is a distinctly odd attempt at a Western number, and "Red Hen Boogie" aims to be hep without quite hitting the target. But broken hearts and spiritual matters were always where
the Louvin Brothers felt most at home, and songs like "Take My Ring from Your Finger," "Kiss Me Like You Did Yesterday," and "You'll Forget" are eloquent meditations on love gone wrong, while "Preach the Gospel," "I'll Never Go Back (To the Ways of Sin)," and "You'll Meet Him in the Clouds" are achingly sincere expressions of faith in the country-gospel tradition. While these performances were cut on the fly as demos, which is sometimes reflected in the rough fidelity,
the Louvin Brothers sang and played them with the same force and commitment they documented on their classic Capitol Records sides of the '50s and '60s. The harmonies are little short of magical as
Charlie and
Ira play loop de loop with the lead and harmony lines, and
Ira's fiery mandolin work is very much in evidence, along with
Charlie's firm and dependable guitar work. While
Love and Wealth is a good place to evaluate
the Louvin Brothers' sideline as songwriters, the greatest pleasure of this set is the emphatic, no-frills sound of two of country's greatest voices joining together in a way that can scarcely be duplicated.
Love and Wealth: The Lost Recordings is a worthy addition to the catalog of
the Louvin Brothers, and even when they're sounding silly here, they sing in a way that touches the heart. This isn't where to start exploring their music (Proper's four-disc The Christian Life: The Definitive Louvin Brothers Story just about lives up to its title), but anyone who has fallen in love with their music will be happy to hear this. ~ Mark Deming