Entering a long line of artists who've drawn inspiration from
the Everly Brothers,
Billie Joe Armstrong and
Norah Jones serve up a unique tribute with
Foreverly. Unlike many others -- including
Will Oldham and
Dawn McCarthy, who released a trippy
Everlys covers album earlier in 2013 -- the duo doesn't dig deep into the brothers' catalog but rather concentrates on a single LP, the 1958 Cadence classic Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. Just a year into their career,
the Everlys took the unusual step of abandoning rock & roll for traditional folk and country tunes they learned from their guitarist father Ike. Songs Our Daddy Taught Us was one of rock's first roots albums --
the Everlys returned to the concept and use "
Roots" as a title a decade later -- and it's a bit of an anomaly in their catalog, a spare, sweet showcase for their close harmonies where the brothers are backed by nothing more than their own guitars.
Foreverly, an album that contains all 12 of the songs from Songs Our Daddy Taught Us but not precisely in the same sequence, may recall
Jones' country cabaret act
the Little Willies yet it's something of a departure for
Green Day lead singer
Armstrong, who has often shown a love for rock & roll's past (most notably on the '60s garage rock raver
Foxboro Hot Tubs) but has never quite spent much time in the '50s, not even with the
Stray Cat strut of "Hitchin' a Ride." Even though the songs here date from much earlier,
Foreverly is grounded in that decade, with
Armstrong and
Jones not only patterning their two-part harmonies after
the Everly Brothers but fleshing out the arrangements by incorporating other sounds from the '50s: "Long Time Gone" and "Silver Haired Daddy of Mine" swing to subdued
Johnny Cash rhythms, "Oh So Many Years" gets a slight Sun rockabilly makeover, "Kentucky" recalls the swaying slow dance specialties of
Patsy Cline. Such variations from the text emphasize that
Armstrong and
Jones aren't re-creating Songs Our Daddy Taught Us; they're singing its songs, paying respect without being overly faithful. Their approach is not dissimilar to that of
Don and
Phil in 1958; the brothers didn't scrupulously re-create the sound of the past, they sang the songs in a way that was true to them, which is precisely what
Billie Joe and
Norah do here. They're a good match.
Jones' suppleness sands down
Armstrong's ragged voice, he gives her grit while she lends him grace, and these qualities are evident throughout this lovely little gem of an album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine