Charlie Louvin: 1927-2011
Another legend has passed. No doubt music fans worldwide will mourn the loss of Charlie Louvin, whose tunes spawned generations of fans of classic country, gospel, folk, blues and the like. My first introduction to Louvin actually came through Uncle Tupelo’s take on the Louvin Brothers’ “Atomic Power.” I was floored when I first heard the song. That a band could take a song with a pleasant country bounce and play it at a breakneck punk pace — without getting rid of the fiddle — was incredibly eye-opening to me.
I’ll admit that I was more than a little late to the alt-country party; I was about 12 when UT broke up and still immersed in the [dying] grunge and alternative rock records in my older brothers’ collection. But after hearing a tune with such ominous lyrics masked by a jovial musical arrangement, I suddenly found myself on a mission to dig deeper into country music lore and find more of those songs of doom and dread. I’m grateful for the discovery, and sad for the loss of another artist who gave the world a tremendous catalog of music.
*Charlie Louvin + Jeff Tweedy, 2007.
