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The Louvin Brothers were an American country music duo composed of brothers Ira Lonnie Loudermilk (1924–1965) and Charlie Elzer Loudermilk (1927–2011), better known as Ira and Charlie Louvin. They helped popularize close harmony, a genre of country music. The brothers are cousins to John D. Loudermilk, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member.
The brothers adopted the name Louvin Brothers in the 1940s as they began their career in gospel music. Read more on Last.fm
The Louvin Brothers shared something very eerie, a solemn darkness about their simple, brimstone affected country gospel. Audibly seeming heavenly, their pitch perfect harmonies belied a deeper message of good and evil, Heaven and Hell. The rich melodies contrasted stone sober warnings of damnation and consequence. It was a foreboding sound, like transmissions from a radio caught in purgatory. Today, it could be said that the both the Everly Brothers and Brian Wilson received a good portion of their influence from the Louvin sound.
Either way, Satan Is Real, their landmark 1959 masterpiece, is the epitome of that influence, a powerful, distinctive collection of mostly original gospel country tunes that still pull the hairs on my neck up. Sorrowful, beautiful and timeless, they offer a window to simpler times.