The Louvin Brothers

Because, um-

In a Louvin Brothers kinda way

wayYeah, because we would get invited to, like, play these, these-

Oh

Sure.

So, I mean-

You know, the Louvin Brothers were here for a while.

They worked for the post office.

It ...

Similarly in the world of country music, there's Louvin Brothers, uh, who were, um, the kind of country gospel duo of, of the '50s, and, um, and they fell out [laughs] re- They're two brothers, one of whom was a, a complete reckless, hard-drinking fool, and the other one was a mild-mannered, you know, church [laughs] going stay-at-home.

And they fell out really badly, you know? And, um, and of course people still sing their songs, you know, If I Could Only Win Your Love and all these kind of things that The Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo is half made up of Louvin Brothers songs, I think.

Emmylou Harris did Louvin Brothers songs.

And they're all songs about devotion to each other, which was not reflected in [laughs] any aspect, any aspect of their life.

Um, but obviously the ...

Came out in 1968 on the Elf label.

That was written by, uh, John D. Loudermilk, a country artist who was, uh, I believe a cousin of the Louvin Brothers.

Their, their real name was, uh, was Loudermilk, their real last name.

Um, and that one actually had been done as a country song by, uh, by multiple people before Clifford Curry, um, and Buzz Cason, who produced that, uh, before they did that, uh, that kinda chugging, uh, soul, uh, version of it, um, recorded in Nashville, uh, with, uh, various Nashville names on there, like, uh, like Buzz Cason and Bergen White.

Motherless Children.

This song is one of the oldest songs on the list, and it was amazing how many people had done it, everyone from Billie Holiday to the Louvin Brothers to Eric Clapton.

There are many different versions, many, many, many verses, too, so John and I had to sort through them and, um, kind of make it more linear.

You know, just pull four verses that would work together.

Due to a legal dispute with Parsons' former label, which was LHI Records, Roger McGuinn, the band leader, had to re-record his own vocals over several of Gram's vocals, although Parsons can still be heard singing backup on them.

The album tracks were You Ain't Goin' Nowhere, which was written by Bob Dylan; I Am a Pilgrim; The Christian Life, which was originally done by The Louvin Brothers; You Don't Miss Your Water; You're Still on My Mind; Pretty Boy Floyd, which was written by Woody Guthrie; Hickory Wind, which was written by Gram Parsons; One Hundred Years from Now; Blue Canadian Rockies; Life in Prison, which was originally done by Merle Haggard; and Nothing Was Delivered, which was written by Bob Dylan.

As far as how it was received, well, now it comes up.

Originally, it was a commercial flop.