Charlie Louvin told a great story of how he and his brother, Ira, as kids were too embarrassed to perform in front of family friends, so they sang from under their bed. You can imagine countless other sibling hideaways where the great duo vocal style that this album celebrates developed. From the rough, sometimes awkward harmonies of the Carter Family, to the polished counterpoint of the Louvins, the mysterious blood ties hammered out and refined to a pure, eerie sound was a driving force in early country music. And, yes, we know that the founding members of the Carter Family weren’t blood-related. The sound was as much in the audience’s mind as it was in the singing. You don’t get far on any playlist of early country music without running into the “--- Brothers” or “--- Family” because the idea of relations singing together spoke to the emotions that country music once evoked.

At first glance, two- and three-part harmony looks like a mere matter of numbers, but the breadth of styles on this record should convince you otherwise. Three-part, for all its chordal glory, tends to lock the vocals together; the singers can’t stray too far from their lanes without mucking things up. Two-part, on the other hand, can almost be too much space. You get that feeling on Carter Family tunes where Maybelle and Sarah can have nearly an octave between them and then switch so seamlessly between the high and low parts that it’s difficult to tell between them. It could be saccharine, strident, and everything in-between.

The two-part singing that was an inspiration for us traces its way from creaky, pre-World War II folk songs played on wind-up Victrola’s to the tape echo pop of the Everly Brothers. Its evolution is accompanied by a rhythmic drive that works best, in our opinion, without drums, more of a pulse that the vocals can match and overwhelm at times: the perfect string band sound.

Lest our enthusiasm for this music cloud your judgment, it’s our duty to tell you that none of us grew up in the 30’s and 40’s, we’re not blood-related, and our harmonizing is a far cry from the vocals that the album celebrates. The arrangements are also nowhere close to an authentic rendering. In place of stylistic authenticity, we share the spark that made these songs alive to us and hope the glimmer translates.
-The High & Wides

“I Want to Live and Love”
Hank Williams’ version of this song may be better known, but The Maddox Brothers and Rose (their sister) recorded their version in 1948, and it’s a great example of why we love this band. An absolute mess of proto-rockabilly, western swing, and bluegrass drive topped off with wild harmonies. Their version hearkens back to the 1941 original recording by Wiley Walker and Gene Sullivan, but breaks it all up the way a bunch of kids would.

“On Some Foggy Mountain Top”
Before Bill Monroe formed the Bluegrass Boys, he and his brother, Charlie, were one of the more famous brother duos of the 1930’s. We love their version of this Carter Family song for its classic contrast of fluid, bending vocals and chugging instrumental rhythm.

“Lonesome Freight Train Blues”
The idea for The High & Wides started with this song. The basic, almost metal, chords and the wild, discordant yodeling is from another planet and appealed to us as something entirely outside of our musical experience. It’s got all the visionary, creaky intensity of pre-war mountain music, but with a chunky rhythmic style that would feel modern if they weren’t yodeling about trains.

“This Weary Heart You Stole Away (Wake Up, Sweetheart)”
The Stanley Brothers brought a solid two-part vocal sound to bluegrass at a time when country music and sibling harmonies were being swayed toward the popular sounds of early rock and pop music. On their 1953 recording of this song, a walking bass line and bluesy banjo licks give a boogie feel to the traditional instrumentation. It all sounds up-to-date (for the 50’s) until Ralph adds his creaky vocal harmony to Carter’s smooth lead, and all of a sudden you can hear the mountains.

“Going Down the Road”
While The Louvin Brothers were crafting their beautiful harmonies, Doug and Rusty Kershaw were pushing the sound with a harder, wilder approach. It’s tempting to attribute it all to their Cajun upbringing, so we’ll just go ahead and do that. Their 1956 recording of Going Down the Road firmly integrated rockabilly and R&B with harmonies that raise the hair on your neck.

“Give Me a Future”
The Everly Brothers got their start singing with their mother and father in a family band in the 50’s. One of the songs off of their 1958 album, Songs Our Daddy Taught Us, was “I’m Just Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail,” done in a modern pop style, but clearly influenced by the earlier brother duo, The Blue Sky Boys. “Give Me a Future” didn’t make it past the demo stage, but you might recognize the intro from the ~1956 recording because they used it on their hit, “Bye Bye Love.” The demo version of this tune and its pushing pop-rockabilly rhythm is phenomenal.

“Lonesome Yodel Blues No. 2”
We’ll make the case here that Alton and Rabon Delmore are the quintessential sibling duo. More than 1,000 songs are credited to Alton Delmore, and most of them were written so that you could pick either part as the melody; the Delmore harmony sound was integral to the song-writing. This incredible blend was grounded by a rhythmic feel that propelled them through the 30’s as early Opry stars well into the 40’s and 50’s with a pioneering hillbilly boogie feel. They recorded “Lonesome Yodel Blues No. 2” in 1936, early in their careers, but full of the latent boogie potential that later pushed a sub-genre forward.

“It Hurts Me More (The Second Time Around)”
As they are for many listeners, The Louvin Brothers were one of the early touchstones of the brother harmony style for us. However, the more we listened to older groups like The Blue Sky Boys and the Delmore Brothers, the more we heard earlier versions of “Louvin Classics.” It became clear that Charlie and Ira were part of a long tradition that possibly found its ultimate expression in them. They may have worked harder than anyone else to perfect it, as evidenced by their intricate arrangements. The 1961 Opry recording of this song rocks.

“I’m Just Here to Get My Baby out of Jail”
The Blue Sky Boys helped define the brother harmony sound in the 30’s and stuck with their sweet, clear vocal style into the 1970’s. There is a plaintive note in their harmonies that inspired our arrangement. We gave it a swampy feel that’s definitely not them; but it felt right. We had actually been singing this tune for a while under a different name, having first heard it as the Buck Owens song, “Country Girl.”

“You’ve Been Fooling Me Baby”
The Carter Family was originally the married duo of A.P. and Sara Carter, joined by A.P.’s sister-in-law, Maybelle. The lack of blood relation didn’t stop them from playing the part of family, though, even after A.P. and Sara’s divorce was finalized. Sara and Maybelle were the stylistic soul of the group and their primitive two-part harmonies were the inspiration for countless groups that followed. This song (credited to A.P. and likely adapted from an older song that he heard) is a great example of how this powerful vocal style drives as much as the instruments. Our version pushes this feel to its limit, maybe, but it’s what we heard.