So I kept my promise to myself yesterday and went straight out to get the Debut LP from Phil and Don, released in 1958. The opening cut “This Little Girl Of Mine” is a Ray Charles cover. This is like finding a long lost “Rockpile” album. Except for the fact that it’s one hundred times more authentic than anything Nick and Dave ever did. Which is saying something. Sure the vocals are pristine, but the rhythm tracks are absolutely smoking hot. All musical roads and directions go through here. This is where country met R&B and folk, boarded the same bus and took off down the road drinking and humping.
These stains will never come out.
The second song “Maybe Tomorrow” , is a haunting ballad that aches with teenage frustration. Those lonesome lamenting harmonies sung in thirds yielding two distinct melodies that when joined together, personify the very essence of longing for the one you love. This is where the supposed clean cut image of the boys allowed their songs to explore this fertile (and risqué for it’s time) subject matter.
“Bye Bye, Love” has that amazing open G barre chord intro that chugs headfirst into the hook, placed brilliantly at the beginning of the track and then followed by the verses. Written a year earlier by the husband and wife team of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the song was reportedly “passed on” by just about every major artist recording at that time. Sung by The Everlys, it was a worldwide smash hit on the pop,country, AND R&B charts!
Track #4, A Brand New Heartache is about a new kid that moved into town and stole the singer’s girl. Another Bryant/Bryant tune, with beautiful guitar strumming, particularly on the second bit in the middle.
Little Richard’s “Keep A Knockin’ Gene Vincent’s “Be Bop A Lula” and Bumps Blackwell’s “Rip It Up” fill out the middle of this effort and demonstrate how rock and roll affected older brother Don in particular. Those staggeringly rhythmic acoustic guitar chops by Don and session man Ray Edenton were direct descendents of Bo Diddley’s influence. Don Everly explains, "I heard ‘Bo Diddley’ back in ’55. I put it on and I’ll never forget it—it just nailed me. And I was immediately hit with the thought, ‘I’ll never be able to incorporate this type of rhythm into any kind of country music. But I just tried it on my open-G acoustic one afternoon, and there it was."
The aforementioned Ray Ederton along with Buddy Harman on drums and bass man Floyd Chance, were put together for the Everlys by the great Chet Atkins. These cream of the crop session men were the main components in what would be known as the “Nashville Sound” born within the original RCA studio at 1525 McGavock Street.
Younger brother Phil speaking on Don Everly’s approach to the guitar and how it influenced everything that came after, "I know our harmonies influenced a lot of people, but when you take Donald’s intros to ‘Bye Bye Love,’ ‘Wake Up Little Susie,’ ‘Bird Dog,’ or any of the others, that was the first time those kinds of incongruous chords were used. Bo (Diddley) had the beat, but those chords were Don’s creation. If you take them, and you electrify them with a lyric on top, you have the essence of heavy rock, which is essentially a song written around a riff. Keith [Richards] alluded to that—but I think it’s ironic that Don doesn’t get more credit. Because that was the seed, right there."
No comments:
Post a Comment