Belated Happy B-Day

Blogger Scott Johnson has these kind words for a great singing duo, whose elder brother turned 71 years young yesterday:

"If you love the Cosmic American Music, you know the Everly Brothers have a constellation all to themselves. They brought the close harmony singing of traditional country music into the mainstream of American popular music. More than a few great musicians learned harmony singing by listening to their records. Paul McCartney acknowledged his debt to the Everlys in "Let 'Em In" and wrote "On the Wings of a Nightingale" for their first post-reunion recording in 1984.

After tearing through a succession of great songs written for them by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant at the end of the 1950's, they struck out on their own with Warner Brothers in 1960. Some of their most brilliant work followed, including their monster 1960 Warner Brothers hit "Cathy's Clown." Even as their audience in the United States dwindled in the wake of the British Invasion, they continued deepening and updating their work on albums such as "The Everly Brothers Sing" and "Roots" with songs that stand with their best work. "