{"id":4980,"date":"2014-02-18T22:49:22","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T03:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.benzilla.com\/?p=4980"},"modified":"2014-02-18T22:49:22","modified_gmt":"2014-02-19T03:49:22","slug":"alphabands-e-is-for-the-everly-brothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benzilla.com\/?p=4980","title":{"rendered":"AlphaBands – E is for The Everly Brothers"},"content":{"rendered":"

E is for The Everly Brothers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"everlys\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If there’s anything positive to say about the recent passing of Phil Everly, it’s this: it was accompanied by a surprising amount of well-deserved press. My hunch is that this’d not have occurred fifteen–or maybe even ten-<\/em>-years ago. In the time between then and now, “Americana” seems to have risen in respectability and (justifiably) the Everlys have risen in critical esteem.<\/p>\n

Aside from genre considerations, I think one big reason the Everlys have never quite gotten their due is that they don’t fit into the standard Narrative of Rock History, which dictates that after the initial flush of great, energetic 50s rock (Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Gene Vincent, Fats Domino, etc.), popular music became horribly boring… only to be rescued by the almighty Beatles in the early 60s.<\/p>\n

The Everly Brothers were at their prime during this “in-between” period, though, and in addition to influencing tons of important artists who would come along later (Keith Richards, Simon and Garfunkel, Neil Young, Robert Plant, etc.) they scored a stunning number of hits: 35 Billboard top 100 songs over their career, including one (“Wake Up Little Susie”) that topped the Pop, Country and<\/em> R&B charts.<\/p>\n

More important than their influence or how many records they sold, though, is their music<\/em>. Here’s a mix tape I made of some of my favorite Everlys tunes for you to check out. I picked sosngs from their first record through to their reunion concert in 1983. (They had a few studio records after that, but the 80s production is so egregious that they’re nearly unlistenable.) You can probably tell which records are my favorites and which aren’t, but I selected at least one song from all but two (Everlys Sing<\/em> and The Hit Sound<\/em>–not my faves for sure).<\/p>\n

I’ve loved the Everly Brothers since high school and the more I listen to their catalog the more I appreciate their songwriting, singing, and the musical influences they bring to bear. Dig it:<\/p>\n

Ben’s Fave Everly Tunes (RAR)<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

AlphaBands is a weekly online collaborative project in which illustrators and cartoonists draw a band or musician for one letter of the alphabet each week for 26 weeks. See the art and find out more at the AlphaBands tumblr:\u00a0http:\/\/alphabands.tumblr.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

E is for The Everly Brothers If there’s anything positive to say about the recent passing of Phil Everly, it’s this: it was accompanied by a surprising amount of well-deserved press. My hunch is that this’d not have occurred fifteen–or maybe even ten–years ago. In the time between then and now, “Americana” seems to have … <\/p>\n

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