Disharmony

I was saddened to hear of the death of Phil Everly, one half of the Everly Brothers, over the weekend; he was 74.  The Everly Brothers were one of those rare duos that had as much influence on popular music as some groups and solo artists.  (In fact, Simon and Garfunkel - another one of those influential duos - were directly inspired by the Everly Brothers.)  Phil and Don Everly brought harmonic singing to rock and roll, anchored by acoustically centered arrangements that owed as much to country and western as to rhythm and blues, with a tender honesty that illuminated the frankly insecure lyrics.  Songs like "All I Have To Do Is Dream" and "Cathy's Clown" gave voice to teenage insecurity, while "Wake Up, Little Susie" dealt with awkward situations that could be consequential.  Much of sixties rock owed a debt to the Everlys for this reason. 

The Everlys eventually matured, and so did their music.  Their late-sixties recordings, while not commercially successful, laid the ground work for the country-rock pop sound of the seventies - a decade that the brothers sat out, thanks to a dispute between Phil and Don that caused a breakup that would last until the early eighties.  Their reunion showed them in top form, and they spent the rest of their careers remaining true to their music without any nostalgia.  An artist as committed to going forward as Phil Everly was is rare these days, and that makes it all the more sad to see him pass.  R.I.P.