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Who Charlie Louvin; Louvin Brothers
What Charlie Louvin dies at 83
When January 26, 2011
Where Wartrace, TN
 

Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Louvin, a star of the Grand Ole Opry for more than a half century, died early Wednesday morning at his home in Wartrace, Tenn. He was 83 and suffered from pancreatic cancer.

From the late 1940s through the early ’60s, Mr. Louvin and his brother Ira, performing as The Louvin Brothers, revived country music’s emotional, full-throated harmony tradition. They notched 10 top-20 Billboard country hits with classics such as “When I Stop Dreaming,” “I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby” and “My Baby’s Gone,” part of a body of work that would later inspire artists including Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Dolly Parton. After the brothers disbanded, Mr. Louvin forged a solo career that included 16 Billboard Top 40 country hits in the ’60s. And in the new century, he rose yet again, receiving two Grammy nominations, playing the Bonnaroo festival and collaborating with the rock-ready likes of Cake, Cheap Trick and Elvis Costello.

“I didn’t know what to expect, going on the road with Cake and Cheap Trick,” Mr. Louvin said in 2007. “I imagined I might start singing and people would say, ‘Get that redneck (stuff) off the stage, we came to hear rock.’ But it came out beautiful. It’s ironic that a man that’ll be 80 this coming July would start his career over, but that’s kindly what I’ve done. The Good Lord has blessed me with good health, and I love to sing. If I don’t get out and do it, it just means I’m lazy. And God knows I’m not lazy.”

Mr. Louvin kept singing, kept recording and kept touring. Charlie Louvin was nominated for a traditional folk Grammy, and Tompkins Square released a succession of Louvin records, including a gospel set, an album of “murder ballads and disaster songs” and a live effort recorded at a Parsons-inspired music festival. The live album was released while Mr. Louvin was undergoing cancer treatment. He continued to play shows, and November 2010 brought The Battle Rages On, an album of songs about war.

In December of 2010, Mr. Louvin made his final onstage appearances, taping Marty Stuart’s television show on Dec. 2 and working East Nashville’s FooBar on Dec. 3. He collapsed during the Stuart taping, but righted himself and carried on.

“In my world, you are worthless if you can’t continue,” he said. “Show business is all I really know how to do. I would like for that to be the last thing I do.”

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Contact Peter Cooper
The Tennessean


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