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For the past few years country music legend Charlie Louvin, who turns 82 next month, has been on a bona fide recording kick thanks largely to Josh Rosenthal, the brains behind the excellent Tompkins Square label. Since 2007 the imprint has put out four records by Louvin–the man who, along with his brother Ira, brought close-harmony singing into country’s mainstream. In support of these recordings, Louvin has been rolling through Chicago more often. He’s back again on Friday, when he plays the Heartland Cafe in Rogers Park.
The yang to Steps to Heaven‘s ying arrived a few months later. Its title, Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs, makes it plain what Louvin’s doing here–the record draws some of its repertoire from the fantastic Tompkins Square box set People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs, 1913-1938. The Louvin Brothers sang some beautiful tunes laced with wanton violence, and inside the CD are some gratuitous photos of Charlie fondling a pistol. He’s in standard country mode here, and to my ears he fares better. There are songs about fatal train and car crashes, about loving someone so much you’re driven to kill them, and about the brutality of coal mining. Louvin has such a powerful presence and is so intimately familiar with the material (and the subject matter–his brother Ira was killed in a car crash in 1965) that his weakened voice is nearly irrelevant. It’s like that for legends.
