by Robert Wilkinson
Along with Bob Shane whose tribute is tomorrow, February 1 was the birthday of the legendary Don Everly and Cajun guitar master Sonny Landreth, considered by Eric Clapton to be one of the greatest living guitarists in the world.
Don Everly (February 1, 1937-August 21, 2021) was the older half of the Everly Brothers, THE prototypical tight high harmony vocal duo. (Don did the lead vocals.) As I noted on brother Phil Everly’s recent birthday tribute, the Everly Brothers set the vocal harmonization standard for 10,000 musicians who followed in their footsteps. They were the prototypical tight high harmony vocal duo who took infinitely catchy country and rock tunes, put their style on it, and produced some truly awesome and beautiful music.
The Everly Brothers influenced the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, the Bee Gees, and every other group that ever sang a melody line with “diatonic thirds” for the harmony lines. These “twin melodies” make for stunning vocal intertwining, and back when I was performing, we used them extensively in how we vocalized our songs. In fact, we covered “Bird Dog” and “When Will I Be Loved” trying to hit identical harmonies as the Everlys did.
The world was truly blessed by their angelic harmonies. From the late 50s and early 60s, one of the best vocal duos in history, the Everly Brothers!
We’ll begin with a very strong live performance of one of their most dynamic rockers followed by one of their biggest hits, a song written by both Everly Brothers, performed live on American Bandstand in 1964! “Gone Gone Gone” and “Cathy’s Clown”)
Another great two-fer! The Everlys live cranking out “Bird Dog” and “Till I Kissed Her”
This looks to be the very first time they were on live television! Very young (Phil was 18!), more than a little nervous, this era was when rock and roll, rhythm and blues, rockabilly, and country all blended and created a new global era in music. From 1957, this was really live! Here are Don and Phil performing their first hit, a tune which went to #2, “Bye Bye Love”
Here’s an early clip of the Everly Brothers performing the first record by them I ever owned, “Take A Message to Mary”
From what looks to be the same gig, I found this! It’s early, and the outfits are the same! “Bird Dog”
From The Ed Sullivan Show in Aug 1957, the Everly Brothers live giving us “Bye Bye Love”
Here’s a clip of the Everlys in a Oct 1957 live performance on Ed Sullivan of one of their early hits. The horn arrangement seems way over-produced, but television could be like that back then. “Wake Up Little Susie”
Fast forward to 2004! Here they crank out a great version of “Wake Up Little Susie”
From 1960 on the Saturday Night Beech Nut Show, very live and taking it to new heights, the Everly Brothers performing the original “When Will I Be Loved”
From the Hammersmith Odeon in 1981, here’s a GREAT live performance of Phil and Cliff Richard giving us “When Will I Be Loved”
Here's a television clip from 1960 featuring the Everly Brothers live doing the Buddy Holly smash, "That'll Be The Day"
From 1961, live on UK television backed by the original Crickets, here are the Everly Brothers doing their twin hits, “All I Have to Do is Dream” and “Cathy’s Clown,” the latter song written by both Don and Phil. (It’s been said this was the tour of the UK by the Everly Brothers that changed the way John Lennon and Paul McCartney harmonized.)
From a live performance on the Tennessee Ernie Ford show in April 1961, the Everlys in peak form cranking out 10 minutes of "Lucille" and "Walk Right Back" after which Ernie joins them for "Rattlesnake Blues" and "Bird Dog."
I found it again! Here’s their October 1961 performance on Ed Sullivan performing “Lucille,” “Don’t Blame Me,” and a very laid back swing version of “Bye Bye Love.”
This looks to be the same performance, but with an extended guitar intro. “Don’t Blame Me.”
From 1962 on The Ed Sullivan Show while they were still in the Marines, here are Don and Phil in full Marine dress uniforms in a live performance of "Crying In The Rain" and “Jezebel”
From the same era, an audio-only studio version of “Ebony Eyes”
Here's an audio-only studio version of their hit from their first album, "I Wonder If I Care As Much" Here's a great 9 minute clip of Alternate Takes 1 and 2, along with the song as it was finally released. "I wonder If I Care As Much."
Another hit! Here's the studio recording of "So Sad (to watch good love go bad)."
From 1958, the studio single of "Problems."
From Shindig, backed by the Blossoms and the Shindogs (who were basically the Wrecking Crew!), an interesting departure from their usual style doing the title song from the Jane Mansfield movie originally made huge by Little Richard, "The Girl Can’t Help It."
Here's a great live performance from the Paul Anka Show that was shot in 1966 and totally disappeared until now. They begin with "Bye Bye Love, then there's a lame performance by Frankie Avalon, and then the Everlys come back and crank out "Wake Up Little Susie," "Devoted To You," "Cathy's Clown," and more.
Here's a rare appearance with their dad Ike Everly on The Johnny Cash Show in 1970 performing "Where Could I Go But the Lord." Then on the Christmas Special of that show, held at the Ryman in Nashville, here's Johnny, his brother Tommy, Ike, Phil, and Don giving us a rousing acoustic performance taking turns doing these tunes! "Do What You Do Do Well," "Rise and Shine," "Muskrat," "That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine," and "I Never Picked Cotton."
They came back for one of Ed Sullivan’s last broadcasts in February 1971. They were still as good as ever! Last year the clip had “Bye Bye Love,” “Mama Tried,” and “All I Have to Do is Dream” but it’s disappeared. So I went looking, and while “Bye Bye Love” is gone, I did find these two gems!
“Mama Tried” and “All I Have to Do is Dream.”
The entire video of their 1 hour 15 1983 live in London reunion concert disappeared, but I found this collection of 37 clips which I believe have most or all of the set! The Everly Brothers Reunion Concert
From that show, a great performance of “Bird Dog.” They also did this beautiful country arrangement complete with steel guitar of "I wonder If I Care As Much." We’ll close this section with a great medley! The harmonies are exquisite. "Devoted To You," “Ebony Eyes,” and “Love Hurts.”
I’ll keep this link for those who want the audio without commercials. The Everly Brothers Reunion Concert
Live in Oz in 1989, we have them giving us “Wake Up Little Susie,” “All I Have to do is Dream,” “Till I Kissed You,” “Cathy’s Clown,” and “Let It Be Me.”
Last year I had their entire Sydney show in Oz from 1971, but it’s gone. However, I found this 25 minute clip, which shows the Everlys as you’ve never seen them! (Toward the end the video isn’t perfectly synched with the audio, but the harmonies are fab, and the banter is not what you’d expect!)
Here’s the audio of the entire 44 minute show! The Everly Brothers in Australia 1971 – Hippies With Money
I found it again! This is a great 43 minute documentary about how the Everly Brothers came to be amazing harmonists and rock and roll legends called The Life and Times of the Everly Brothers
We’ll close with two performances by the Everly Brothers of the rocking 1964 hit “Gone Gone Gone.” Here they crank it out on Dick Clark’s show in 1964! “Gone Gone Gone” and “Cathy’s Clown.” Here’s the original studio version of “Gone Gone Gone” so you can see their harmonies were as incredible live as they were in the studio!
For the best version of this great tune (even if the video quality is poor), complete with a lot of dancers shakin’ it to the max, here are the Everly Brothers on Shindig in late 1964 cranking out one of their best performances of “Gone Gone Gone” (Yes, as I said, they were backed by the Wrecking Crew with backing vocals by the Blossoms, fronted by Darlene Love.)
The encore is a great 48 minute b/w video of their 1968 show at the Chequers Nightclub in Sydney. This is a really great show, so check it out! “Lucille,” “Walk Right Back,” “Susie Q,” and a ton of hits
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We now turn to Sonny Landreth, he of the liquid guitar style of playing, where the notes seems to slip like water from one end of the scale to the next. Sonny Landreth (February 1, 1951) is an amazing blues player from Louisiana, known particularly for his unique style of playing slide guitar. He’s played with some of the best, including Clifton Chenier, John Hiatt and the Goners, and Jimmy Buffett. I had the rare privilege of seeing him when he was much younger and playing lead for Clifton Chenier in mid-70s Austin, and he was beyond great!!
Here’s more on his style from Wikipedia that all you guitar pickers out there may want to study:
Landreth is best known for his slide playing, having developed a technique where he also frets notes and plays chords and chord fragments behind the slide while he plays. Landreth plays with the slide on his little finger, so that his other fingers have more room to fret behind the slide. He's also known for his right-hand technique, which involves tapping, slapping, and picking strings, using all of the fingers on his right hand. He wears a special thumb pick/ flat pick hybrid on his thumb so he can bear down on a pick while simultaneously using his finger style technique for slide.
And now, the amazing guitar work of Aquarian Sonny Landreth!
From 1987 in Germany, here’s John Hiatt, Sonny, and the Goners cranking out the infinitely danceable “Tennessee Plates.”
From the same gig, “Radio Girl”
Here’s Sonny with Jools Holland and Friends in a live 1993 performance of “Back to Bayou Teche”
From Montreal 1994, Sonny doing great slide work on “Zydeco Shuffle”
From 1995 in the Netherlands, a live performance of “The River Knows Your Name”
From The Arsenio Hall Show, John, Sonny, and the Goners in a live performance of “Drive South”
John and Sonny team up in Switzerland in an amazing live performance by John and Sonny doing John’s tune “Riding With the King” From that same gig, “The Tiki Bar is Open”
Here’s Sonny with the great Mark Knopfler in a great live performance of “Je Suis Desole”
From Sonny’s 1995 album South of I-10 with Mark on lead, “Congo Square”
From the 1996 DVD ”A Night In London” Sonny and Mark live doing “Cannibals”
Last year I had the entire 2 hour 32 minute show on one clip, but it’s disappeared. So instead, I found this, which autoloads 16 songs! A Night in London with Mark Knopfler and Sonny Landreth
Here’s Sonny with Eric Clapton in a live performance doing “Promise Land”
From the 2008 “Blues on the Green,” Sonny live with Cindy Cashdollar doing “Key to the Highway”
From the 2011 Old Settlers Music Festival in Dripping Springs, TX, here’s Sonny with my old friend Eric Johnson live doing “Milky Way Home”
From the same gig, “Gone Pecan”
Here are audio-only tunes set to stills.
From the John Hiatt album Slow Turning, here's Sonny knocking out the leads on "Slow Turning," and "Drive South." We’ll move into “Feels Like Rain” and we’ll close this brief set from that album with a great rock and roll song! Kick it up with the driving “Tennessee Plates.”
The 1987 Santa Fe performance is gone, so here’s his Hamburg performance in October that same year on Full House. For your enjoyment, John Hiatt and the Goners in a live performance of “Tip of My Tongue”
From the 1995 album, South of I 10, Sonny and Mark Knopfler doing the original studio version of “Shooting For The Moon”
From the 2008 album, From the Reach, Sonny and Eric Clapton doing the original studio version of “When I Still Had You” and “Storm of Worry”
From the John Hiatt album The Tiki Bar is Open, here's the studio version of “Everybody Went Low” (check out Sonny’s lead that starts about 1 minute 40 in!)
Here’s the original studio title track. Simply awesome! “The Tiki Bar is Open”
From that same album, “My Old Friend” and the very psychedelic “Farther Stars”
Here’s a treat! It’s John, Sonny, and the Goners in a great live performance of “Farther Stars”
We’ll move into the backstretch with a great live performance by John, Sonny, and the Goners on Letterman of the hit from the album of the same name, “Slow Turning”
From the LAfestival, “Hell At Home”
For the closer to this birthday celebration, I found 2 smokin’ collaborations of Sonny and Eric Clapton!
From the 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival, Sonny and Eric performing “Uberesso”
From the 2010 Crossroads festival, Sonny and Eric performing “Promise Land.” From that same show, Sonny cranks out “Z Rider”
Our encore is 56 minutes of straight up dancing music! From Feb 2017 at the Clearwater Sea Blues Festival, Sonny Landreth at the 2017 Sea Blues Festival.
If you want a tutorial by the Master, here’s a 30 minute video from MUSICLAB where Sonny shows you how to play slide guitar! It begins with some blistering slide, and moves into all kinds of things. MusicLab featuring Sonny Landreth “On Bottleneck Slide Guitar”
Here's Sonny Landreth's Website
So here’s a huge thanks to our birthday boys, one a master of the voice, the other a master of the slide! May you both keep rocking on for many more years!!
© Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson
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