3. The Louvin Brothers - Tragic Songs of Life (1956)

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This is the first departure I've noticed between the original and 2021 versions of the Book. The original edition recommended Satan Is Real, possibly because of its bizarre title and cover more than as a result of any musical merit (although I recall it being pretty good). Anyway, this time around it's the Louvin Brothers' debut, which happens to be a very fine album if you like this sort of thing.

Whether or not I do like this sort of thing is something I'm on the fence about. On the one hand, if you get past their incredibly nasal quality, the Brothers have very fine voices. On the other hand they sing all the songs in pretty much the same dispassionate style, which leads to some pretty peculiar contrasts between the vocals and the lyrical content. There's also some very fine mandolin playing, in contrast to the simplistic bass, drums and guitar, which are very much in the country tradition of minimal accompaniment. This is country at its most countryish, and that could be a stumbling point for a lot of people. As someone with a moderate interest in country and folk, though, I didn't mind it. It did make me wonder about rating albums, though. Do I rate them based on my enjoyment? Or do I rate them based on some pseudo-objective standard of excellence in the field? Well, I remember reading somewhere that the best way to rate something is by seeing if it achieves the aims it sets for itself. In that case, I can't help but rate this highly. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it succeeds beautifully on its own terms.

Anyway, about that title. This album is called Tragic Songs of Life, and that's pretty apt. While songs like "Kentucky" and "Alabama" are innocuous enough, most of the songs on this album deal with situations ranging from the small and sad ("A Tiny Broken Heart", for example, is a moving little number about a child trying to cope with his sweetheart moving away) to the genuinely disturbing (the traditional number "Knoxville Girl", which is a blow by blow account of a man murdering a young woman, and which is the song in which the detached style of the singers really enhances the creepiness factor). Between these two extremes you have a man musing on the hollowness of his marriage, a soldier writing a letter from France in which he declares that he probably won't make it home, and several ruminations on the trials and tribulations inherent in your average love affair. As the existence of Satan is Real shows, the Louvin Brothers had a pretty grim, religiously informed view of things, and it's this tragic view of life that permeates the whole album. The quality of matter-of-fact reportage created by their detached, technically flawless singing and playing just serves to highlight this.

The question, I suppose, is "Will I keep this album around". The answer is "Probably not". It's very good for what it is, but it's not really the sort of thing I care to listen to as a matter of choice. Still, I've heard it twice and enjoyed it both times. If you're a bigger fan of country than I am, you should definitely check it out if you haven't already.

Best Songs: "Knoxville Girl"; "A Tiny Broken Heart"; "Kentucky".