2025-04-04
A tale of fraternal discord.
The Everly Brothers were often mistaken for twins. In fact, dark-haired Don, who died seven years after blond-headed Phil in 2024, was two years older. Their personalities were anything but identical, and behind their initially polite, cosmopolitan demeanor lurked brotherly rivalry that came to a head in mid-career. The Everlys learned their musical techniques from parents Ike, a bluesy country singer and guitarist, and Margaret, an upright bass player, who moved the boys from Brownie, Kentucky, to Chicago and then all over the Midwest following radio show gigs en famille and seasonal farmwork. The brothers eventually wound up by themselves in their late teens in Nashville just as it was becoming a recording mecca. Record companies were then eager for talented, good-looking country singers with crossover appeal to teenagers craving the new (but related) sounds of rock ’n’ roll. The Everlys fit the bill, and once they teamed up with the songwriting couple of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, who penned several of their biggest hits, including “Bye Bye Love,” “Wake Up, Little Susie,” and “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” their rise to global pop stardom was swift. Countless musicians cite the Everlys as an influence, notably Simon and Garfunkel. The Beatles and the Hollies—even Lou Reed and John Cale of Velvet Underground—were fans. Besides combing archives, Mazor, a Nashville music journalist and author of books on Jimmie Rodgers and A&R pioneer Ralph Peer, spoke to a dwindling crowd of Everly associates and family to get a rounded picture of these two increasingly antagonistic artists with a complex relationship to the “Everly Brothers” brand each wanted to be liberated from.
Gripping family showbiz drama with keen musical insights.
