Ten Favorite Southpaw Musicians: Everly Brothers (#5)

Tweet

To paraphrase George Harrison, there goes the sun! By this time tomorrow all that will be over and we'll be back to normal...for, what, seven years, until the next one? Meanwhile, here's another one of my favorite music people with the rare distinction of being lefthanded. I started this countdown last week in honor of International Lefthanders Day. Here's the next entry. #5: Phil and Don Everly There was a lot of "twin" notion in those two boys of Ike Everly's for them to not be twins. Both of them went into the Marine Corps, and both of them are/were lefties. The small west-central Kentucky town of Central City claims the Everly Brothers as their own (even having the main street in town named "Everly Brothers Boulevard"), but in actuality only elder brother Don was born in Kentucky. Younger brother Phil was born in Chicago, and the two grew up in various places in the Midwest. Their dad, Ike Everly, was a local (Kentucky) guitar legend (there's a monument to him and other regional guitar greats, including Merle Travis, in Central City). He instilled in Phil and Don a love of music and the close sibling harmonies of the Delmore Brothers, the Stanley Brothers, and the Louvin Brothers. The brothers' natural talent took it from there, leading them to a legendary career that saw them inducted into rock, country, and rockabilly halls of fame. Phil died of emphysema at the age of 74 in 2014. Don celebrated his 80th birthday earlier this year. Both legends, and both lefties. Everly Brothers Don: born Isaac Donald Everly, February 1, 1937, Brownie, Kentucky (age 80) Phil: born Philip Everly, January 19, 1939, Chicago, Illinois Died January 3, 2014, Burbank, California (COPD) (age 74) Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - 1986 Country Music Hall of Fame - 2001 Rockabilly Hall of Fame - 2001 Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame - 1991 One of many classics by the southpaw duo: