1960 Top Ten Songs: Southern Moon (#4)

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Holy cow, there are eight songs left this month — four in 1960 and four in 1965 — and three of them are country songs! Sorry, Linda. Here we have another rendition of the “this version is from this year,” because the song itself is much older than I am. But this rendition is now 65, so let’s get to it! #4: Southern Moon - Louvin Brothers Dang, I need a moon countdown. (Scribbling that on the list.) This song originated on Sand Mountain, Alabama in 1937, with Alton and Rabon Delmore. I’ve used their best-known (or should I say, most-covered) song, “Blues, Stay Away From Me,” a number of times. By the time I came along the Delmores were history: Rabon died in 1952 (before my parents were even married!). Alton was a shell of his former self without his musical brother, dying in 1964. Meanwhile, on the other side of Sand Mountain, the northeastern corner of Alabama, the Louvin Brothers had grown up listening to the Delmore Brothers. In 1960 they decided to do a tribute album to their boyhood idols and the duet that shaped the Louvins’ sound the most. They went to see Alton with a list of songs that Ira and Charlie had compiled for the album and asked Alton’s opinion if they had overlooked any significant Delmore Brothers songs. Alton gave his blessing to the 12 songs they’d picked…then he gave Ira Rabon’s tenor guitar. The instrument hadn’t been touched since Rabon’s death. According to Charlie Louvin, Ira took the instrument and soaked the strings in kerosene to get them “back to life.” The tenor guitar you hear on this album is the very one, complete with the strings, that Rabon last played. (That instrument is now in the Country Music Hall of Fame.) The Delmores wrote and recorded this in 1937. Their version was much bouncier than this version, which is part of the greatness of this album. The Louvins didn’t copy the Delmores’ arrangements note for note. Instead, they took Delmore Brothers songs and made them Louvin Brothers songs. This album is so influential that most of the bluegrass acts you hear touting themselves as “Delmore Brothers fans” do one of the dozen songs from the Louvins’ album…in the Louvins’ style. (I mentioned how to spot the differences in the “Help Me Ronda” vs. “Help Me Rhonda” Beach Boys version the other day. Same thing applies with the very subtle differences in these songs.) In their career, the Louvin Brothers recorded what many people consider to be TWO of the greatest albums in country music: Tragic Songs of Life (which is so good that it’s in the predominantly rock list 1,001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die) and My Baby’s Gone. I would add their loving, brilliant tribute to their boyhood favorites to that list for a trifecta of legendary albums. Southern Moon Written by Alton and Rabon Delmore Recorded by the Louvin Brothers From A Tribute to the Delmore Brothers, 1960 I will help you load your cargo: