Country music legend Charlie Louvin has passed on. Charlie rose to fame with his brother Ira as the Louvin Brothers, whose career was cut short by Ira's death by automobile accident in 1965. Charlie continued to record and perform solo, and though his popularity never quite reached the heights that it did with his brother he retained a loyal fanbase until the very end. [more inside]
posted by item on Jan 26, 2011 - 32 comments

"The ability to convey the depths of despair, the heights of jubilation and the serenity of an abiding faith are all that is required to be known as “The Voice.” Unfortunately, very few possess the ability to do all that and what’s more unfortunate, we lost one of those few–possibly the best of those few–with the death of Vern Gosdin at the age of 74." [more inside]
posted by dawson on Apr 29, 2009 - 7 comments

Harlan Howard is dead. The greatest American country songwriter outside of Hank Williams and Merle Haggard wrote more than four thousand songs, including Patsy Cline's "I Fall To Pieces" and Buck Owens' "Tiger By The tail", but "God May Forgive You (But I Won't)", performed by Rosie Flores and Iris Dement, is the one that turned me on. Known as the Dean of Nashville songwriters, Harlan had a permanently reserved barstool, and plenty of tips for aspiring songwriters, one of which was "country music is three chords and the truth". Old stool.
posted by liam on Mar 23, 2002 - 5 comments

Country Great Waylon Jennings Dead Well, there aren't too many outlaws left.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet on Feb 13, 2002 - 22 comments