It is hard to just jump in a do a journal after so much absence. But I want to pay a little homage to a Phil Everly. I feel a little out of place going on about an artist from the early days of Rock n Roll. So I thought I might talk a little about a song he sang with his brother. It kinda connects The Everly Brothers to 70s Rock - which I am also a little apprehensive to talk about...
...before I really got to know The Everly Brothers' music I was familiar with a cover-song of theirs "Love Hurts" by Nazareth, which at the time didn't know that the EB did the original recording. And it just so happens Nazareth's version appears in one of my atf movies
Dazed and Confused. I love the way Nazareth guitar player, Manny Charlton, approaches this song. His interpretation of the song is just perfect. His arpeggios are slow and meaningful, his playing is articulate and the sound of his guitar is very chorusy. His guitar solo just soars, it has a e-Bow like quality to it, though he could be just using his volume control on his guitar. It is timeless classic, one of the best cover-songs of all time. (...forgive me for sounding trite, journal writing is kinda new to me and maybe not my thing, but in this case I felt it had to be said.)
The original is pretty good too. I am certain the guitar player on EB version is Chet Atkins, his style is unmistakable. At some time Chet's career he had a tone/volume pedal that affected both tone & volume...naturally. It was somewhat similar to a Wah-wah effect, (though it isn't a true Wah-wah - and I think that effect Chet had predates the Wah-wah). I'm not 100% certain, but the way his guitar sounds sounds like he is using it on this recording. I am familiar with some Everly Brothers material and I always found it cool to hear Chet playing in the background. I became a Chet Atkins fan
via Steve Howe who mentions Chet as one of his major influence.
Love Hurts was written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, they also wrote other songs for the Everly Brothers like
Poor Jenny,
Rocky Top, and list of other hits like the sentimental classic
Devoted to You.