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Harmony in singing is something that could be considered more than a bit old fashioned. This was true even back when the Everly Brothers came along in the late 1950s. It reminds one of barber shop quartets and maybe the ‘90s...the 1890s. Why then, are the Everly Brothers credited with kick starting “rock n’roll”? Because they were among the first of a new generation to blast to the top in the loosely defined, wide area that came to be known as rock. In a sense, they weren’t rock artists, they were, as noted previously, a bridge between the old and the new. They qualified as rock stars by virtue of timing and the fact that some of their songs hued to the more raucous rhythms of the emerging genre, a blend of country, pop and black soul music sensibilities. Their guitars were prominent and they used drums to drive the song, unlike the more traditional ballads of their day.

Their songs, heard again and again on the radio and coming out of juke boxes, were simply unforgettable. Though their elders at the time thought rock would fade away in a few months, the songs of the Everly Brothers stay with the listener forever.

Dave Bauder published a thoughtful tribute to the Everly Brothers on AP. Here is a clip:

Simon & Garfunkel invited the Everly Brothers to be their opening act for a 2003 tour. Paul Simon, often exasperated by his on-again, off-again partner and quite accomplished on his own, couldn't help but be amused by the irony of two partnerships where real-life harmony didn't match what was onstage. Phil and Don hadn't seen each other for three years before meeting in the parking lot before the first show.

"They unpacked their guitars ” those famous black guitars€” and they opened their mouths and started to sing," Simon told Rolling Stone magazine. "And after all these years, it was still that sound I fell in love with as a kid. It was still perfect."

Famous fans paid their debts. Simon and Garfunkel could have invited anyone for that 2003 tour. McCartney opened the door for "Phil and Don" in his 1976 hit "Let 'Em In" and wrote the single "On the Wings of a Nightingale" for their 1984 reunion. Rockpile partners Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe recorded an EP of Everly covers and Edmunds produced the "EB 84" album.

LINK TO THE FULL ARTICLE

LINK TO AN ARTICLE about the close harmonies of the Everly Brothers and their impact on American music over the decades.