Raised Country!

Charlie Louvin

Charlie Louvin is a Country Music Hall of Fame legend. His music is featured in the recently released, award winning movie, Crazy Heart, and has been sung by virtually all of the great country music stars, including Allison Krause, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, The Byrds, and on and on and on.

Mr. Louvin’s “hay day” was in the late 40′s, throughout the 50′s, and early 60′s. He was part of a brother duet team, The Louvin Brothers. Their close harmony was based upon old, sacred harp music from the 1920′s. Charlie and his brother Ira helped shape the emerging American country music genre.

Mr. Louvin was so pleased with the article that we wrote about him last year that he asked us to build his new web site. We did. It launched on February 27th, 2010. Go check it out some time! http://charlielouvin.net or http://louvinbrothers.com

Even if you don’t care for “old school” country music, Mr. Louvin’s life represents a fascinating chapter in American history, and is a delight to read about.

Cooper Boone

I grew up in a small small town in Minnesota that was basically run by nuns and farmers. Life in my hometown was a place where doors were left unlocked, games were played in backyards not on computers or tvs, people waved when they passed by, the American Flag was honored and a crucifix was not a political statement but one of faith. But, like all things life and times changed.

The world became a different place and the commonly held values and beliefs that I was raised with seemed to become more uncommon as time progressed. This is not a negative statement on progress. I think amazing things have happened over the past 20 years that are magical.
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This post was submitted by Cooper Boone.

RC: Lee and Elaine, what are some of the earliest memories you have of wanting to play music as kids?

LR (Lee Roy): For me, I was probably about five.

I remember my grandmother playing fiddle, and my grandfather doing the old time Acadian dances. Uncles and aunts would all play guitar, piano, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and sing.

I remember going to church, then going over to my grandmother’s for dinner afterward. It was a “gimme.” As sure as there was going to be food on the table there was going to be music that afternoon. I couldn’t wait to get there to hear them start playin’ the fiddle and start singin’.

This post was submitted by Lee and Elaine Roy.