AVIDIGI

TRAGIC SONGS OF LIFE finds Charlie and Ira Louvin offering up a prime example of their bluegrass-inflected country sound. Here the brothers' high harmonies and deft guitar and mandolin playing (Charlie and Ira, respectively) carry the tunes, which stay true to the melancholy mood suggested by the record's title. While the Louvins perform their own songs (namely the lovelorn narrative "A Tiny Broken Heart" and the somber "Alabama"), they focus mainly on traditional numbers (the shuffling "Let Her Go, God Bless Her" and the murder ballad "Knoxville Girl") and other classics (the homesick "Kentucky" and the haunting "In the Pines"). Although the Louvins' penchant for gospel themes is not very apparent here, their passionate delivery and tales of lives gone wrong hint at the more blatantly spiritual material they would tackle on later releases such as THE FAMILY WHO PRAYS and SATAN IS REAL. – cduniverse.com