The Louvin Brothers, Satan Is Real
[purchase]
A gorgeous gospel country waltz from the masters of sibling harmony, recorded all the way back in 1959 on an album of the same name. Sandwiched between the two sweet, light choruses -- a scant minute or less of sweet pre-Everly Brothers harmony chorus and delicate bass and guitar -- the bulk of this song is a long preacher-troped anti-pulpit speech straight out of the pews of the Baptist tradition, a confessional framed lyrically as a counterpart to the preacher's focus on heaven above, for the benefit of both preacher and sinner, and complete with church organ undertones.
A major tip of the hat to two of our beloved contributors, Brendan and the aptly-named-for-the-theme Ramone666, for introducing me to this one:
- Brendan featured this song and album at The Rising Storm way back in September, and his pitch is powerful; stop by The Rising Storm to pick up another track from the same album alongside a great write-up of the sound and sensibility behind this masterwork.
- Ramone666 re-introduced us to Satan Is Real in April on For The Sake of the Song; the tracks are long gone, but his loving album review is full of additional backstory and eminently worth reading, too, so head on over to hear the rest of the story.