'Tragic Songs of Life'

Few artists are best known for an album. Particularly because it wasn’t even the album cover of their best album. 

The Louvin Brothers’ Satan is Real album cover featuring them standing on a rock quarry with a 12-foot tall plywood Satan grinning maliciously behind them is the everlasting legacy of the brothers named Loudermilk.

The pair changed their birth name to Louvin in the 1940s when their gospel careers began to take off. They eventually went mainstream including this album, Tragic Songs of Life. 

In terms of their gospel music, it was incredibly hell fire and brimstone warning against the evils of Earthly pleasures and the snares of Satan as God’s children. 

The irony – or hypocrisy – was that the elder Ira Louvin was a notorious drinker, womanizer with a terrible temper. He’d often smash his mandolin on stage. He was married four times and shot six times by wife No. 3 after he allegedly beat her. He died at age 41 after a drunk driver hit he and his wife head on, killing them instantly. The irony was that a warrant had just been issued for Ira’s arrest for a DUI charge. 

Despite the immense drama and album cover, what shouldn’t be lost is that the Louvin Brothers wove some beautiful harmonies and arrangements of Americana and gospel. It’s really beautiful and important music. But it’s understandable to ignore the personal stuff to appreciate them the most.