Lost and Found: The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers Roots
Originally released in 1968, Roots was initially a commercial flop for the Everly Brothers. Containing none of their hits and only one original piece, the album failed to widen the Everly's audience as it was intended. Time however, has been good to Roots as it is now generally considered to be one the best early examples of the Country Rock genre. A loose concept album, Roots expounds upon the idea behind 1958s Songs Our Daddy Taught Us and finds the Everly's once again covering songs by the artists who influenced them like Merle Haggard and Jimmie Rodgers. It also finds them covering songs by more contemporary artists such as Randy Newman's "Illinois" and Glen Campbell's "Less of Me." Taking it a step further, the album is also interspersed with old clips of Don and Phil as young boys conversing with their parents on their father Ike's radio program, pulled from the family's own home recordings.

The production here is understated and simple, often featuring the brothers on acoustic guitars with little accompaniment. There's a very relaxed feel to the record even on the fully arranged pieces such as their take on Jimmie Rodger's "T for Texas" (complete with a wah-wah intro and a fuzzed out guitar duel). There are no true highlights to this album and thats on purpose. The Everly's conceived Roots as an album piece and it is certainly meant to be taken that way. Every song on this record is equally strong in performance and importance to the overall picture. A more beautiful and personal record you will not find in the Everly's catalog. You'll also be hard pressed to find an album this good in the whole of the Country Rock genre.