Customer Reviews

Songs Our Daddy Taught Us

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The Everly's cut this album of old (some from 16th century) folk songs to fulfill their 2 album contract with Cadence records while they were signing to Warner Bros.

What at the time was a smart business choice (they didn't want to release hits and have to compete with them on Warner) also turns out to be and interesting artistic choice. Of course, folk groups like the Kingston Trio became very big singing "folk" tunes but this album is more genuine, less [fake] than their pop contemporaries.

Personally, when I first bought this album 10 years ago I was sixteen and trying to expose myself to any type of music that was intelligent. "Songs Our Daddy Taught Us" definitely fits the bill. CD's have come and gone but this one has stayed, fueling my interest in Appalachian music and the power of the folk tradition.

If you like earthy, pre-honky tonk, pure country, with unapologetically sentimental tunes and a heck of a lot of country soul, you should take a gamble and buy this album.

Nobody can harmonize like the Everly Brothers. It is absolutely unbelievable the sound they have together. Influenced by their father Ike, considered a great guitarest and country performer, the Everly Brothers put a different spin on the traditional songs that evolved from the birth of country recordings. It was the '60s hit "I'm Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail" that prompted me to discover this CD. The song was originally recorded in early 30's by the Cumberland Ridge Runners.

Several of these songs are included in the Franklin Mint Record Society Greatest Country Music Recordings of all Time (LPs). Gene Autry recorded "Silver Haired Daddy of Mine" in 1931.

The themes are love, loss, death, and sorrow. "I'm Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail" is a plea from an old lady to a warden begging to let her son out.

"Lightening Express", a small boy boards a train with a letter in hand from his dying mother. Lacking a ticket, a stern conductor advises the boy to get off at the next stop. The boys says, "I want to reach home and kiss mother goodbye before God takes her away."

"Down in the Willow Garden" certainly dates back to the 30s/40s when sung by Charlie Monroe, brother of Bill Monroe. The tragedy involves a lass who murdered his love, Rose Connelly, and the man always believed what his father told him "that money would set you free."

"Long Time Gone" reflects on departure, tears and sorrow. This music is unique, but what makes it so pleasurable is the sweet and delicate harmony of the Everly Brothers.

I enjoy this music for a melancholy afternoon of rest and relaxation. You can head for a nap, watch the snow or hear the rain pouring, these songs enhance solitude and peace. The harmony is amazing. MzRizz

I was a teenager in high school when the Everlys made their success in Rock and Roll. Like my schoolmates, I rocked along with them at that time. But my roots are in bluegrass and traditional music like they sing on this album. My family comes from the Tennessee hills. Even back then I recognized their brand of harmony as coming from this form of music, even when applied to rock and roll tunes. I didn't find out about this album until years later, which I regret. It is my favorite Everly Bros. album. You will enjoy it a lot.

I owned the album (still do)when I was very young. Loved it! Bought it on tape and now on CD. Truly one of the greatest groupings of old old favorites ever put together. Also, nobody can EVER equal these two harmonizing miracles!

Probably very few people know of this one. It's a great work, but are the songs ever sad.

It is no wonder these two had such a career. The harmony of these brothers is superb!!! Each song is filled with unique storytelling, and some sad passages. The beautiful, beautiful harmonic voices of the Everlys will never be matched.

I first bought the record version of this album from a P.X. in Darmstadt, Germany and I played it to death. This IS the roots of the Everly Brothers, as pure and unadulterated as a clear mountain stream. This is the Everlys unplugged and unpolished and though the sound is well engineered and of very good quality, it's not overproduced or slicked up in any way. It's the real deal! Some may find this album too simple, the guitar technique too limited, but if anyone had the privilege of sitting on a front porch in Appalachia (pronounced by those that live there, properly in fact, as apple atcha) with the Everly Brothers at their childhood home in Kentucky, this is pretty much what you'd hear, songs about Kentucky and missing the hound dogs chasin' coons. Mothers and fathers who love their children and would give all for them and did. Some may simply label these songs as "old tearjerkers" or too sentimental but there's none contrived, they're very real to the Appalachian people who sing the truth, because, in the mountains, your truth is unquestionable. There's "Barbary Allen", a song that arrived to the mountains with Scotch And Irish pioneers, later but still very old songs like, "Down By th Willow Garden", and a song sung long ago by Bradley Kincaid, "Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot?"
These are songs as comfortable as your Granddaddy's old flannel shirt or drinkin' water from a dipper or the pride and love for your oldest relatives who've always been a part of you.
If you can't handle that don't buy it. But if what I've said has any meaning in your life, buy it and sit a spell on that porch that sadly, may no longer be standin', a way of life that's seen moonshine replaced by prescription drug abuse, simple songs replaced by hard rock and Country that ain't even Country Music. A simpler more innocent time.

If you know and like Cathy's Clown, then it won't make the slightest difference to liking this stuff! This is one of the most honest folk albums I have heard. The sentimentality of many songs, before commercial interests started their sickening exploitation, is genuine. The words are born of hardship; put to music, like the blues, to make things feel better. The Everly's are (were?) the best close harmony duo on record. They were also fine guitar players with inventive technique and played chords that, in the 1950s, simply weren't in the repertoire of your average popular musician. If you don't like the Everly's, but like American folk, buy this as an album of classic songs sung in beautiful harmony by two guys accompanying themselves on acoustic guitars. If you like the Everly's, give yourself a treat - buy the complete Cadence recordings which includes all these + their early hits + their first album at a bargain price. No other artist has had the courage to drop their hit material at their peak, to sing about where their music comes from. Rick Nelson did it, virtually inventing country rock in the process, but that was after the teeny-bopper hits had dried up.

I love it. Not the usual songs that I am used to hearing the Everly Brothers sing. That was my purpose in getting it. And that makes me feel closer to them. It is beautiful.

I had searched for the song "Lightning Express" for some time. Until recently I did not know what it was actually called. My parents sing this song frequently and I assumed it was called "Please, Mr. Conductor". I was so thankful to find the Everly Brothers' version and purchased two - one for my parents and one for me. The tears in my dad's eyes when he heard the song were worth so much. The harmony of the Everly Brothers is amazing and seldom heard in today's music. As always, Amazon.com's service was excellent. Thank you.