Their background and their basic sound was country, and the duo who wrote many of their hits, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, had scored big success with country songs in the past. But the boys were teenagers of the mid 1950’s and rock & roll was in the air. It was inevitable that they would punch up their sound with a stronger beat, and the combination of brotherly harmonies and a rockin’ country instrumental backing made them a smash success.

The brothers had an acrimonious split in the late 1960’s, but reunited for a sparkling TV special and a few albums in the mid-1980’s.

Of their early albums, the least commercial was Songs Our Daddy Taught Us—a collection of traditional songs that is one of my favorites. Thankfully this album was reissued on CD a few years ago.

And as of 2001, Warner Brothers reissued their original albums on CD, two per CD. The first one has It's Everly Time, one of the best albums of all time, along with A Date With the Everly Brothers. These CDs are being sold on the Everly Brothers International site, at competitive prices.

The Everly Brothers top ten hits:* "Bye Bye Love" (2), "Wake Up Little Susie" (3), "All I Have to Do Is Dream" (1), "Bird Dog" (1), "Devoted to You" (10), "Problems" (2), "(‘Til) I Kissed You" (4), "Let it Be Me" (7), "Cathy’s Clown" (1), "When Will I Be Loved" (8), "So Sad to Watch Good Love Go Bad" (7), "Walk Right Back" (7), "Ebony Eyes" (8), "Crying in the Rain" (6), "That’s Old Fashioned" (9).

--Dick Estel, updated August 2006

*Billboard pop singles chart, as reported in the book Top 40 Hits, copyright 1992 by Joel Whitburn.