Phil's passing makes me very sad.

The Everly Brothers have become (since the 1990's) my favorite artist. (I love harmony, always have.)

I saw them 4 times, the last 3 with my wife. The most recent is hard to count, as they sang only 4 songs in the middle of a (final?) Simon and Garfunkle national tour which came to our town. Shortly after this tour, the Everlys retired from performing.

We saw them a few years prior at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas, a very nice venue (from an acoustics point of view) that holds about 900.

That concert was incredible. I've seen comments about it, years later, on the internet. Albert Lee played guitar and mandolin. Buddy Emmons was on steel guitar.

This was a top 10 concert for me (of well over 1000 that I have seen).

In the late 80's or early 90's we saw them at what was a very poor show. They were squabbling and clearly did not want to be there.


I've never forgotten my first Everlys' concert. The San Antonio venue held a few thousand, but only a few hundred were there. The British invasion had hit (I think it was 1964).

I remember Don peering out from the stage after a couple of songs (I guess he could tell by the applause that there weren't very many in the audience). He asked Phil, "Where is everybody?" Phil shrugged.

I was very young, but had already been to quite a large number of concerts.

I'd never heard anything like this. I wondered if there was a chorus behind the side curtains. So did my friends.

If there had been a backstage chorus, it would have been a choir of angels.

Such was the quality of their harmonies.

They played for over 2 hours. They played their asses off. (I never forgot that lesson.)


To this day, that Everlys'show was the best concert I've ever attended.



Here are links to a couple of songs that Phil wrote:



Phil Everly's home recorded demo of "When Will I Be Loved", his most famous song: It's a ballad!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IusupFf-XLg "When Will I Be Loved" (1959)


This outtake is take 2. It's still slower than the single. Buddy Harmon is closing in on the single's intricate drumming. The guitar part is beginning to take shape. The riff is already there. The Everlys change a couple of things for the single's vocal, but it's (I think) an astonishing vocal for take 2.

It's fascinating to hear Don (once again) try to run things (on Phil's song!), to hear them bicker, and to hear an exasperated "adult" (could be Cadence head Archie Bleyer, but it sounds like Chet to me) bark at them!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLYjLMMOhcE "When Will I Be Loved" (1960)


This mid-1970's solo recording by Phil Everly shows what an accomplished songwriter Phil was. Note towards the end, when he sings harmony with himself, how closely the sound mirrors the Everly Brothers' sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7VQopQIBcE "The Words In Your Eyes" (1975)


Though Phil Everly was an incredibly talented man, he was very humble.

Along the way he changed Roy Orbison's life. (It's highly likely Roy would have never happened without Phil's involvement. That's quite a story!)

God Bless you, Phil for a life well lived!

Last edited by Le Miz; 01/09/14 12:25 AM. Reason: Corrected link #2