Brothers Gonna Work It Out (or maybe not in some cases)

There is long history of sibling rivalry in bands. In the 1990s, it was one Oasis’ biggest marketing tools, so much so that there is even a rare bootleg of the Gallagher brothers rowing during an NME interview, called ‘Wibbling Rivalry’. Journalists compared the friction between the Gallaghers with examples of the tension between the brothers in bands of the past. For example, the rivalry of Ray and Dave Davies of The Kinks is the stuff of legend; it even resulted in the band being banned from playing some venues in the USA, since it actually resulted in onstage violence.

However, there had been a long tradition of brothers making music together, which probably stretches back for as long as people have been making music. Arguably it was most noticeable in country music, when the brother duo became a rather commercial proposition from the 1930s onwards. The Everly Brothers were of course the most commercial and famous of these, but they were aware that they were steeped in a whole tradition of brother-acts that had gone before. In particular, they were both were huge fans of The Louvin Brothers, whose harmonies had a big influence on the Everlys and they even covered some of the songs the Louvins had popularised.

The following list contains some examples of brother duos, some more famous than others:

The Louvin Brothers – Kentucky

The Osborne Brothers – White Dove

Blue Sky Boys – On The Banks Of The Ohio (it is unknown if The Blue Sky Boys chose their name because they didn’t want to be known as The Bolick Brothers. Yes… Bolick was their surname).

Rusty & Doug Kershaw – Louisiana Man

The Delmore Brothers – Freight Train Boogie (some claim that this was one of the first rock ‘n’ roll recordings ever made)

The Stanley Brothers – Man Of Constant Sorrow

The Monroe Brothers – Will The Circle Be Unbroken?

The Callahan Brothers – She’s Killing Me (1934)

The Lilly Brothers – Dig A Hole In The Meadow

Jimmy and Jesse Reynolds – Are You Missing Me

The Crowe Brothers – Jane (a very rare bit of rockabilly).

The Everly Brothers – When Will Be Loved