Stars and fans will never say 'Bye Bye Love' to the Everly Brothers, as Music Masters show proves (concert review)Everly Brothers Music Masters tribute
Don Everly of the Everly Brothers takes on singing solo to the delight of other musicians in the back as he sings the lyrics to "Bye Bye Love" during a Music Masters tribute to the duo at Playhouse Square October 25, 2014 sponsored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. (John Kuntz, The Plain Dealer)
Chuck Yarborough, The Plain Dealer By Chuck Yarborough, The Plain Dealer
on October 25, 2014 at 10:32 PM, updated October 25, 2014 at 10:49 PM
CLEVELAND, Ohio – When Albert Lee, the Everly Brothers' lead guitarist for many years, and country chanteuse Emmylou Harris cloaked themselves in the trademark harmonies for "Bye, Bye Love,'' they really said goodbye to the pall of gray hair and aching knees.
Instead, the sold-out State Theatre, host to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 2014 Annual Music Masters tribute to the brothers on Saturday night pretty let us all revel in the recollection of the promise of youth, where nothing hurt and Grecian Formula was something from Athens.
For more than two hours, stars like Lee, Harris, music director Rodney Crowell, two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Graham Nash, Keb' Mo', Ledisi, Alison Krauss, Peter Asher, Waddy Wachtel, sisters Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer, bluegrass queen Alison Krauss, songwriting great JD Souther, the Secret Sisters, Bonnie "Prince'' Billie and Dawn McCarthy were able to bring back the days when rock was young and there was nothing but promise on the horizon.
And if you didn't have a serious case of soggy eyeballs when 77-year-old Don Everly took the stage to accept the award from Rock Hall President and CEO Greg Harris. Eve, you surely did when Everly joined the entire ensemble gathered to reprise "Bye Bye Love.
Everly's appearance onstage was an unexpected treat, but nothing could top him taking his signature vocal solo in "Bye Bye Love.'' The sadness – if there was any – is that his younger brother was not here. Phil Everly died of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease this past January, just days before his 75th birthday.
The Rock Hall's stated goal is to "engage, teach and inspire.'' Nothing could do that better than this stellar concert honoring the two men whose sibling harmonies provided the inspiration for Paul McCartney and John Lennon of the Beatles, Nash and Allan Clarke of the Hollies and just about everybody who ever tried to go a third or a fifth above another singer.
Harris may have hit it on the head in his opening remarks, when in his opening remarks, he talked about touring Ireland back in the '80s.
"It didn't matter if it was a kitchen with three people or a pub with 100, ever time a guitar came out, there was an Everlys song,'' Harris said.
Equally impressive is that he noticed in his travels that it was not uncommon to see a grandfather harmonizing with a teenaged son. That's what Everlys music does; it brings people together.
It has in the past, and certainly did Saturday night, from the opening salvo of Crowell and blues Grammy winner Keb' Mo on "Wake Up Little Susie'' to that heart-wrenching finale.
Few things could top the pairing of Crowell and Harris, who won a Grammy for best Americana album for "Old Yellow Moon'' the same month that Phil Everly died, on "Love Hurts.''
Harris' beautiful soprano easily is among the most expressive in any genre, and her gift for harmony makes a good singer great, and a great singer fantastic.
One of the happier surprises – and in retrospect, it shouldn't have been, as both made their names singing harmonies – was the blend of voices from Asher and Nash. Asher was half of the British Invasion duo Peter and Gordon and Nash, in addition to the Hollies, is in the Rock Hall as a member of Crosby, Stills and Nash.
The two collaborated on "Hard Hard You,'' one of the lesser known tunes in the Everlys' vast catalog, and "Claudette.''
Asher also teamed with Souther for a rousing version of "Crying in the Rain.''
Some of the truest harmonies came from the Secret Sisters, siblings Laura and Lydia Rogers. Their Wikipedia bio even notes that the natives of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, "have been compared to the Everly Brothers.''
That showed true on their cover of the Everlys' "Lonely Island,'' which they put on their latest record at the insistence of producer T-Bone Burnett, who heard them warming up with it in a stairwell.
The difficulty in a show like this is that you have artists who are known for their own voices and styles trying to pay homage to an iconic sound. Thus, keys have to be changed, and phrasing is sometimes a little different. Nowhere was that more evident than in Keb' Mo' and Ledisi on "Let It Be Me.''
But sometimes, it just comes together. One of the most perfect examples was Gill and Nash on the Everlys' biggest hit, "Cathy's Clown.'' The two superstars have natural tenors, just about perfect in the Everlys' range.
Or when Gill and Krauss teamed – with Krauss taking Don's lower part – on "When Will I Be Loved?''
The answer to that, at least as far as the Everlys, is simple: today, tomorrow and forever.
