The Charlie Louvin Story

So here's the thing: I have a tendency to be inappropriate a lot of the time. I have a pretty sick sense of humor to begin with and I really love beer; hijinks are bound to ensue with that sort of combination. I've said and done some monumentally stupid things in my day. But on November 13, 2009 I achieved a personal best for being unintentionally inappropriate.

On Friday afternoon, I was driving home from work pondering whether or not to attend country legend Charlie Louvin's performance at the EARL. I was listening to 1690 AM, and Stomp and Stammer's Jeff Clark was filling in as the DJ. He made mention of the show, and then played the Louvin Brothers' classic "Cash on the Barrelhead". I decided at this point that I needed to go, and figured it might have been close to selling out. I stopped by the EARL to purchase a ticket and make sure I didn't miss out on the opportunity to see one of the old masters, even if he is 82 years of age.

I got my ticket and decided to have a couple of beers before heading home to regroup and come back out for the show. At one point, another patron (Frederick from Degenerate Press, incidentally) asked the bartender if he could pick up a ticket for the show. Upon being told that the cost of the ticket was $18, he playfully acted as though he wouldn't pay such a hefty sum for a show at the EARL. Wanting to join in on the fun, I loudly announced the following:

"Look at it this way, think about how much money that ticket stub will be worth if he drops dead on the stage tonight."

Immediately after I said this, the bartender, who is a good friend of mine, snapped at me in a very authoritative tone. This took me by complete surprise, because knowing her, she would have only addressed me in such a manner if I'd done something truly awful to deserve it. I quickly scoped my surroundings, and then it hit me: the elderly gentleman literally 18 or so inches to my left was Charlie Louvin.

After realizing what I had just done, I did what any reasonable person would do: I ran like hell out the front door, busted out my phone and pretended to answer a non-existent phone call. After I was able to calm down a bit, I went back inside and it appeared that Mr. Louvin either didn't hear me, didn't realize I was talking about him, or perhaps he just didn't care. Needless to say, I could not remember being that embarrassed in recent history. I sure am glad he didn't drop dead on stage that night, because he put on a great show.

Charlie Louvin
The Earl
Atlanta, GA
November 13, 2009

Stopping by the bar to get a ticket in advance was a good move on my part. However, putting down a couple of beers and a couple shots of Jameson between 6 and 7 PM turned out to be a tactical error. That kind of head start pretty much guaranteed I would wind up getting too drunk before the night ended. Fortunately, I was not too drunk to absorb Anna Kramer's set. I always enjoyed her, but I hadn't seen her in a long time, and she was loads better than I ever remembered her being. It seems, although I could be wrong about this, that she has been playing out with less frequency in the last year or so. I'll have to keep an eye out for more of her shows because she was fantastic that night, as were the Lost Cause.

I was starting to get pretty loaded by the time The Dexter Romweber Duo took the stage. It mostly seemed unremarkable to me. It wasn't bad, by any means, but it left me with the feeling that I usually get when I watch or listen to a two-piece act: I wished they were at least a three piece. It wasn't as good as Romweber's Flat Duo Jets, who were a two piece I would love to have seen perform live, but it was OK.

I was essentially plastered by the time Charlie Louvin took the stage, but I was still able to enjoy some of his set. At 82, he still has an amazing voice and a very commanding stage presence. He was kind of like your grandfather, but only if your grandfather happened to be a pioneering country artist with a golden voice and six decades worth of material so impressive that everyone from George Jones to Elvis Costello to Jeff Tweedy wanted to work with him. My biggest regret of the night, other than accidentally making a joke about the artist being so old that he might drop dead on stage, was not purchasing one of the t-shirts that had the picture of one of the most ridiculously bad album covers of all time, The Louvin Brothers, Satan is Real.



On second thought, maybe it wouldn't have been such a bad thing if he had heard my joke, because anyone who would put out an album with that undeniably horrendous cover, and then be okay with printing t-shirts with that image on it has got to be someone who digs unintentional comedy and doesn't mind being the butt of the joke sometimes. Either that or he's just a savvy business man; I'm certain that shirt is probably a hot seller everywhere he plays.

It was a real treat being able to see and hear Charlie Louvin in person. I hope there gets to be a next time for it, and if there is I'll remember to stay reasonably sober. And one thing I can say with a great degree of certainty is that from now on, I'm going to do a visual scan of the whole room before I make a crude joke about octogenarians.