In Close Harmony – The Story of the Louvin Brothers by Charles Wolfe

I bought this book after reading Charlie Louvin's Satan is Real and wanted to explore it right after finishing Charlie's tome, but it arrived late and so I read Bobby Keys' book in between. In any case, this is a nice compendium to SIR, though, naturally, there is a lot of the same information.

This one does go into a lot more background details on the brothers' influences, peers, and the area that they grew up in, as well some items that Charlie left out of his book, such as the fact that Ira used to dress in drag for a comedy segment as "Sal Skinner"! And while not particularly picayune, Wolfe gives more information about each recording session (Charlie gave almost none), including the players and when the songs were recorded and how they were released (i.e. single, album, EP, etc.)

So, while Charlie's autobiography is obviously a bit more personal and filled with anecdotes, this gives a bit more factual information and background and also has a list of people who have covered the Louvins. Another fine telling of the brothers' tale.