Today’s post was written by Paul.
I was a little late getting the video I’m sharing today uploaded to YouTube, and it just hit me that next month is March, which is when we do our story song series! I haven’t even started or reached out to any other musicians. So I’ll have to whip up some story songs quickly for next week!
This video comes from the same recording session as “Don’t Let Your Sweet Love Die” that I shared two weeks ago.
In the notes for that upload, I mentioned that Granny was cooking in the kitchen while we recorded. At the very end of this upload, if you listen really closely, you’ll hear a squeaking sound. That was Granny closing the squeaky door of our oven in the kitchen. 🙂 I turned down the master volume as fast as I could, but it’s still on there, preserved for posterity.
In this video, unlike the other, I sang a brief part alone. In that solo part, you can definitely hear the youth in my voice, a little whiney, if you will. In my defense, I can tell that I was also dividing my focus between the vocal and the C run that I was making on the top two strings, which at the time, might have been a little challenging or tricky for me.
Pap makes some nice runs on the Taylor, including a falling run on the top string as the song goes “around the horn” into the fourth chord. I can remember Pap singing “Too Late” as a solo around the house when I was very little. It always caught my attention because of the clear sense of regret the speaker feels in the song. The imagery of the note left on the pillow struck me. The song also stood out because, unlike most country songs, the man is at fault in this song, rather than the lady.
The lopsided placement of blame in country music was famously pointed out by Kitty Wells in “It wasn’t God who Made Honky Tonk Angels.”
Pap most likely learned “Too Late” from the Louvins. For a while, I figured they wrote it. When I learned that they didn’t, I mistakenly thought Hugh X. Lewis wrote it. Somehow, it just sounded like one of his songs. One of the Acorns let me know in a comment 8 years ago, when Pap and I uploaded a video of us singing “Too Late,” that Jimmy Wakely wrote it. Since then, I’ve heard his version, and it is very good! I could be wrong, but it seems clear that the Louvins learned it from him because they use almost the exact same melody line leading up to the high chord in the chorus each time.
Back when Pap and I recorded “Too Late” on the cassette recorder, he was crazy about my guitar break because he said it was very different than anything he had ever heard any guitar player do on the song. I remember that he had me play it several times for his friend, the Late Jack Dockery, who was a great local flat picker in our area. Looking back on the break, I guess it was pretty good at my age.
I think the harmony between me and Pap on this cassette recording is very tight, and our voices sound very much alike. On the word “you” in the line “but if you don’t change your way of living,” it even sounds like we are trying to push our voices against each other as much as we can. There are a couple of other places like that in the song too.
To compare us singing the song about 18 years after this cassette recording, just follow this link.
As always, thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoyed this duet on “Too Late.”
Paul
Original singles released on Spotify.
I can tell a maturity in the newest recording in your voice. I think you and your dad sound so much alike. Just a question, because I am curious. Was there ever a time that you or Tipper didn’t want to make family music? I see in some of the videos with the twins that he smiled or nodded his head as if to say, “good job”. I can tell by your previous videos that Pap was a pretty positive guy. How was it growing up with him as your music teacher, for both you and Tipper?
Karen-thank you! There was certainly a time that I didn’t care about the music. I loved music I just wanted to be out and about with my friends enjoying the popular music of the day 🙂 I don’t think there was a time that Paul strayed from the music. Pap was an amazing teacher!
Tomorrow is my husbands birthday and since he has to work we decided to do a little birthday loafering today. When I asked him where he wanted to go he said let’s drive over towards Brasstown and check out Tipper and thems neck of the woods. Neither of us have been to that particular spot before so off we went. I swear I could just about hear the voices of pap & Paul and Corie and Katie singing while driving around over there. We saw a whole herd of deer grazing in a field and now I think Tim wants to move in lol. Around here you’re lucky to spot 2 or 3 at once and that’s sporadically. Beautiful country over there!
Cassie-I hope Tim has a great birthday!! Glad you both enjoyed your trip to Brasstown 🙂
What a treasure to have so many recordings of your family singing together! You and your Dad sound so good together, such beautiful voices!! My family played and sang all the time when I was growing up, the picking reminds me so much of my Dad’s style of play! Thanks for sharing
It really is wild how much you and Pap sound alike on this recording. At first I thought it must have been recorded on a multi track recorder because I thought Pap was singing lead and harmony. I think in some of the later videos you are starting to really favor Pap as well.
Love the song, love the harmonies. You two blended perfectly together. God bless you for sharing this with us.
Oh I love this! So much harmony and good music!
Thank you Tipper I look forward every day to read your posts!
Still keeping Granny in our prayers!
Joanna
This is so good it gives me chills! My mother thought she could “sang”. Alas, she could not, never stopped her. Her and her sisters grew up without electricity, and they sang for entertainment.
Paul, I agree. You and Pap sounded so much alike on the harmony that I couldn’t hardly tell the difference between you two. It was great! Thanks for sharing. Have a blessed Sunday!!
Very enjoyable.
Enjoyed listening to the video this morning. Don’t know anything about breaks, runs, C major cords, but I love music and great harmony. Have a blessed Sunday! Blessings to all!
Really nice video. Great music.
As always, a joy to listen to. Great song choice.
Your music is always so relaxing to listen to…even though this song was a sad one. Thanks for sharing.
Happy Sunday y’all! Pap and Paul always sang beautifully together. Thanks for sharing!
Pap was right about that guitar break!
Such a great song and love the rocking chair. Those a two of the great talented family members. Prayers for Granny and you guys.