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The Everly Brothers: 12 Essential Tracks

A playlist of key tracks from the massively influential sibling harmonisers

Popular musical duo Phil and Don Everly recording at the Warner Brothers studio in Hollywood, 1963. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

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Phil and Don Everly, born in 1939 and 1937, respectively, were the sons of country-western duo Ike and Margaret Everly, and began playing on country radio by the time they were seven. The Everly Brothers recorded 15 Top Ten hits between 1957 and 1962, producing a mind-blowing blend of Appalachian harmonies and rock & roll that influenced the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel and the Rolling Stones. We mined our playlists and consulted session legend Waddy Wachtel, who joined the Everly band in 1972, to create a career-spanning list of the band’s greatest recordings, from massive hits to under appreciated deep-cuts.

[Editor’s note: A version of this list was originally published January 2014]

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Michael Ochs Archives

“I’m Tired of Singing My Song in Las Vegas” (1972)

The Everly Brothers enlisted a session band including Warren Zevon, Wachtel and John Sebastian for 1972’s Stories We Could Tell, which featured Don Everly’s twangy “I’m Tired of Singing My Song in Las Vegas.” The Everlys had spent plenty of time playing oldies shows in Vegas by this point, and the track perfectly expressed the frustrations of being on the circuit.

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Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

“On the Wings of a Nightingale” (1984)

After a decade of inactivity, the band reunited to perform a comeback TV special in London before recording EB 84 with producer Dave Edmunds. He enlisted Everly fanatic Paul McCartney to write this strummy throwback rocker. “Dave said it was the hardest phone call he ever made, because McCartney is always being asked for something,” Don Everly told RS in 1986. “Paul said if he could come up with anything, he’d give a call. Dave forgot about it, but about six weeks later, the phone rang and it was McCartney. He said. ‘I Think I’ve got one.”

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Michael Putland/Getty

“More Than I Can Handle” (1984)

This forgotten highlight from EB 84 is a harmony-soaked rocker recalling the simplicity of their early days.