Dawn McCarthy & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s upcoming album of Everly Brothers covers, What the Brothers Sang. It’s out on 18th February and is preceded by the single “Christmas Eve Can Kill You”.

As children, the music of The Everly Brothers touched Dawn McCarthy and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy; it touches Dawn’s children and the little ‘prince’ within Bonny today, and makes them dance and sing. The Brothers’ harmonies make the hairs stand up – they enervate and inspire. Beyond the visceral impact of any one song, any “So Sad” or “Devoted to You” that rings out from the radio on any given day, there are also the tracks that the Brothers trod over the course of several decades of singing together and making records. They didn’t stand still and neither did their songs. And so, What the Brothers Sang is no mere gesture of nostalgia; these new versions rethink The Everly Brothers for the audience of listeners today, people who naturally might have no knowledge or experience with those songs. Why should they? It’s not everyone who trawls through the dust of the past for their pleasures. Most of us live today – and so, for today, these songs are made.

With a great spirit of collaboration, support and exaltation, What the Brothers Sang was recorded and mixed by David Ferguson. The songs were played by Emmett Kelley, Dave Roe and Kenny Malone, with featured players Billy Contreras, John Mock, Dan Dugmore, Matt Sweeney, Pete Townsend, John Catchings, Bobby Wood, Joey Miskalin, Nils Frykdahl, Ian McAllister, Joey Baron, Dr. Chris Vivio, and Noah Tag.
This is as fine a bunch of musicians as can be assembled, and their combined session credits include hundreds and hundreds of records – and a stack of number one singles – all of which informed their playing of the great Everly Brothers songs included on What the Brothers Sang.