Howard remembers coming through Arkansas several decades ago, “even before we were known as the Bellamy Brothers. I was all hippied out in the late 60s, early 70s. I took off around the country in a van with a dog and somehow I ended up in Arkansas.”
A few miles north of Russellville, Howard said he met up with a man named Herschel Shoptaw, who lived on the edge of a forest that had been on the cover of National Geographic for its beautiful foliage during the fall. Shoptaw offered his own home as a place Howard could stay. It was the beginning of a friendship with Shoptaw, with whom Howard says he kept in touch until Shoptaw’s death, but also an appreciation for Arkansas’ natural resources, as Howard said he swam in the Buffalo River. The Bellamy Brothers have played many venues in the state, including many county fairs here, since.
Those who only know the Bellamys from their colossal hits of the 70s and 80s, like “Let Your Love Flow,” “If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body (Would You Hold It Against Me,” or “Redneck Girl” are missing out and have some catching up to do. The brothers from Darby, Florida have put out nearly 50 albums of guitar-laden country rock and pop that meet a high standard for studio perfection and, by turns, hilarious, heartfelt and wry lyrics. Their vocal harmonies, like those of many historic musical siblings, often attain a perfection and subtlety impossible to find this side of the Everly Brothers. That’s as true on their 2021 version of “Lord, I Hope This Day is Good,” as it was on 1983’s “When I’m Away From You,” a sincere cover of Frankie Miller’s great 1979 song and recording.
“We’re still quite active. We're still doing 150 shows a year. And just before the COVID, we had been touring for two years. We were on tour with Blake Shelton. And we re-exposed ourselves to a younger audience, even though our demographic has always been pretty broad. And depending on what state you're in, because grandparents listen to your music, parents bring their kids.”
It also helps that they keep recording albums that explore a nearly endless number of musical genres, especially country rock and pop, but also gospel, folk, R&B and reggae. All of these can be heard on their most recent album, 2021’s Covers From the Brothers, which features renditions of “Most Beautiful Girl,” the aforementioned “Lord, I Hope This Day is Good,” “Games People Play” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” “Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay.”
I told Howard I thought “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” was a standout on the album. “Yeah, me too,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite songs of all time. I thought we could do a really good job within a reggae style on it. It feels right.” Covers From the Brothers closes with a version of that vocal tour de force “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling” that gives the Brothers Righteous a good contest.
About the choices for that album, Howard said, “We both came in with songs we loved through the years. And there's so many of them. It could have been hundreds and for some reason we just decided and we cut a couple a few more [than what is on the album.] And those just kind of came up as the ones we thought felt right, and we nailed pretty good.”
“Pretty good” could also describe the news that arrived this week on top of their playing in Hope tomorrow night. The Bellamy Brothers put out their second single of the year after appearing on Buddy Jewell and Clint Black’s “Sweet Southern Comfort.” The new single is a re-recording of one of their best songs, “I’d Lie for Your Love,” that features K.T. Oslin’s incomparable voice. Oslin, born in Crossett, Arkansas, passed away in 2020 after a long career that saw her inducted into the Nashville Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. In 2006, she and the Bellamys recorded the song in Nashville’s Sound Shop Studios.
Being able to release it now was due to the approval of Oslin’s family, Howard said: “We had met her family and gotten permission to release that version with her that has never been released. And that's just out now. And it's just great. She's amazing.”
The new album, to be entitled Double Dog Dare, is scheduled for release early next year. Howard said the album features the duet with Oslin and also a duet with Gene Watson. “And but the rest of it is brand new songs that we both have written.”
Howard told of an occasion during the making of the album when he and David wrote songs on similar subjects. “A very strange thing happened on the album. Sometimes we write together and sometimes we just just write and it was during COVID when everybody was being reclusive. I had written a song called ‘I Want to be Your Lap Dog.’ And David had written a song called ‘Dance with the Dog.’ So when we got together, we just said ‘Well, what the heck. Let’s just use both of them.”
Asked how he and David keep up with their busy touring schedule, that will take them through ten concerts in September and eleven in October, Howard said with a chuckle, “I'd say naps have been good for me” and added that being able to perform well at his age is a gift he cannot claim credit for.
The Bellamy Brothers are scheduled to perform starting at 7:00 p.m. tonight at Hempstead Hall. Tickets are still available.