Ten For Today Revisit: Felice Bryant and Her Husband

(This is a lightly-edited version of something I have posted before.)

Songwriting legend Felice Bryant was born this day in 1925. With her husband Boudleaux, she wrote some of the most enduring songs in the canon. She was born Matilda Genevieve Scaduto in Milwaukee, which means you can add her to the list of great Italian-Americans we might consider honoring in place of a certain Italian imperialist explorer with a holiday in October. At the age of 19, she was working as an elevator operator (Remember those? If not, ask your Mom.) at a hotel in her hometown when she met Boudleaux, a musician from Georgia. They ran off together five days later, and they were together until his death in 1987. They wrote some big, big hits together, including several of The Everly Brothers’ biggest. They were solidly rooted in country music, but they also had major pop successes.

"Both wrote tunes; both wrote words; their communication was almost mystical," Bufwack and Oermann wrote in their definitive book about women in country music, Finding Her Voice.

Here are Ten For Today: Felice Bryant and Her Husband.

The Bryants wrote many songs for The Everly Brothers, and figure very heavily into their development. This is a great one from 1960.

This is from 1967. I don’t know about you, but I always experience a little bit of cognitive dissonance when I hear Preacher Harry Powell singing, as if he’s not the scariest serial killer in cinema history.

Here’s a live performance on the radio from 1968. The band recorded it several times, according to the internets, including one version with Judy Dyble singing harmony, but sadly I can’t find that one. Still great.

This one was first recorded by The Everly Brothers in 1959, but this is Dylan’s 1970 version.

You definitely know other versions of this song, but you may not know this very different 1976 version by George Harrison.

Here’s Gram and Emmylou in 1976.

The first recording of this one came out in 1958, and it has been performed by hundreds of artists. This is Leo Sayer in 1978.

The Everlys first did this one in 1958, but this is Rockpile in 1980.

I think this was recorded in 1982. It’s by Boston’s own The Real Kids.

All of the above are credited to Felice and Boudleaux. Below is one of the rare songs Felice wrote on her own, without him. In fact, it was a birthday gift to him, written in 1955. Here’s a 1999 recording of it with Iris DeMent and John Prine.

Finally, a little bonus.

That’s it. This was difficult, as there are over 1500 songs to choose from, almost all with multiple versions. They reportedly wrote over 6000. I’d like to hear the rest. Is someone working on that? If not, I’ll put it on our things-to-do-when-we-retire list.

Felice died in 2003.

Thank you for reading. I am grateful that you are an enabler! Have a great day! Be kind to everyone you meet. Kindness is resistance.

Joyce

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