Well, that was quick
Turns out I do have to something to say. And it’s that the Hunter Hauk piece about Satan Is Real that came out in July’s issue of Cowboys & Indians has now been posted.
Before losing his battle with pancreatic cancer in early 2011, Charlie spent the better part of the prior year sharing his stories with cowriter Benjamin Whitmer — about growing up under a slave driver of a father, dreaming of and finally succeeding at playing the Grand Ole Opry, and dealing with his brother’s infamous volatility.
Whitmer cobbled together the comments from those interviews to fashion a biography of Charlie and Ira Louvin that reads more like an oral history. Hearing Charlie tell all those stories instilled in Whitmer a strong sense of responsibility to stay true to his subject’s voice and style — salty language, colloquialisms, and all.
“I took a lot of time organizing and finding ways to make it a narrative while trying to keep his voice as strong as possible,” Whitmer said during a phone interview from his Denver home. “Once I heard [Charlie] talk, it was obvious that his voice would be the heart of the book.”
