Charlie Louvin passed earlier today (Jan 26th) of complications stemming from an ongoing bout with pancreatic cancer. He was 83. Charlie Louvin is best remembered as one half of the famous Louvin Brothers along with brother Ira Louvin (above video is of the two Alabama-born brothers doing "I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby"). Once famously cited as Elvis Presley's favorite musical duo and widely revered for their impeccable harmonizing, these country music artists started out their career playing on the radio in Tennessee in the early 1940's, initially singing traditional gospel harmony style. They later moved to Nashville and joined the Grand Old Opry in the mid 1950's. At that same time they signed a record deal with Capitol Records and churned out a series of popular singles and albums. Their albums included Satan Is Real (the 1959 album with songs like "Are You Afraid to Die" and "The Kneeling Drunkard's Plea." The album has much talked about, unintentionally comical cover art -- see below right) and 1960's My Baby's Gone. The sibling band broke up over personal differences in 1963 (two years later Ira would be killed in an auto accident) and Charlie began his long solo career shortly after.

One of our favorites here at Amoeba, Charlie Louvin, has sadly passed away of pancreatic cancer complications very early this morning. Charlie, you were a true Southern gentleman and will never be forgotten.

This month we are celebrating 20 years of Amoeba! It's our anniversary! And one of the ways we wanted to celebrate was by highlighting here for you some of our best, most memorable instores of all time! We have been so lucky over the years -- we've hosted shows, signings and events with Paul McCartney, Queens of the Stone Age, The Shins, Flight of the Conchords, John Waters, The Gossip and zillions more. You can find video footage and interviews from many of our instores right here! Read on to find out what three of our most seasoned instore reviewers thought were some of our very greatest.

But first, get further immersed in our 20th Anniversary! To check out our first Anniversary blog post, with testimonials from some of our favorite customers, click here! Our second Anniversary post is an interview with co-owner Marc Weinstein about getting the Berkeley store off the ground all the way back in 1990 and what Amoeba means to him. Read it right here. Our third Anniversary post includes Top 10 lists from some of our old skool employees -- click here to check out their favorites in music and movies from the past 20 years!

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Charlie Louvin is a true music legend, releasing Country music classics as one half of the Louvin Brothers, eventually becoming a member Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame, and, in more recent years, also having his own solo career. He just turned 83 last week. A few years back I had the distinct honor of working with this icon at his Amoeba SF instore performance. Charlie's a Southern gentleman to the core and he also had me cracking up all day, flirting relentlessly and making cracks about "tramp stamps." He's quite a character and a consummate entertainer -- they don't make em like that anymore.

So when I read today that Charlie has just been diagnosed with Stage 2 pancreatic cancer, my heart dropped. He will undergo a surgery on July 22.

Charlie, all of us here at Amoeba are thinking of you and sending our love to you out in Tennessee!

You can get a tiny peek of our experience with Mr. Louvin right here, in this interview and performance from 2007 at Amoeba SF: