Ira Lonnie Loudermilk (April 21, 1924 – June 20, 1965), known professionally as Ira Louvin, was an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer,

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

ist and songwriter. He was a cousin of songwriter John D. Loudermilk.

Biography

Ira Louvin was born in

Section, Alabama Section is a town in Jackson County, Alabama, United States and is included in the Chattanooga-Cleveland-Dalton, TN-GA-AL Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 770, an increase of one person (769) fro ...

, and played together with his brother, Charlie, in the close harmony tradition as

the Louvin Brothers The Louvin Brothers were an American musical duo composed of brothers Ira and Charlie Louvin (''né'' Loudermilk). The brothers are cousins to John D. Loudermilk, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member. The brothers wrote and performed ...

. They were heavily influenced by the Delmore Brothers and Monroe Brothers. Ira played mandolin with Charlie Monroe, guitar player of the Monroe Brothers in the early 1940s. The Louvin Brothers' songs were heavily influenced by their Baptist faith and warned against sin. Ira was notorious for his drinking and short temper. He married four times, his third wife having shot him multiple times in the chest and hand after he allegedly beat her. He died on June 20, 1965, when a drunken driver struck his car in Williamsburg, Missouri. At the time, a warrant for Louvin's arrest had been issued on a DUI charge.

References

External links

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Artist Bio by Kim Summers @ AllMusicNashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee – Ira Louvin
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The Louvin Brother's lives from 1927 to 1963, and Ira's brother Charlie's life to the present on Raised Country!
{{DEFAULTSORT:Louvin, Ira 1924 births 1965 deaths Grand Ole Opry members Road incident deaths in Missouri American country singer-songwriters 20th-century American singer-songwriters American country mandolinists Country musicians from Alabama Singer-songwriters from Alabama