After scoring an enviable run of Top 10 hits, Phil and Don Everly reached back to their earliest influences on 1958’s Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. At the time, releasing an LP’s worth of (mostly) traditional tunes was seen as a career detour for the duo. As it turned out, the album anticipated the commercial peak of the folk revival a few years later. Backed only by their acoustic guitars and the upright bass of Floyd “Lightning” Chance, the Everlys seamlessly blend voices on songs that date back centuries. “Roving Gambler,” “Down in the Willow Garden,” and “Barbara Allen” are rendered with a grace and tenderness that goes to the heart of their timeless lyrics. Tunes like “I’m Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail” and “Rockin’ Alone (In an Old Rockin’ Chair)” forge a connection between folk balladry and modern country music. Phil and Don’s version of Gene Autry’s “That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine” stands as a loving tribute to their father (and artistic mentor), Ike Everly. Rendered with simplicity and sincerity, Songs Our Daddy Taught Us remains one of the brothers’ essential works.