'O Brother, WHO Art Thou?' Musical Brother Acts Quiz

Answer: The Statler Brothers

Prolific country and gospel hall-of-famers from Staunton, Virginia, now most remembered outside country music circles for the 1966 crossover hit 'Flowers on the Wall' (number two Country, number four National Billboard), from which these lyrics are taken. The band contained two real brothers in leaders Harold and Don Reid, but no-one named Statler.

The Statlers often incorporated comedy routines into their repertoire, especially Harold. They were regulars on the "Johnny Cash Show" in the late 60s and had their own successful TV show on Nashville's CNN network in the 1990s. They disbanded in 2002.

Answer: The Smothers Brothers

Screened at the height of the Vietnam War, the Tom and Dick Smothers' shows have passed into rock lore because of the guest appearances of various acts then considered too politically controversial for TV (at least for conservative network producers). These included Joan Baez, the Doors, Simon & Garfunkel, Buffalo Springfield, Peter Paul & Mary and Pete Seeger.

The show is also noted for an explosives accident involving The Who, though no one was seriously hurt. Despite continued high ratings, their variety hour was cancelled by CBS in 1969 for reasons that appear to be political. The brothers have continued to make individual sporadic acting appearances since then.

Answer: The Allman Brothers

The Allman Brothers Band's 1971 'Live at the Fillmore East' double album is regarded as one of the great live blues sets, and the Floridian/Georgian rockers as the prototype of southern rock. Their rising star took a nose dive with the motorcycle death of prime mover Duane in Macon, Georgia, in the same year that album was made.

He was only 24. Bassist Berry Oakley died in the same fashion a year later just three blocks away. Though the group maintained some momentum through the early 70s, the losses and personnel instability meant that things could never be the same.

Answer: The Righteous Brothers

'And there's no tenderness any more in your fingertips ...' 'You've Lost that Loving Feeling', produced by Phil 'Wall of Sound' Spector was a number-one 1965 hit for Bill Medley and Bob Hatfield, a baritone and tenor respectively who teamed up to alternate their soulful lead vocals as the Righteous Brothers. In this case Bill took lead. The song was rated by BMI as the most played on US radio of the 20th century.

They hit US number one again the following year with Bobby's definitive interpretation of 'Unchained Melody', a minor 50s hit for various artists which, since the Righteous Brothers' recording, has been one of popdom's most widely covered 'big' ballads. It was featured in the 1990 hit movie 'Ghost' (Patrick Swayze, Whoopi Goldberg, Demi Moore).

They opened for both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones on their 60s US tours and were regulars on the Californian TV pop variety showcase 'Shindig'. As a solo artist, Medley is most remembered for his duet with Jennifer Warnes, 'The Time of my Life', on the soundtrack for 'Dirty Dancing' (1987), coincidentally also starring Patrick Swayze. Hatfield passed away in 2003. Medley is still active with a project to revive the name as an act.

Answer: The Walker Brothers

'The sun ain't gonna shine any more, the moon ain't gonna rise in the sky, when you're without love'. 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)' was a major 1967 hit (UK number one, US top 20) for the Walker Brothers, three Californian friends who found substantial but fairly short-lived success in England, trading on Scott Engels's rich baritone.

The others were John Walker (b. Maus) and drummer Gary Walker (b. Leeds). Their breakthrough hit was the lushly arranged Bacharach-David standard 'Make It Easy on Yourself' (UK number one, US number 16).

Answer: The Vaughan Brothers

Regarded as one of the finest technical masters of his generation and scoring high on many guitar ranking lists, Stevie Ray Vaughan's musical trajectory plummeted with a tragic fatal helicopter crash in Wisconsin in 1990 at the age of 35, ending an erratic, drug-fueled but eventful career, but beginning an even bigger posthumous one, as often happens. Five W C Handy awards, Blues Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and several Grammys bear testimony to his ongoing stature.

Since his death, the longer-established Jimmie Vaughan has emerged from his younger brother's long shadow and turned heads with his raunchy contributions to the Fabulous Thunderbirds, sometimes picking lead and rhythm at the same time in a classic power trio backing vocalist/harmonica-player Kim Wilson. That is, when he's not leading his own band.

Answer: The Stanley Brothers

Country and bluegrass hall-of-famers Ralph and Carter Stanley and their Clinch Mountain Boys were at the apogee of classic 1950s bluegrass, their only serious rivals in popularity being Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys, until the advent of rock'n'roll overwhelmed the country dance scene. It was Earl who perfected the syncopated three-finger banjo picking distinctive to bluegrass and still known as 'Scruggs-style', but Ralph soon mastered it and combined it with his own traditional 'drop-thumb' or 'clawhammer' playing. However, what set them apart was their singing.

Elder brother Carter sang lead tenor with Ralph effecting an arresting high tenor a flattened semi-tone above on the choruses, to produce a much-admired and widely imitated high harmony sound sometimes referred to as 'mountain soul'. Both deeply religious 'primitive Baptists', their voices soared over ethereal, Carter-penned sacred tunes like 'Angel Band' and 'Rank Stranger'.

Carter passed away in 1966, but Ralph stuck to his deep Appalachian roots, fronting various line-ups over the years and gradually gaining status as an American 'national treasure'. He shared a Grammy for his contribution to the Coen brothers' old-timey spoof 'O Brother Where Art Thou' in 2000, intoning the macabre 'O Death' to scenes of a Ku Klux Klan cross-burning. One of the most revered figures of the genre, he passed away at 89 in September 2016.

Answer: The Everly Brothers

What else can be said about the close country harmonies and seemingly timeless pop standards of Don and Phil Everly that hasn't already been said - teen-oriented music that still sounds as fresh and evocative as the day it was made?

Brilled-up ducktails and ostentatiously strummed custom Gibson guitars were their stage trademark. The elder Don handled the smoldering leads, with Phil's piercing high tenor carrying the choruses. Another iconic vocal duo, Simon and Garfunkel, were taking careful note. Phil passed on in 2012.

Trivia: the lyrics of their 1958 number-one hit 'All I Have to Do Is Dream' were written by Felice Bryant, who with her husband Boudleaux was responsible for many country and pop hits of the time, including several of the Everlys'. Felice claimed she saw Boudleaux's face in a dream before she ever met him, and that's how she knew he was the one (they married for keeps, incidentally). Delusion or destiny? You decide.

Answer: The Mills Brothers

Originally from Ohio, in the 1930s these real-life brothers became the first black vocal group to have their own network radio show. They had a long career with many hits and TV appearances, peaking in the 40s and 50s, and are regarded as a major influence on the 'doo-wop' genre of early rock'n'roll. They are most remembered for the multimillion-seller 'Paper Doll' (1943).

Answer: The Osborne Brothers

'Two strangers climbed up ol' Rocky Top, looking for a moonshine still
They ain't never come down from Rocky Top - reckon they never will.'

Bobby and Sonny Osborne were first to record 'Rocky Top' in 1967. Though it charted only moderately, this Felice & Boudleaux Bryant-penned number has since become an official Tennessee state song, adopted by college sports teams and civic events especially around the Gatlinburg area near the North Carolina border. Though 'Rocky Top' is said to be fictional, there is an outcropping of Thunderhead Mountain by that name in that part of the Smoky Mountains.

The Osbornes had a prolific recording career and their many sidemen over the years included several who gained fame independently, including guitarist/singer Jimmie Martin and fiddler Buddy Spicher.

Answer: Andy

Andy (1958-88) was about ten years younger than his famous brothers, and had a brief but successful solo pop career in the early to mid-80s, until complications from years of cocaine abuse contributed to fatal cardiac arrest at 30.

At an estimated 220 million units sold, the Bee Gees are one of the biggest-selling pop acts of all time. Originally from Manchester and raised in Australia, they made numerous TV appearances there from a young age. Returning to England around 1967, they experienced two popular phases, first as a progressive high harmony band with original material, then a decade later by association with the 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack, though they never openly embraced 'disco' as their own genre. The eldest, Barry, is as of 2016 the only surviving Bee Gee. Maurice died suddenly in 2003, and Robin in 2012.

Answer: Tom

The elder Fogerty, Tom played rhythm guitar with the band, which had a spectacular string of hits up to 1972 with a unique brand of 'dirty', grungy blues which was labelled 'swamp-rock'. But acrimony between the dominant, mercurial John and his plodding sidemen eventually came to a head by '72 and CCR was no more.

The band wanted a more 'democratic' approach, and John wanted hits, which he felt only he had the talent to provide. 'It was like sitting on a timebomb', he remarked. While John Fogerty soldiered on, the sidemen's careers went nowhere, and Tom died in 1990 of an AIDS-related illness, reportedly acquired by contaminated blood during an earlier operation.

Answer: David

David played rhythm guitar, but learned early to take a back seat to his elder brother's virtuosity. Their 1978 eponymous debut album, containing the monster hit 'Sultans of Swing', shot to the top in the UK and North America against all marketing expectations at the height of punk rock. Step aside - a new guitar hero had stridden to the front of the line seemingly effortlessly, and the band never looked back. But David and Mark were increasingly at odds and the younger Knopfler pulled the plug in 1980.

In Britain Dire Straits are the fifth top-selling album artists. Their 1985 hit, Grammy-winning 'Money for Nothing' (US Billboard number one) helped to popularize MTV. They disbanded in 1988, and Mark formed the Notting Hillbillies. He was also involved with various movie soundtrack projects, including 'Local Hero' and 'The Princess Bride', and well-received duet tours with Emmylou Harris and one of his childhood musical heroes, flat-picking legend Chet Atkins.

Answer: Jackie

'Jackie' (b. Sigmund Esco Jackson 1951), a high tenor, was the eldest. The youngest was, umm let me see, it's on the tip of my tongue ... Jackie occasionally sang lead parts, but the designated lead was Michael by the time they were recording professionally.

After Jermaine went solo in 1975, he was replaced by yet another brother, Randy, but Jermaine rejoined in 1983. Michael and Marlon left shortly after and the group never regained its momentum, though they reunited for Motown specials and anniversaries. And let's not start on their sisters - that's for a whole other quiz.

Answer: Mike

Mike Love was a cousin of the Wilsons, and often sang lead on the verses, then lending a bass tone to the choruses with Carl and Brian harmonizing on the high parts. The youngest (and the only bona fide surfer), Dennis, played drums, and the fifth member was unrelated Al Jardine. Rock'n'roll hall-of-famers, they still hold the record for the most US Top Forty Hits (36), including four number ones, and have sold more than 100 million units. Their complex vocal arrangements are still among the most admired in rock music.

The group's main songwriter and falsetto vocalist, Brian, stopped touring with the group in the late 60s with well-publicized mental health issues and focused on recording projects, with his high tenor parts and leads increasingly taken by Carl. Dennis drowned in a diving accident in 1983, and Carl passed away in 1998. In the early 2000s, Brian led sellout concerts performing his extensive catalogue, especially the 'Pet Sounds' album, as a soloist with a large orchestra, which proved especially popular in Britain.